Nice to see those ever-so-efficient Dutch have problems too.

Used the new eGates at AMS but their machines pulls the passport into the reader; pinched digits!

That's not so bad but my hand baggage jammed the barrier at the rear of the gate having crossed some invsible line. Had to be rescued by a hit squad of grumpy Koninklijke Marechausee to whom this was obviously not a unique event! :=

Mrs 1DC and I both renewed our passports on the same day. I generally get through the egate without problem Mrs 1DC is always referred to a booth with a real person. When she asks why she is just told it can't be working.

e Gates Passport checks
 

Kiltrash, it's not the photo.

As we walked away from Newark immigration officer Mrs Bas remarked what a pleasant chap he was.
I did mention that wasn't polite conversation; it was gentle interrogation :)

LHR security DID piss me off when we, through no fault of our own, arrived at the gate with minutes to spare and were given a manual search. Two seventy-something ethnic Western Europeans - aye, right, they'll be the ones to watch :rolleyes:

Just a thought you haven't got dual passports have you? You have to use the passport you checked out on, so the details match.

I use the e-gates almost every week across Europe, on the whole the e-gates system works well, I very rarely (maybe once this year) get referred to the manual gate, observations whilst waiting in the queue are that it is rare for people to get referred and most of those that do give the impression that they are “technophobes” . the best gates are in Germany where the passport is inserted before entering the machine and whilst the person before you is being checked by the machine, this speeds up the transaction time. The worst machines are the ones that grab your passport and pull it onto the machine; I fear passport damage and a visit to the embassy for a replacement every time.
it is rare in the extreme for me to compliment government but the e-gates work, now all they have to do is sort out the queue’s at Stansted border control and it will need another 100 e-gates to do that

STN good post and i agree. Ive never had a drama at Sydney but there always seems to be someone who does. I guess facial recognition software still is not perfect. I avoid the passport grabbing machines, id rather queue and know my passport is safe.

I travel through LHR T-5 with Mrs F 3 or 4 times a year & find that the e gates work perfectly every time.

Passed through STN a few times last month. First time e-gates were closed so had to join the manual queue. Other times used the e-gates no problem (although also small queue there). :ok:
I just wonder why there were only 25% or so of the e-gates available. Anyone know why they just don't open all of them?

I have a poor success rate at the e-gates, perhaps it is because my beard-length varies with the weather, long in winter and short in summer!

"Anyone know why they just don't open all of them?"

Border Force staff protecting their jobs

there were a lot of stories about the original gates at LHR suffering from "people" putting things like paperclips and chewing gum in the slots................

Ha the Government have seen that the e'gates are not as efficient as they thought

Passed through Luton and the gates are all closed for 'refurbishment' and 'to improve your experiance'

Victory is ours

However there were only 6 of the 11 manned desks open and the queue was 25 minutes!

ah well one small battle won in the bigger war

Exactly the opposite to what happened to me 'n Mrs C at BRS about 10 days ago, much to my surprise. And that was after I initially joined the long manned booth queue, and only twigged that there was an ePassport channel after a while, and doubled back to it. I then had to wait 5-7 minutes in the baggage area for her to emerge.

Capot, it wasn't the (often long) queue for European passport holders, it's that sneaky queue around the back for us foreigners. On a flight from Geneva there is rarely more than two or three of us.

Yes, well, says it all, doesn't it; foreigners taking advantage and sneaking in behind our backs, snot fair, whats the world coming to, my father was in the War, you know, I'm a pensioner, mutter, mutter, good old Nigel, if I were younger I'd sor..............ad infinitum et nauseam.....

My wife American - me British. If the 'colonials' queue is shorter go there for both. It's legitimate if you are a family

0% Success
 

I am currently at 0 from 12 attempts. Lat time I tried to divert directly to the (e-passport) manned desk, but the person assisting at the e-gates insisted I tried one more time. I offered her odds of 10-1 but she was obviously not a gambler.

The folk on the desk assure me there is nothing wrong with the chip - they can read it, so I guess I just don't look like my photo as far as the recognition software is concerned. Someone even said, "Your's is a common name, perhaps it takes too long to search" , which shows a phenomenal lack of understanding as to how this stuff works.

Munich - spot-on, very quick. However, was told by the guy standing nearby providing assistance, that UK passports cause quite a lot of problems.

'e' of e gate is not for 'early'
 

I travel regularly into LHR from HKG and, with arrival times from 5-30 ish onwards (various carriers BA CX VA), we are always among the first flights in.

On several occasions there has been 'intelligent life' at the manned immigration desks but the e gates are not yet open. They seem to come to life at 6-30am. I had assumed that was because they require some trained supervisor sitting at a remote terminal to oversee their operation, and that they get to have a lie-in.

Last time through (5-30 arrival, so queued for the manned desks) I struck up conversation with the officer and asked why the e gates don't wake up earlier. His reply suggested that the airlines (with the early arrivals) have to pay [more] for the privilege and hence the e gates are shut until 6-30...

Anyone else heard similar or different?

Welcome to the forum johnsmith3862.

Thank you for a most interesting first post, if that is what has happened, it would be disappointing but not surprising.