USA Visa Waiver help

[JG1965]

My sister is thinking of going on a late deal to USA and wonders if she can apply and pay for a USA Visa Waiver online before she finds a deal, as she will not know where she is staying or flight details but would like to have the Visa in place first.
Also her passport is not one of the latest ones with a chip, it was issued in Sept 2004 and does not run out till Sept 2014 so can she use this passport.
Thanks in advance.

[237SJ]

I don`t know about the ESTA as I don`t have one but she can definitely use her passport.

[pharaoh3103]

It's best to do it the other way round. Book the trip, then get the visa waiver. Make sure she does it through the US website. If you do it via another website (a travel agent for example) they often charge extra fees to 'check' it, when it should only cost about £15. I've done it a couple of times now and I've had it confirmed within 30 minutes.

[Just-Jude]

As long as they're in date, all UK passports will be accepted at US border controls.

Complete the ESTA online, it costs $14 in total and is valid for 2 years. Make sure you use the official US Government site.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

[dzug2]

The flight details and US address are not mandatory when applying for an ESTA. (No red star against the boxes)

It may be safer to apply for one first, rather than booking and then finding that an ESTA is refused - OK the chances of that are low but no non-existent.