Switch the travel line on, switch Wi-Fi off, and wait a couple of minutes — if you set the phone up before flying, that is the whole procedure
On Landing
- Take the phone out of flight mode
- Switch the travel eSIM line on, if you left it off
- Switch Wi-Fi off — otherwise the phone connects to airport Wi-Fi and never reaches for a mobile network
- Confirm mobile data is set to the travel line
- Wait one to three minutes while the phone finds a local network
You will know it worked when an operator name you do not recognise appears at the top of the screen, and the plan changes from Pending to Active in your account.
If Nothing Happens After a Few Minutes
- Turn flight mode on for ten seconds and off again — this forces a fresh network scan
- Restart the phone
- Check that roaming is on for the travel line specifically
- Move away from the arrivals hall, which is usually the most congested cell in the building
Keep your home line's roaming off while you do this. A phone hunting for a connection will happily use whichever line is allowed to connect, and only one of them is prepaid.
If it still has not connected after ten minutes, work through Why is My Plan Still Showing as Pending After Landing? — and airport Wi-Fi is free almost everywhere, so support is reachable from where you are standing
