Automatic passport gates: your experiences

[najaB]

There was a side-discussion in this thread (https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...do-i-just-need-a-passport.282396/post-7183725) about UK border control passport gates. @sor said that his experience has been similar to mine, in that it didn't work on the eGates until recently.

Just wanted to add that I passed through Manchester Airport on Friday and the eGate worked, but only on the third try. One thing that I did notice is that my image didn't appear on screen until the third try, which fits with the idea that facial recognition software struggles somewhat with faces that aren't middle-aged white males.

Has anyone else noticed that their success rate has increased of late?

 

[signed]

My (French) passport never read at Gare du Nord back last July and I got punted to the manual desk (not refused, the gate never read correctly) but worked instantly at Gatwick airport last December.

I'll have another go at Gare du Nord in the next few month

 

[MalaiseForever]

Must’ve been using eGates for over a decade now and I don’t think I’ve had it not work.

 

[Harpo]

Has anyone else noticed that their success rate has increased of late?

Better. But not enough to make me confident about using them.

 

[najaB]

Better. But not enough to make me confident about using them.

The annoying thing is that they usually make you use them even if you say it's not likely to work.

 

[Buzby]

I usually took 3 goes - first 2 with Spex, last without, however the passport pic has me wearing them. Perhaps the scanners are just carp?

 

[gordonthemoron]

My new passport (2021) didn’t work with e-gates at first, for about a year, but it’s been fine since

 

[stadler]

The annoying thing is that they usually make you use them even if you say it's not likely to work.

Some of the staff like to try and convince you to use the e gate but they will always let you use the normal manned passport control if you insist. I always just go straight for the all other passports queue. If someone asks you to use the e gates and you want to use the manned desk then just insist and walk towards the manual desks and they will let you. I travel regularly and have never used an e gate at any International airport or Eurostar station in my life. I prefer an actual human to all this automated rubbish.

 

[najaB]

I prefer an actual human to all this automated rubbish.

Usually I'd agree, but it seems at times that some border staff are paid to be as awkward as possible!

 

[Segedunum]

When I used to go clean shaven and had longer hair, the gates would have an absolute mare with me. It'd basically never work, no matter how much I tried to have a clear face, etc etc. Strangely when I let my facial hair grow and ended up with shorter hair, I'd rarely have a problem I used to get all sorts of accusations from the UK Border Force about having a damaged/dodgy passport, but I'm convinced the entire time it was just my appearance.

 

[1D54]

I wear glasses but have never worn them for passport photos so as long as i remember to remove them i seem to have no problems anywhere these days.
At many EU airports you have to use gates before going to get your stamp and i wonder if that will change when they finally get round to photo/ fingerprint when visa is required as it'd seem a pointless exercise.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just wanted to add that I passed through Manchester Airport on Friday and the eGate worked, but only on the third try. One thing that I did notice is that my image didn't appear on screen until the third try, which fits with the idea that facial recognition software struggles somewhat with faces that aren't middle-aged white males.

Has anyone else noticed that their success rate has increased of late?

I'm a middle aged white male and it has a very poor success rate for me, but it did work last week for once. Maybe luck or maybe they have improved it.

That is an interesting point, though. Most IT people are white males (not a good thing) so most testing will initially have been done by them...it is unintentional discrimination if true though and really should be resolved.

 

[signed]

The annoying thing is that they usually make you use them even if you say it's not likely to work.

That's a good thing IMHO, the reject queue is usually much smaller than the regular one

 

[AlterEgo]

Just used the eGates at Heathrow. I always get through first time, but I do also have a nice face.

 

[Undaunted]

I had one of the first e-passports in 2007. It never worked at the gates, and I always had to join the reject queue. My wife got hers at around the same time and has always been able to use the gates without any problem. I looked forward to my new passport arriving in 2017, only to find that it, too, didn’t open the gates.

One day a couple of years ago I got talking to someone in the reject queue, and said that I’d been unable to use the gates since their introduction some 15 years earlier. He said that he’d had the same problem, and had once been told by a Border Force official that his name was on a ‘wanted’ list, and his passport would always be rejected until the situation changed. He always started his encounter with the Border Force official with a cheery “not caught him, then?”

Weirdly, my passport suddenly started opening the e-gates last year and has always worked since. And it always worked fine at any overseas airport that had e-gates. I’ve no idea whether the ‘wanted’ explanation was relevant to my experience or not, but maybe don’t give up on the gates…

 

[dastocks]

For about 2.5 years I did a weekly commute to Amsterdam. I don't think my passport was ever rejected at Schipol, where they were checked on entry *and* exit for non-Schengen flights, but it was quite common for the e-gates to be out of action there.

On one occasion at Gatwick a man popped out from behind a one-way mirror and told me to take my glasses off (I didn't wear glasses for the passport photo). I assume there is a small team there who can override anything that a gate hasn't been able to match. There were a few more unexplained rejections where I either tried a different gate or ended up in the queue for a manual check.

 

[najaB]

That is an interesting point, though. Most IT people are white males (not a good thing) so most testing will initially have been done by them...it is unintentional discrimination if true though and really should be resolved.

There's definitely truth to it. In the linked thread I quoted a study that showed that in 2018 the error rate in common facial recognition software was 0.8% for light-skinned males and up to 35% for dark-skinned females.

I told some friends about this and they didn't believe me so as a quick demo we sat next to each other and tried a Snapchat filter - sure enough, it applied the filter to them (white male, white female) and didn't to me (black male) sitting between them!

No doubt it's improved significantly since then, but I'd be pleasantly surprised if the error rate was anywhere near parity.

 

[40875704]

Travelling from Singapore in January 2017 to Heathrow a large slow moving queue had built up to use the e gates, I watched as people tried to get through but after so many attempts were moved over to the manual queue. The same thing happened to me. It would probably have been as quick to direct everyone to manual from the start. On the tube I picked up a paper with an article about how Heathrow had had it’s millionth [I think] passenger through the e gates. I subsequently wrote to the flunky who was named in the article asking how many people had been rejected at the gates. His response declined an answer and told me it would require a Freedom of Information request. I didn’t bother because the answer told me what I needed to know and that they were too embarrassed to tell me without a fight. I have noticed an improvement in the last few years and the same passport, I had then, gets me through now.

 

[sh24]

They are now flawless with both my passports after several years of 90% fail rates. I've not seen a significant queue at LHR for them now, which implies they are working much better.

 

[Bald Rick]

In 13 years of using e-passports I have a 100% success rate. Sometimes it takes a bit longer than others to do the processing, but sometimes can be very, very quick (inbound at T5 a coulle of years back I barely stopped walking).

Having said that now, I have no doubt tempted fate!

 

[najaB]

In 13 years of using e-passports I have a 100% success rate. Sometimes it takes a bit longer than others to do the processing, but sometimes can be very, very quick (inbound at T5 a coulle of years back I barely stopped walking).

My experience has been almost exactly opposite to yours - in the eight years I've had my current passport I've never once had it work first time.

 

[scragend]

My previous passport (expired 2017) never worked the e-gates at Manchester, but always did at airports in other countries. My current one has always worked fine.

I always told the staff that it wasn't going to work but they always made me try it anyway... only for it not to work.

 

[Howardh]

I usually took 3 goes - first 2 with Spex, last without, however the passport pic has me wearing them. Perhaps the scanners are just carp?

Same issue here, I have to take mine off as I'm not wearing them in the photo, so I then can't see what I'm doing eg. putting in the right way.

One day, maybe, when they have our prints and iris scans, all we will have to do is put our finger on a pad and look into a camera.

Pity passport gates can't read as quickly as my card gets read at the till at Lidl!

 

[matt]

No problems coming back into the UK using them at Stansted yesterday. I took off my glasses so that probably helps

 

[Buzby]

@matt Out of interest, did you photo have you wearing them?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

@matt Out of interest, did you photo have you wearing them?

I don't think a passport photo can be approved if glasses are worn, no?
That said, I don't wear glasses so I'm not one to know for sure.

 

[Bald Rick]

I don't think a passport photo can be approved if glasses are worn, no?
That said, I don't wear glasses so I'm not one to know for sure.

It can. The requirement is:

Do not wear glasses in your photo unless you have to do so. If you must wear glasses, they cannot be sunglasses or tinted glasses, and you must make sure your eyes are not covered by the frames or any glare, reflection or shadow.

 

[D365]

Do not wear glasses in your photo unless you have to do so.

This seems a bit vague to me - I need glasses or contact lenses to drive, but I can see without them. I assume that the insinuation is no ’fashion’ glasses.

 

[matt]

@matt Out of interest, did you photo have you wearing them?

No I'm not wearing them in my passport photo.

 

[Buzby]

Tks for the clarification - I’ve worn classes since I was 4, and am never without - hence part of my passport pic. as mentioned above, the pupils must be visible with no reflections, which was why I was bemused to be rejected by the scanner at Gard du Nord twice, but accepted when I took them off (and couldn’t read the screen!) but the gate opened!