An interesting subject. In Cyprus we now have to send our British passports to Madrid to be renewed at a cost of 40 Euros extra.
My Wife and I have Cyprus ID cards, but Cyprus airport immigration will not accept them as we are Aliens. We have used them at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark , now Border Agency at heathrow reject them because we are Aliens in Cyprus not Cypriots. I took this mater up with the border agency but they gave me that answer. The cards are photo with chip and have all details on them. at first they were pleased to accept them.
Also my Wife has AKA ( " also known as "endorsement in her passport chipped and stamped by the embassy, and we were advised by a relative who was a diplomat.in the passport service.
However to get the staff to accept this is is a problem, Firstly what is AKA (although it is in the passport) then they have to take the passport out back or make phone calls, before accepting it.
I feel that the staff should be better trained