ChrisHurrey

I am a former UK Immigration Assistant Director now working as a consultant for 'FastPass', an EU-funded project to improve the ease of use and functionality of automated border control gates at EU ports of entry. I was closely involved with the design of the UK's IRIS system, as well as the current UK e-Gates. Having admitted my crimes, I'd now like to ask for Business Traveller readers' feedback on self-service passport control in general - experiences, gripes, suggestions etc. The FastPass project is very keen to get the views of users, especially frequent fliers, to assist in the design of future systems.

CKDGM

I've used both the UK e-Gates (LHR T3) and Irish ePassport gates (DUB T1) recently. Of the two, I preferred the (SITA?) gates at DUB; the passport read on the first try (LHR required me to try two or three times) and the "two stage pipeline" design seemed more efficient to me.

(For those who haven't used these: there are two sets of gate doors. Before reaching the first one, you scan your passport; once those open, you enter and in the area between the two sets is the facial recognition camera. This allows one passenger to be face-processed while the following passenger is scanning their passport; once the first passenger leaves, the second doors close and the first doors open to allow the next passenger to be face-processed.)

:D!

It doesn't happen very often but it does get annoying when you are stuck behind someone who can't get the second gate to open.

I prefer the set up in SYD, where the first door is actually a "check-in" machine where you obtain a ticket - spread out along the walkway towards immigration, then queue up and go to the first free face-recognition machine. What I can't remember is whether there is a single queue or each face-recogniser has a separate queue. Also SYD uses a lot of paper. A reusable RFID card and electronic declarations might be better.

catandmouse

I've found the e-gates to be convenient largely because they work internationally (which was not the case for Iris). I even tried my Swiss e-passport on the UK e-gates the other day and was pleasantly surprized to see that it worked perfectly (I know I'm not supposed to use my Swiss passport when entering the UK, but I was curious).
I would hope that the e-gates spread even more widely round the world. The greatest miracle would be to see them in the US, but they always do things their own way there.

Kiwi Flyer

I quite like smartgate, the system used at most international airports in Australia & New Zealand (not just SYD).

Each face-recogniser has its own line. It is generally very quick but can still get lengthy queues at particularly busy times.

Kiwi Flyer

Welcome to Flyer Talk ChrisHurrey

It will be good if the system accepts passports from a range of countries (ie not just EU members).

One point I've found to be important is to have sufficient manned desks next to the machines in case they break down and to handle those who get rejected by the machine. If there are say 6 machines and many passengers being sent for manual processing but only 1 manned desk this creates delay and ill-will.

exbayern

I use the ones at LHR and at LIS most often. LIS is great; never had an issue.

LHR is another story; I dont think that I have ever managed to pass through on my own, and end up queuing just as long or longer as if I had gone through the EU passport holder queue.

I dont use it elsewhere because I dont need to elsewhere due to short queues; LIS is only because of the Americans who clog up the EU passport holder queues, even when directed to the non-EU queue (in both directions). I tend to arrive from non-Schengen at the time that the flights from the US are landing, hence the need to use the machines.

I also find that the airport staff at LIS are great at directing me to the machines, whilst at LHR nobody seems to be directing people or suggesting it. (Usually at LIS they tell me in Portuguese that it is just easier and quicker, even as an EU passport holder)

Blogndog

I don't like the concepts of "citizenship", "nation states" or ""borders" generally. All of these things are completely artificial constructs fabricated out of thin air with no basis in logic, natural law, or metaphysics. Somebody just made these things up, just like they made up things such a describing certain individuals as "officers" or "judges" or whatever. Ooh, this guy wears special clothing so he is able to decide things about me. He's just another guy, born of a human mother, just like myself.

I am genuinely baffled and perplexed by the fact that most people don't find it laughingly absurd that two people, born on the same day, under similar circumstances, a few hours and a couple hundred meters apart, would have entirely different rights in "law" simply by virtue of the fact that a river called the Rio Grande flows between these two locations. The whole passport/border/citizenship nonsense is all just further ludicrous downstream enhancements to this fundamentally warped starting point.

Palal

While I'm not a fan of borders/passports/... I don't think the OP can influence any of that, so I'll stick to the point:

I've used IRIS before. I have Global Entry, and use that all the time. I've used the kiosks in Sydney. All of these are great! The less time I need to spend in line, the more time I can spend at the destination.

Since you're consulting an EU project, I would strongly advise you to give the ability to those with an EU (or Schengen) residency card to use some type of automated gates, or at least the same lines as the EU/EEC citizens in order to speed up the border process, similarly to how the US allows permanent residents to use citizen lines. There is a lot of discrepancy between how border agents in each EU/EEC country deal with those who have a residency card (and I'm sure it extends to other categories too) so more and better training is needed.

Blogndog

I'd love to stick to the point, but I don't know what it is -- based on ICE actions, the point in their view seems to be pointless harassment of brown-skinned people.

Davidwnc

I am a dual US/UK citizen who has recently moved from the UK to Belgium.
When entering the US I use global entry, and it is fine (although lately as more people are learning about it, I sometimes have had to wait a minute or two for a free kiosk...)

In the UK I have used both e-Gates and IRIS.
I MUCH preferred IRIS because fewer people knew about it so there were NEVER any lines!!!
Other than the lines, no big difference between e-Gates and IRIS. It's quicker than waiting for a human.

GUWonder

I hope your efforts come to fruition, but I wouldn't be surprised if you end up in an uphill battle against (or in a position of being stalled by) the paranoid forces amongst governmental actors. Some -- including perhaps some of those who may have been your former colleagues -- are being told that more passport page checking (of UK or other EU+ country passports) at the border is needed to be done.

I received information from separate, unrelated channels that confirm there is a push within (and directed at) the EU+ Schengen states that is all about slowing passengers down at the border and doing more manual checks. This isn't to say that conflicting and competing governmental ways don't have a way of being pursued even when one governmentally-backed effort is in some way working at cross-purposes to another governmentally-backed effort.

BadgerBoi

I've only used them in SYD (Smartgate), I love the system here. No lining up to get a ticket, they are spread out during the walk to immigration and you just go up to the first available; short lines for each machine. I scan the lines to see who looks a bit dithery and who looks as though they know what they're doing and join the appropriate line even if it's a bit longer.

The one time that my reading failed (I stupidly forgot to remove my glasses) I was escorted to a window where I was promptly processed by an immigration officer - ie, I didn't have to join the end of a long queue. This was a huge benefit.

If only they could come up with a decent system at SYD for the customs line, that's just a mess, as bad as anywhere in the world.

GUWonder

The UK’s version of automated border control allowed a person (Cousin A) to enter using a cousin’s passport. And it was only caught because Cousin B had to call Cousin A to come back to the border control gates and hand over Cousin B’s passport since Cousin A’s passport didn’t work for Cousin B. And this problem using Cousin A’s passport was right after Cousin A was able to use Cousin B’s passport at the automated border control gates and cleared into the UK.

aidy