abligh

I’m in the same situation as you (UK passport, Swiss residence card). I think the answer is “so what if they do”. As a Schengen resident you are entitled to spend as many days in the EU as you like, even if “machine says no”. The Swiss residence cards are linked to the passport number so it is possible they will do a lookup.

Incidentally: On entry to Malta (flight from the UK) I foolishly showed my Swiss residence card in order to avoid getting my passport stamped. It took half an hour (literally) for them to work out what they should do. Their conclusion (after two levels of escalation) was that they should stamp the passport but I could stay as long I liked. I think the first part is wrong but after 30 minutes I had lost the will to live (well to argue anyway) as I was flying back to London. On the way out I kept my residence card firmly in my pocket. They did at least confirm I could stay as long as I liked.

DaveS

I have the old type UK passport. I tried a trick with a couple of small dots of blu tack to stop the photo page from sliding out of place. Two small pieces near the corners attached to the rear cover. I had no problems at Gatwick yesterday. Also, both ways in Rome it worked very quickly. The Italian e-gate machines seem much better than those in the UK.

higham44

I arrived at T3 at 08.45 today (from HEL). I am pleased to say that the e-gates worked perfectly for me. It took just 11 mins from getting off the plane (HBO) to being outside T3 waiting for the car park shuttle bus. Something to do with me having the 'new' British passport, or that everything was working well?

MaxFlyer

Probably more to do with the planets being aligned

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.

AviationMoose

My passport never used to work at the eGates. It took me ages to work out what might be the cause, but I realised that the Passport Office had seemingly 'flipped' my photo when making my passport - so my left is my right on the photo. I've no idea why this was done, but it was. Nor am I sure this is why it didn't work on the eGates.

But what I do know is that in more recent years, I have become encumbered with a significant amount of beard - and now the eGates work perfectly. It may be total coincidence, but I wonder if whatever the recognition tech is effectively ignores the now bearded parts and concentrates on, say, the eyes, where the flipping is less apparent. Honestly no idea, but I find it quite funny if it's true.

Dicksbits

Mine never works at T5 egates, but is fine at stansted. This has only started occurring in the last year or so. The chap on the desk said it could be a host of reasons, including the slight slipping of a page when inserted, someone with the same name as me being flagged for further inspection etc. A royal pain non the less.

wportre

Yup: ignored.

UK REALLY needs to up its game. Arrived yesterday at ORD. I could as well have left my passport on the plane (a bad loss of a safety net in some ways I suppose). A gaze at a camera, two screen touches and a “Welcome to America Mr Wportre” from an officer handing me a card to walk through border patrol (out of practice, they had to break conversation to wave me through) and customs. Amazing. ADD: GOES, obv.

Saladman

Not sure why? It’s pretty straightforward for US to use the E-gates in the U.K. as a reciprocal arrangement. (Which we don’t get over there).

And to be fair, the last three times I’ve been to the US, there have been significant queues and it always requires a check, f/prints or photo and a stamp which takes a finite amount of time. The staff are usually sullen at best and downright rude at worst.

Personally I’d suggest that it’s the US that needs to up their game in this respect.

Roughneck57

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.

Captain Schmidt

I've been told the same story of dodgy person/same name, as have a number of others here. I recently went to Dublin where my passport also didn't work in the e-gates - Irish immigration officer told me it was a faulty chip. I'm pretty confident that there is no-one else in the UK (or world for that matter) with the same combination of first, middle and last name as me so I know which of the two I'm more inclined to believe.

beamac

If you want to check if your chip is faulty then you can download a couple of apps from the Apple store : 'ReadID Me' or 'Biometric Passport Reader' they will read your info if your chip is working. There are plenty others about, but have found these both work- at least then you can rule out one of the potential problems if the gates don't work for you. Google store will probably have similar. I suspect most of the time user error and / or egate sensitivity is the problem. As mentioned above try the hairgrip trick as well- it works

Roughneck57

When the guy quoted the name that came up it wasn't a match, it was actually the first letter of my surname and then the rest of my first name - the point being the AI/algorithm was unable to make a determination (think he said it times out) so defaults to rejecting it and requiring a physical/human check. If the chip is faulty it surely wouldn't work in Rome, Geneva, Brisbane etc. Another way of looking at it, the software is crap/risk averse :-)

Saladman

Surely that’s better than being not risk averse enough?

Just a reminder, it’s not just the chip that the E-gate reads; there are a number of other checks that it does in relation to your passport before it gets to the photo. So checking that your chip is ok/faulty with an internet app is pretty pointless!!

Roughneck57

it's the notion that we are more risk averse than anyone else that is the problem, I don't think we are as we share data such as this (the dodgy list) with our friends. Perhaps an illustrative example, names made up of course: Passenger George O'Reilly, first name on dodgy list O'George - the software AI/algorithm has to decide who is at the gate but can't make a determination in the allowed time so refers for a physical/human check. George presents at an EU MS e-gate (before we left) which pulls up the same list and makes the determination - welcome to Rome George. This is pretty much what the Border force guy said about my name, a rather odd transposition that the software can't seem to work out in the alotted timed. Notwithstanding there are other checks of course, this was the first time the information made sense after asking many many times and being fobbed off - most common was "you have a common surname" to which I would say "yeah like my wife and kids and they are already through!"

Before this I had wondered if there was a leak at the passport office and if my name and passport number was compromised, but then I got a brand new passport and the same thing happens, it just spins a bit longer.