Originally Posted by
LondonAussie
Does anyone know how to convince the airport staff in the pink shirts to let you go straight to a desk? The last few times I've come back to the UK they've been very insistent that I try to use the eGates, even after explaining that my passport rarely works on them and that it will be quicker for everyone if I just go straight to the desk. Sometimes they'll even see the failure and then tell me to try again on a different eGate, sometimes up to 3 times before finally allowing me to go off to manual processing desk.
I've had this problem for years and it continues with the new blue passport. It's apparent that UK e-gates don't work for my passport as e-gates in Brussels, Rome, Geneva, Malaga, Wellington, Brisbane all work (pretty much all the EU e-gates before we departed).
I had a chat with a friendly UK Border Force chap who elaborated slightly more than any other has in the past as he appeared to recognise my frustration at being asked to try the e-gates everytime knowing it wasn't going to work.
So, he said it's linked to my name and that a list appears with some known dodgy person with a similar name (he read it out to me at the time) and said the machine's AI/algorithim cannot make the determination in the time allowed so it refers the holder for a physical check. The guy then imparted the following advice "tell them a Border Force official in X (airport/port/terminal) told you the chip was damaged so it won't work". I've successfully deployed this line since.