Originally Posted by
US HK UK flyer
I just encountered this hitch at Heathrow as well, despite successfully entering my HKID/visa expiration as described above. The check-in machines (and the ones at Heathrow T3 are not just for CX but a number of airlines including Qantas) seem to read visas and ask for a visa to read to confirm but only the kind that seem to be accepted are big stickers in passports with a similar readable script as passports have. Would not accept the QR on my HK e-visa (which I think only the HK Immigration Department can scan anyway) and certainly not my HKID. I went to the flight management desk and they took care of me without even asking to see a visa or ID card.
As alluded with the machines, it's a problem for other airlines as well. Qatar had some staff with a small standing desk to facilitate at check-in; I think CX may have had this as well at LHR but I circumvented it.
You would think in this day and age where airports are trying to automate passport control process, that IATA and airlines should have figured out how to capture visa details that are not the traditional visa stickers inside passports.
Does this mean that anyone travelling on a non HKSAR passport but have a HKID and with Hong Kong being the final destination would face the same problem at check in kiosks in general ? How does a check-in kiosk recognize a HKSAR passport anyway when the passport issuing country and citizenship code both read CHN ? The only thing I can think of is that a CHN passport holder can enter Hong Kong for 7 days without additional visa/entry requirements so the system gets circumvented. But then, a HKSAR passport holder can therefore check in for a flight to Mainland China at a kiosk since the machine reads the document as a CHN passport even though HKSAR passport is not a valid document to enter the rest of the country.... (This is becoming interesting.....)