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Koninklijke Marechaussee Prefer to Turn off Automated Passport Gates

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Koninklijke Marechaussee Prefer to Turn off Automated Passport Gates

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Old Sep 12, 2018, 3:49 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by NickB
It seems to me that you are talking of a different kind of supervision here than in your earlier post .
At T2 yesterday evening, there were two KMar officers supervising, and no airport employees. In all instances where I have witnessed pax getting themselves stuck, the first thing the supervising officer did was to check the passport for eligibility.

Johan
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Old Sep 12, 2018, 3:53 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by johan rebel
At T2 yesterday evening, there were two KMar officers supervising, and no airport employees. In all instances where I have witnessed pax getting themselves stuck, the first thing the supervising officer did was to check the passport for eligibility.

Johan
I assume if the passport is ineligible, you would get blocked and the gate would not open to allow you into the area where it does the facial scan.
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Old Sep 12, 2018, 11:48 pm
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by BigFlyer
I assume if the passport is ineligible, you would get blocked and the gate would not open to allow you into the area where it does the facial scan.
There is no separate gate before the scanning gates themselves.
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Old Sep 13, 2018, 2:53 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by mfkne
There is no separate gate before the scanning gates themselves.
Sorry - I mis-spoke, you are correct. If memory serves the epassport gates have two barriers - the first one to get in, the second to get out. However, you do not need to use your passport to get in, only to get out.
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Old Sep 14, 2018, 4:02 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by NickB
It seems to me that you are talking of a different kind of supervision here than in your earlier post. This one is numpty supervision, viz. having somebody holding the hand of the less experienced passengers. This does not need to be an officer but can be just any Schiphol member of staff. Supervision by an officer is supervision from the other side to ensure that nothing untoward is taking place and/or acting as a secondary border screening safety mechanism. I am not sure that all automated border gate systems require this but it is at least not uncommon. I think that it is the case both in the UK and France, for instance.
In FRA it's an airport staff who helps people at the automated gates. It works perfectly there, and they are always on when I go through there. Waiting time 5 minutes max. Behind the gate you may be stopped by an officer in a booth who is monitoring things on a computer screen, but that has never happened to me.
In CDG it's sheer chaos, and somewhat discriminating too. Often they are off, and when they work some airport staff is trying to let only French passport holders through, and they insult your intelligence with stupid made up excuses when you point at the EU flag at the entrance of the lane.
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Old Sep 14, 2018, 5:43 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Zembla
In CDG it's sheer chaos, and somewhat discriminating too. Often they are off, and when they work some airport staff is trying to let only French passport holders through, and they insult your intelligence with stupid made up excuses when you point at the EU flag at the entrance of the lane.
To be honest, I do not think that this is deliberate discrimination or insulting your intelligence. It is just that many are not especially bright or well-informed. I have to say, though, that I have never had anybody stand in the way or question me when heading towards parafes gates. If you stride on confidently, IME, you will be ignored. It is only for Acces No1 that they insist on credentials.
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Old Sep 14, 2018, 7:16 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by NickB
To be honest, I do not think that this is deliberate discrimination or insulting your intelligence. It is just that many are not especially bright or well-informed. I have to say, though, that I have never had anybody stand in the way or question me when heading towards parafes gates. If you stride on confidently, IME, you will be ignored. It is only for Acces No1 that they insist on credentials.
I agree, it definitely isn't deliberate discrimination based on nationality. But nonetheless, I experience it as being insulting. It has happened quite a few times to me when it was very busy, and it makes me conclude that it's an instruction they are carrying out with the aim to avoid overloading the Parafes lines. If it works for all EU passport holders when its not busy, and then they aim to let only French passport holders through when it's busy, then they discriminate at busy times, it's as simple as that.

Indeed, striding on without saying a word, or blatantly saying yes when they ask "French?" (This is how they do the filtering) does reportedly work fine.

Anyway, this part of the discussion can be continued here: Have New Parafe Facial Recognition Gates Speeded up Things at CDG Arrival/Departures?
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Old Sep 14, 2018, 7:21 am
  #23  
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To me, this sounds like airport staff trying to protect their jobs.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 10:58 am
  #24  
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Walked in to the KMar office in the Privium lounge today and asked the officer on duty who decided whether to open the e-gates or not. "That's me", she replied.

Bottom line is that the decision is a judgment call by the supervisor on duty, based on a host of factors, such as manning levels, pax numbers, etc. etc.

It also turns out that those e-gates are not quite as automatic as they appear to be. They are constantly monitored by an officer for every six gates. He has a screen for each one, which displays the passport data of all pax passing through, as well as any results that various database searches throw up. Based on this information, he or one of his colleagues may have to intervene in any number of ways.

There are apparently also plans afoot to change the physical layout of the passport checkpoints, but this is currently a bone of contention between the airport and the KMar.

Johan
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 11:25 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by johan rebel
There are apparently also plans afoot to change the physical layout of the passport checkpoints, but this is currently a bone of contention between the airport and the KMar.
If they just put up stanchions to form a single queue for all machines that would go such a long way already.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 12:16 pm
  #26  
 
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I initiated a FOIA into the use of these gates. Curious what they will tell me.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 3:12 pm
  #27  
 
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On departure, Americans, Japanese, Australians, Canadians, Kiwis, Singaporeans, HK passport holders and one or two other nationalities can also use the automated gates and an officer is needed to stamp their passports.
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