Passport checks
Recently I was boarding a flight at Tenerife Rena Sofia airport. In my experience, the passport check there is slightly unusual as the border control cabin is at the departure gate immediately prior to entering the ramp. The official border controller checked my passport, as was usual. I took one pace to hand in my boarding card and the airline service operator wanted to check my passport again, (I had slipped it in my pocket). I took it out and went to hand it to him, he refused to look at it until I opened it at the correct page and give it to him in that condition. He clearly retained nothing of the information contained therein as he scrutinised it for what seemed less than a nano-second.
My question is what is the point of this excercise? He could not have read any of my details and I have to admit that my passport photo does not look a great deal like me as because it had to be taken of me without my spectacles as the computer was unable to determine what my eyes looked like when I am wearing them (always). My impression was that he had some little power over me and "By God" was he going to excercise it!
When I got to Birmingham I thought I had the opportunity to side step the long queues at immigration as my passport was equipped with a chip. Alas none of the passport readers were working. As a consequence, a long queue developed as there were only three immigration desks available to deal with over five hundred people ( another two aircraft landed to supplement our passengers numbers). By the way, the escalator down into the Immigration Hall had been switched off "To reduce conjestion".
Before leaving I had taken the opportunity (as encouraged by the airline) to check in on line. Only to be told at the check in desk that I had wasted my time as self check in is not recognised at TFS.
So we check in on line, get a new passport with a chip in it, both of which it seems are useless. The airports slow things down by not having their equipment working and insisting on having two passport checks within three feet of each other.
- Why do we fly?