What are the most common eAPIS filing mistakes on a ferry flight?
The usual failures are a manifest that does not match travel documents character for character, a late crew change that was never refiled, an engineer or observer added to the leg and left off the list, and an ETA that slips outside the filed window without notice. eAPIS is filed before the aircraft moves in each direction, and it is checked against the people who actually step off the aircraft, so any difference between the two becomes a hold at the border.
Key takeaways
- eAPIS is filed on both the inbound and outbound leg, crew-only flights included
- Names must match the travel document exactly, not the roster
- A crew change is a refile, never an amendment made after departure
- eAPIS does not grant permission to land; Landing Rights is a separate approval
What eAPIS is checking
The manifest exists so CBP knows who is arriving before the aircraft does. Every person on board is listed with their travel document details, alongside the aircraft, the route and the estimated arrival, and it is filed before the aircraft moves.
That applies to a ferry flight with two pilots and nobody in the back exactly as it applies to a passenger flight. The crew is the manifest.
The five errors that cause holds
Almost every problem we are asked to fix after the fact comes from this list, and all of them are avoidable before pushback.
- Names entered from the roster rather than from the passport, so a middle name or hyphen differs
- A crew change made after filing and never refiled, leaving a person on board who is not on the list
- An engineer, observer or ferry mechanic added to the leg at the last minute and omitted
- A document number transposed, or an expiry date entered from an older passport
- An arrival time that slips well outside the filed window with no updated filing
eAPIS is not permission to land
This is the misunderstanding that costs the most time. A perfectly filed manifest does not authorise an arrival at an airport that has not agreed to receive an international flight. A designated port of entry can usually take arrivals without individual approval; a Landing Rights airport has to approve each one.
Both filings should be prepared together, against the same ETA, by the party that will know first when the ETA changes.
How to handle a change cleanly
If the roster changes, refile. If the ETA moves materially, update the filing and tell the port. If the arrival airport changes, treat it as a new arrival: new manifest, and a Landing Rights request if the new airport needs one.
On movements we run, the manifest, the Landing Rights request and any customs entry sit with the desk holding the flight plan, so a crew swap at a tech stop changes the filings the same day it changes the roster.
Common questions
Last reviewed September 10, 2026 by the Super Universal operations desk.