Mandatory passport check
 

Recently I've made 2 trips to Europe using hand luggage only
i check in online and printed out the boarding passes , on the boarding pass in red it days my passport has to be checked prior to boarding
do I have to get passport checked at check in desk / bag drop off ? or can I do it after security at the gate
both my trips I did it at check in desks and got a strange look when I said I had no luggage to check in

Just flash your passport when boarding as you would normally do anyway.

It's effectively just a reminder to have your passport with you, since if HBO the gate check is the only time you will be asked for your passport before boarding. There was a brief period when BA tried to get passengers on HBO to get their passports checked before security (it was connected with not doing passport checks at the gate and thinking of future e-gate initiatives} I think it lasted 2 days before being abandoned. Apart from that odd experiment, nothing has changed in this area in 20 years.

It is indeed standard procedure to check passport at the gate; no need to do it at check in counter.

Note that some Schengen countries (e.g. France) have reinstated gate passport/ID control within Schengen.

When I'm carry-on only I always go to the gate desk to have my passport cleared. Then I don't get paged to do so.

I wouldn't worry about it - they will ask for it when they need it....

When departing LHR T5, I cannot get through the automated gates leading to security without getting my passport checked, even when I've successfully checked in online.
I've traveled around the world multiple times, almost always HBO, and have never once received a strange look.

Up to a couple of years ago, they needed to see yor passport before you got to the gate (entering the lounge was normally where mine got looked at).

However, IIRC I was told one day at the EDI lounge that the system had changed and as long as BA had your passport details in their system (for many of us that means in their Exec Club profile), the check was no longer required

P.S. That was just for European flights

I've had something similar recently-- it appears to be a problem with dual citizenship (I'm Canada/UK) and which passport gets picked up in the booking. Some of this is daft: heading for continental Europe, neither Canada nor UK require visa, of course. And it's unhelpful that BAEC only put space for one passport in the profile.

Isn't the answer to this one to not put any passport details into the BAEC profile, and simply add the appropriate passport details to each booking? This is what I do for two separate family members, one of whom is a conventional dual national. The other has the usual mess of issues with different Hong Kong-based travel documents in different names. It takes about 30 seconds to do on each booking - usually rather less time than it takes to pick seats.

I get the sense this is more than just a reminder.... more like what to expect post-Brexit. I've flown from Finland twice and not been able to print a boarding pass without a manual passport check. I've had separate checks at FRA prior to boarding a connecting flight to LHR, and similarly my other half couldn't print a connecting boarding pass via STR so had to go to Flight Connections for a passport check. We both have European passports so shouldn't be an issue....... sign of times to come I suspect and ramping up or testing methods perhaps. Locally they state its a UK requirement (if they state anything at all).

I sincerely hope you're right. What is it though? Seems like everything becoming more onerous......

The usual cause is that someone didn't book the flight in BA.com and/or their API data isn't in there and/or the passport is close to expiry date (within 6 months). Amadeus comes with a subset of API data of its own and if it conflicts with FLY then you or the agent needs to resolve it. It is actually more likely to happen on services not involving the EU since API is more widespread outside the EU than inside it. But yes, nothing to do with Brexit, apparently there are some aspects of every day life which don't.