End of Iris? [effective 17 September 2013]
Aug 18, 2011, 6:34 am
#241
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, CX Gold (OW Sapphire), Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,476
So those of us who do not have a RFID chipped passport (unless I fill my current UK passport, I won't need one until 2015), are basically up a creek without a paddle once IRIS gets shut down?
Aug 18, 2011, 6:42 am
#242
Join Date: Apr 2008
Programs: Confirmed
Posts: 1,091
How hard is it to extend the e-passport gate to people who hold a biometric british visa? UKBA stores the biometrics of the holders of these visas already.
If it reads information from the chip on the passport, surely it could read from the chip of the biometric residence permit?
If it reads information from the chip on the passport, surely it could read from the chip of the biometric residence permit?
Aug 18, 2011, 6:47 am
#243
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,513
so, who knows, maybe T5 is going the same way as other registration offices? Either way, it doesn't sound like they are putting their heart and soul behind IRIS 
Aug 18, 2011, 8:50 am
#244
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 3,851
Fine by me. Don't have an EU passport, so cannot use the e-gates once IRIS goes away. Happy to pay for the ability to skip the lines.
Aug 18, 2011, 9:12 am
#245
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,661
How hard is it to extend the e-passport gate to people who hold a biometric british visa? UKBA stores the biometrics of the holders of these visas already. If it reads information from the chip on the passport, surely it could read from the chip of the biometric residence permit?
IRIS, by virtue of its registration requirement, essentially conducted that verification for all entries during the validity period at the time of the registration interview. Therefore, it was able to be extended to non-EU/EEA citizens. The future "premium" system will also require registration and will similarly be able to be extended to non-EU/EEA citizens who are deemed to be essentially "trusted travelers". However, the current e-gates do not require pre-registration and hence must be restricted only to holders of those documents that grant unconditional leave.
Aug 18, 2011, 9:19 am
#246
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,422
I guess it boils down to: P=(V x n)/H
Where:
P = the probability of me going down this route
V = average relative speed of the e-Passport gate compared to the standard queue
n = the number of times a year I'm flying after IRIS is removed
H = the hassle of renewing my passport early or getting a second passport
Aug 18, 2011, 9:21 am
#247
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Europe
Programs: Mucci, BAEC Gold, Aegean Gold
Posts: 2,115
B747-437B, would you have any information about the new "premium" system potentially becoming the UK's component in the FLUX Alliance?
Last edited by vla; Aug 19, 2011 at 5:53 am Reason: Many thanks to B747-437B
Aug 18, 2011, 5:47 pm
#248
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,661
B747-437B, would you have any information about the new "premium" system potentially becoming the UK's component in the FLUX Alliance?
Aug 19, 2011, 3:42 am
#249
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London and Zurich
Programs: AA, BA, Mucci: Sir Roger des Directions Routières, PCR
Posts: 13,609
At present the Netherlands and the USA are the only members of the FLUX Alliance. At the end of the FLUX pilot year (April 2010) other countries will join the Alliance.
Aug 19, 2011, 3:52 am
#250
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA
Posts: 140
In relation to Flux, this article, from May, suggests that there will be some kind of pilot for UK citizens to use the US Global Entry programme "in the next month or so".
http://www.businesstravelnews.com/article.aspx?id=20381
http://www.businesstravelnews.com/article.aspx?id=20381
Aug 21, 2011, 8:03 am
#251
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,857
There's now a printed sign on the door (albeit a desktop printer jobbie) saying that the T5 IRIS office, "due to unforeseen circumstances", is closed until further notice. The sign is dated 20 August 2011.
Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; Aug 21, 2011 at 8:22 am Reason: terminal omitted
Aug 21, 2011, 8:18 am
#252
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 3,851
Aug 21, 2011, 8:40 am
#254
Join Date: Apr 2008
Programs: Lord OPebble - Mucci of the Hour. Diamond Class MUCCI.Chevalier du Circle Intime de Pucci
Posts: 7,088
Aug 21, 2011, 10:01 am
#255
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,840
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)
In other words the staff are on holiday and they aren't going to take people off their day job!
Given what has been posted above, is it not more likely that given it's future is limited, it's closed to new registrations?
Originally Posted by OPebble