Jonathan2712

Passing through the FW last week I stood in line to get my boarding pass scanned at the first desk, and then again at the barriers a few meters further along. When I was wating to scan at the barriers a few passengers who didn’t seem to want to wait in line at the first desk just walked straight to the barriers. The staff stopped a few of them but about three or four went unnoticed.

It got me thinking, surely there isn’t a stage in the process that is pointless, so what are the consequences of missing this particular scan? It must surely have been put in place for a reason.

msm2000uk

First one is doc check. Fail to do this, and you'll be called out the gate (if docs are required).

Second is biometrics. Fail to do this, and you won't be able to board through the e-gates.

Both are basically time-savers.

M

crazyarmadillo

They also want to check your status / cabin allows access to the first lounge. Plus in case you are lost or have any questions, as the next one is security check .

golfmad

Does the first one deal with the 'conformance' check?

RichieMc

I think the second one is the conformance check. If you don't do this, not only will you not be able to board, but you will likely be offloaded and your seat may well be allocated to someone else. (Or so I hear...I've toooootally never done this, I swear).

noFODplease

The first scan is by BA staff members and is the equivalent of the lounge dragons at the entrance on the other side.

The second scan is the security eligibility scan that determines if you are allowed to enter the airside departures area.

Jonathan2712

thank you all, I'm always impressed by the accumulated knowledge on this forum.

NWIFlyer

It happened to me a few weeks ago, when a fairly impatient chap bounded past me as I was waiting for the first check for lounge eligibility, but he never actually got to the security scanner before they called him back.

I would assume the FW security gates are programmed to reject anyone not eligible, just as the normal Fast Track ones are for non-eligible status/non-J/F passengers, so presumably if anyone tried to pull a fast one in attempting to enter the F lounge when not entitled they'd be stopped in their tracks fairly sharpish.

The first scan for any guest BPs must also somehow 'code' them to allow access through the automated gates.

corporate-wage-slave

The second one is only biometric for the Common Travel Area and AGP, as a trial. Most places don't do biometric sign-in at the moment but it is likely to change in due course. But you are correct on the second aspect, in fact at 35 minutes to boarding you are automatically offloaded, and your seat is allocated to standby passengers.

noFODplease

No this isn’t the case - don’t forget this process happens in reverse on the other side. You do security scan then walk to the lounge entrance scan.

They are not linked in that way. The security scan does not ‘care’ about lounge eligibility only your permission to enter the secure area.

Genius1

If you intentionally force your way past the second line (security officer or through the gates), your trip will almost certainly end before it started, at Polar Park.

noFODplease

That's a better illustration of the point I was trying to make - SO18 won't give a rats arse if you skip past the BA staffers but will turn up with guns if you try dodge the second scan...

navylad

I remember when HALs systems went down, they couldn’t scan at the first or the second, eventually, a manager told security to use a manual back up- writing down passport numbers for each passenger. Fine except I was travelling to MAN and just using ID.

They allowed me through with some explaining and on asking was told the conformance had ‘likely’ been suspended. I did question the lack of biometrics at the time and asked in CCR as well as I was worried that conformance would offload me.

When I got to the gate, computer said no. Not because of conformance but due to lack of biometrics. They had to get someone from security to attend the gate and liaise with security CCTV to confirm I went through security- which took about 25 minutes.

Thankfully, was boarded and the HAL system failure meant that not many planes departed that night, thankfully mine was one of the few after a significant ground delay- they’d already submitted a flight plan, and had to do a manual process for other bits of paperwork.

I was late for an evening meeting that night, making the post meeting social only but apparently it was quite a heated meeting so was rather glad of the delay in the end.

ratypus

So in theory trying to skip / push past the first scan would mean you can clear the second scan and into TFW and GF regardless of eligibility? Seems a bit daft, but I guess they have to do it that way as otherwise how would they ever track "guesting" on the automated gates.

Not that anyone should be trying to skip the first agents - just rude!

KARFA

But it makes sense that there needs to be a lounge eligibility scan at that stage since TFW security leads directly in to the GF lounge and nowhere else. Where else could they put it that wouldn’t end up causing problems?