National egates outage
May 27, 2023, 12:35 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: UK
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Posts: 276
National egates outage
Just landed at T5 and apparently there is a national egates outage so all border entry being manual processed. Current queue both ways down the corridors before border control.
May 27, 2023, 1:23 am
#7
Join Date: May 2012
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May 27, 2023, 2:20 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: IAH
Programs: BA S, AA G(1MM), Hilton D
Posts: 253
Just confirming what ibbitsc reported above - I came thru at around 8.30, took about 45 mins. The e-gates were re-opened, though still a lengthy wraparound queue before you could enter the arrivals hall. It did seem to my untrained eye, that the queues are clearing. Most frustrating to me was that the trains from B&C gates were taken out of service because, according to a member if staff I asked, "there were too many people in Arrivals so we had to slow you down in getting there". In Arrivals lounge now and hearing folks who arrived earlier talk of 2-3 hours standing in a line.
May 27, 2023, 2:23 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London, UK
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This is normal practice when the immigration hall is full and spilling out into the corridor. That last thing you want is a TTS load of passengers arriving via the lifts and escalators with nowhere to go.
May 27, 2023, 2:27 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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May 27, 2023, 2:58 am
#13
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,286
Just confirming what ibbitsc reported above - I came thru at around 8.30, took about 45 mins. The e-gates were re-opened, though still a lengthy wraparound queue before you could enter the arrivals hall. It did seem to my untrained eye, that the queues are clearing. Most frustrating to me was that the trains from B&C gates were taken out of service because, according to a member if staff I asked, "there were too many people in Arrivals so we had to slow you down in getting there". In Arrivals lounge now and hearing folks who arrived earlier talk of 2-3 hours standing in a line.
May 27, 2023, 3:03 am
#14
Join Date: Oct 2021
Location: London (née Melbourne)
Programs: Qantas Platinum (Oneworld Emerald)
Posts: 976
Hopefully this outage was actually an overnight software upgrade that went longer than expected, but has now fixed some of the longstanding problems with the eGates!
May 27, 2023, 3:19 am
#15
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London and Brussels
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 170
My UK passport also doesn’t usually work at the UK e gates and is fine everywhere else too. I found a trick to make it work after some experimenting …. You really have to press your passport firmly onto the scanner, I mean more than you would expect firm …. Then it works flawlessly.