sundaymorningstaple wrote:And it won't be too long before you may well be able to be picked up while in the transit lounge here if they start "pre"viewing the passenger lists looking for likely runners. (I'm not sure at this stage how much information is transmitted on a flight manifest (squirrel, you should know this?) but with the new smart passports I reckon it wont be long before the whole passport details could be transmitted digitally in an electronic flight manifest.
Adding on to what BBCW said, required or not, Based on a few charters which did tech-stops here, Airlines traditionally have been submitting information in advance even if no passenger alights. Nobody wants to annoy CAAS or Changi Group, who are very liberal in giving out privileges for 'nice' airlines.
And as you said, with a lot of e-things, all the details, including information not visible but required for a passport application (parent's details and such) maybe stored in the passport and sent without your approval. All in the name of security.