e Gates Passport checks
 

At the risk of ridicule can I ask the collective thoughts at e Gate passport checks at UK Airports

I have the missfortune to fly through London Airports on Business often to & from EU and I find the process at other countrys Airports simple, swift and efficient to have a gun toting Border guard in a glass booth look up and agree the person in front of them is the pasport holder

A different story at London Airports

Having renewed the passport 18 months ago only once have I gained admission through the UK e gates, even though the supplied passport photograph was checked by a Policeman before submitting to the Passport Agency. So it is definatly ME!!!

and its not just me that is refused entry as e gates, I estimate 10% of their 'customers' are re directed to a manual desk, and then allowed through, on a one to one

The question for considderation, Is it the Border Agency staff not being able to match the photopraph on the passport with the person in the booth transmitted to their TV screen the trouble with the system, or that as they have 6 booths under their control ( to reduce manning levels)and they need to refuse admittance, (to show they are doing their jobs) or a revolt by the staff to ensure the expected staff savings prommised by the e gates does not happen?

Incomming

Why do you think it was your photograph that caused you to be directed to see a real immigration officer?

Any number of things can cause this, including if you have come in from a country with Ebola or Yellow fever, where they have to manually check your health/immunisations etc.

Maybe the egate detected you had an above normal temperature or something!

Used it now 5 times at LHR T2 and so far no issues. Mrs ZFT has used it a similar number of times with same result.

Kiltrash

I really doubt it's anything personal, or any exotic diseases or destinations, I suspect it's down to those darned machines and/or your passport.

My success rate when entering the UK at LHR/LGW from Mainland Europe, when off duty and using my chipped passport, was probably less than 50% when the readers were introduced (oh how I miss Iris :E:sad:). I eventually found removing my (clear) glasses :8 and also pressing down firmly on the passport page when it was on the machine reader improved matters but I still fail about 10% of the time. BTW if your passport photo page has been creased or folded at some point that can cause problems with the readers, so that might be worth checking.

OTOH when I enter the UK on duty I go through different gates but through the same immigration hall. In those instances my machine readable airline ID has worked 100% of the time, so I certainly suspect my now occasional failures to get in as a "civvy" are down to the machines/passport combination, rather than "Border" wanting to see me personally when I enter the UK..


I may be wrong but I don't think anyone is sitting anywhere remote checking your picture from the booth, I think that's supposed to be an automated process using facial recognition software....and quite possibly therein lies the problem.

Most of the ones in use in Europe are automatic scanning and recognition but if it puts up a query there is someone in a booth who can look at a camera and make a decision

I suspect the UK ones do away with the remote operator and just shunt you to a manned desk if there is a problem - I certainly have more failures in the UK than anywhere else

H H

That's also my understanding of how it works.

AFAIK the lady/gent in the booth next to the e-gates is not remotely checking everybody going through the e-gates, that should be handled by the automatic side of things (e.g. face recognition, data on the passport chip).

The Border Force Officer is there to act as a manual back up should the e-gate say "no", and I suspect that's more likely to be down to technical reasons (e.g. unable to perform the facial recognition) than because the individual is on some list.

If the OP is consistently failing to get through the e-gates I suspect there's something subtly amiss with the data being carried on the passport.....but excuses aside I agree, whatever the reason it's ****** annoying, and so far the e-gates system is nowhere near as good/consistent/slick as the aforementioned Iris system (then again not many used Iris, perhaps that's why it seemed so slick).

Nowadays I only fly about 6-8 times a year. On vacation. (Benefit of being Ancient). Have had zero problems with machines at lgw and lhr. I always take my glasses off.
OP might need to have passport checked over??

Only tend to use BHX in the UK, so I can only comment on that airport. I have had no problems, when they're actually in use that is! Recently, when arriving at a peak time, I found it quicker via the kiosk queue then waiting in the e-gate queue. The problem with the e-gates when busy is that you have to choose your lane and then hope that those in front of you in your chosen lane don't have any problems. My experience is that processing time through the e-gates generally takes a minimum of twice the time it takes to go through a manned kiosk.

Methinks the Home Office are not concerned with our time - only with them saving headcount and proving what clever boys they are.

But then again, I'm a cynical b@stard ...

This is what seems to work for me -
Read the instructions.
Have passport ready for the reader.
Put luggage down on the floor.
Stand on the green feet marks on the floor.
Take off glasses.
Look like your passport photo - straight ahead, no smiling.
Wait.
Wait more.

Then just when you think it ain't working the gate opens.

The shame is that the e-passport is just a manpower saving device rather than any real technology improvement on identity validation. It is using face recognition. The only difference between the booth and the Border Security official is that it is comparing your face to parameters on the embedded passport chip rather than to your photo.

The much older Iris system used a unique personal identifier that was far more individual (arguably as good as fingerprints). But that seems to have fallen into disuse.

Ha ha!!!

Last Thursday I beat my wife through immigration at Bristol airport. She at the e-gate me in the 'other passport' queue!

It seems it has become more and more popular, and people are choosing the normal queue over the e-gate! because it's quicker.

IRIS had a relatively poor recognition rate IIRC - plus you had to actually go and register

whereas the current system is open to anyone with a chipped passport

Things are getting better
 

Maybe someone can tell me if there was a recent (6 months ago?) upgrade to the e-gate system.

Like others I avoided them in the past but I can report my personal experience that e-gates at EDI, GLA and BHX now work consistently compared with two years ago.

I endorse taking off glasses since that was the way my UK passport was issued

The companies that make the software which is installed onto the kiosks / E-gates. Typically have to integrate with an existing Government border control system and follow a set of interface requirements provided by the Government.

So you may be going through the E-Gate and it perhaps refers you to the immigration officer for a number of reasons. For example, your name is similar to someone else, or they are doing a watch list check and something has been flagged to the immigration officer. That watch list check, may or may not be an issue and its just a process that they follow.

If the Kiosk or E-gate has a camera and depending where you are. It will either just take a photo that might be printed out or it load the chip from the passport and match it against the photo taken. The face matching software has to be tuned for the environment and a scoring system is used, so if its below a set limit. The traveller maybe referred to the immigration officer, this may be due to the quality of the photo taken or perhaps the quality of the photo saved on the chip.

The passport chip can also hold other data, such as fingerprints too.

The problem may be with the glasses. My success rate is about two thirds. I was told that the problem may be that my new spectacles are darker than those in my passport photo.

Thank you all for your kind replies

Having no glasses, same hair style and same colour and shave every day and have learned to assume the position and facial expression not changing, I still am at a loss to explain, Why always me,

A update is that I have had a offer from the Passport Agency that if I send a fresh duly authorised photograph, with my existing passport they will, at no charge,check my old passport for flaws and / or issue me with a replacement one,

How long says I, normal processing time 4 weeks, hopefully they say

However I am scheduled out the country Nov, Jan, March, April, June (possibly), and July

Think I will stick with the manned gates!! or a visit to Peterborough may be called for

Thanks All

Funny you should write that. I have a very similar experience at Bristol airport. I've given up trying to use the e-gates now, as inevitably I will be delayed and it's much quicker to go via the "traditional" route.

Same true for me at LHR T3 earlier this year (I actually switched from the E-gate queue to the queue for manual cheques after seeing it move faster - should have joined it in the first place).

Still got to baggage reclaim before my bag though.

Latest trip and joy of joys no one at the new e passport gates at Lisbon, sailed through first time, got back to Luton and huge queue at e'gates, joined traditional queue and got through in half the time as monitoring the progress of where I would have been and a cheery chat with the Border Guard at the manned desk to boot

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.