KARFA

Having met cws a few times I am reasonably confident he doesn't appear to pose a threat to national security

:D!

Some people's British passports only work intermittently in the gates. I wonder what would happen if the British passport didn't work and instead of SEEKing ASSISTANCE like it tells you to, you just try again with an NZ passport?


Until I recently renewed my Australian passport, I had this problem in Australia because my photo is 10 years old and about 5 years ago it stopped working in the Australian smartgates, unfortunately my British passport with a newer photo would not have worked in the gates because you need an e-visa, which you are not supposed to get as an Australian citizen although I know it has been done by some people.

hanmer

corporate-wage-slave

Border Force officers are supposed to inform UK passengers if their biometrics are damaged. But by all means ask them to check it next time.

SKRan

calv1225

I will get my new Aussie passport next week and will be on BA006 to LHR in July, so excited to know this! Just a small question, how long does it take normally to clear immigration and customs in LHR? Thanks in advance!

ISTFlyer

Without e-gates and without any access to the priority lane, non-UK,EU or EEA, around 30 mins in T5.

corporate-wage-slave

And with e-gates, usually under a minute, often a low number of seconds. In the case of Australians arriving into T5 I'm particularly pleased this is happening, since at the time of arrival of the BA service into Sydney, and assuming one is off the aircraft quickly, usually I can get through the Australian e-gates immediately, so it's great to see it reciprocated at the UK end.

Just remember to place the photo page fully and firmly on the small glass screen with a little bit of pressure, and stare into the light box, ideally with a similar expression to the passport. At T5 you may need to chose an e-gate with someone in front of you, so just follow someone who looks competent, e.g. as they approach the e-gate they manipulate their fingers on their passports to get it ready for positioning, or who make opportunistic glances to e-gates up and down the rank.

For customs, unlike Australia, it's largely intelligence led so unless there is an unusual random check, you probably won't even notice it.

offshore_bob

My UK passport never works at the Heathrow gates yet works every time at Helsinki, so the biometrics still work, just not in the country of issue

flatlander

You can try to alter the angle of your face slightly. I have this problem quite often because I have glasses on in my passport photo (not a UK passport) and some e-gates (Stansted are particularly bad) have bright lights that can make faces look different or, in my case, causes strong reflections on my glasses.

The trick is to move your face in a slight nutation - imagine facing forward and trying to move the point of your nose in a small circle without moving your shoulders, slowly (30-60 seconds for a full rotation). This can often give the camera a view with a lighting angle that makes you look the same as the biometrics and you're in.

(Nutation examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=nuta...&bih=892&dpr=2 )

Crampedin13A

So a lot faster than your return to Toronto and our idiotic 4 step process to get landside then

roho

Is there a dedicated e-gate for pax in Club & First at the new T5 immigration e-gates?

Globaliser

The e-gates are not new, and there never have been dedicated e-gates for any category of passenger.

corporate-wage-slave

And in the case of T5 it isn't necessary, there are enough gates for everyone to be through in seconds or a low number of minutes. T3 and LCY can get a bit more jammy, but there isn't a lot of space, and a 10 minute wait would be most unusual. LGW gets summer peak build ups, mostly it's fine but you can sometimes be queuing for 10 minutes or so.

[Strictly speaking there are dedicated e-gates for staff, assistance passengers and Concorde Team guests on the left in T5, not that they make any difference to the speed of immigration].

Physci