Gatwick e-gates
 

Arrived at Gatwick South just before 9pm last night and immigration looked like a refugee camp. Queue all the way back up the ramps and out of sight. Probably 1/3 of the e-gates working and those that were seemed to be rejecting 25% of those trying to get through.

Does anyone know whether there's any crazy management logic as to why they're not operating? Seems odd that out of an entire wing of 20 machines, none of them are working and having been through a few times it seems to be that one or other wing is up and the other isn't.

The guy trying to wrangle the masses was quite harassed and gave Gatwick management an absolute earful when I spoke to him. Interesting data point though, my passport failed at the first machine but I sneaked into another and got through - doesn't look like a failure prejudices another try.

As I understand it, the number of machines in use is dependent on the number of staff available. So if they are short of staff, then they limit the machines open.

That makes sense - there was 1 guy on duty and he was not happy. So unhappy, I sensed they were seconds away from having no-one on duty!

What a strange system. I would have thought that less staff would require the use of more machines.

I believe there is an element of manual intervention if the e-gate does not automatically match your face to your passport photo.

I had a twitter from Gatwick about this. They do not control the border control staff as such they can only guide people to the gates but an actual border force person has to be around. A certain number of games per agent.

To top it off, on my last visit half the gates are closed but I wasn't allowed into the normal queue as I didn't have a 13 year old with me. Queue was empty and no one without children was allowed to use it.

There is nothing at all automated about the e-gates. They read your passport number and put the photo and the live feed on the screen of a Border Force agent. As you exit, you will see a bank of desks with said agents.

If you are flagged as low risk, this pops up and they don't look closely at you and your photo.

Why is it manual? Because the system doesn't work. It has different settings for the quality of photo match on auto. When they tested the system they had pensioner couples who mixed up their passports, set to coarse match the system still let them through. However, if it is set to fine, it rejects larges numbers.

Who presided over a project that wasted millions and doesn't work? One Mrs T May!!!!

What I have witnessed (at LHR T2) is that a) people rejected by the machine are siphoned off to be dealt with manually - they have their own queue but could equally well be dealt with in the regular queue); and b) there is a manned Customs booth at the exit to the machine area. Normally there are one or two officers in that booth. I would presume that the staffing varies according to how many machines are in use and vice versa. I would also presume that they are looking for flags on people and deciding whether to allow them machine entry or send them into the other queue.

That makes sense. So, how does it differ from the US system, other than in the use of fingerprints as well as images? I have the same face (admittedly rather haggard after an 11 hour flight) and I have the same fingerprints, but I always get an X on my print out.

What? You mean they're not automated?

Jumping in rather than usual lurking as this is something I talk about a lot at work. When they first started they were not at all automated. My understanding is that they are moving towards automation but at the moment it depends on how close the match is. i.e. a 100% match = go through, a 90% match = human to look.

They are then using the human feedback to continue training the algorithm.

N.B. I don't have specific information about these gates as they keep that quite close to their chest but they are certainly much less automated than you think.

Well, I don't have any source of information besides hearsay regarding these gates, but I have observed a single UKBF agent assigned to the gates tapping away on her phone, while people were still being allowed through.

This was at LGW. I was waiting for my wife and it was taking much longer than usual with several people stuck inside the gates, but not yet being rejected and told to see the human officer. Then, the UKBF agent looked up at her screen and started pressing some buttons, which was followed by gates opening.

If it was fully manual, then when only a single agent is assigned there, they should never be looking away from the screen unless the gates are empty.

Maybe there was an important cat video that needed to be watched on the phone. Wouldn't want to let letting people into the country get in the way of something like that.

The Mrs (non EU) went through 5 minutes quicker than me (egates) at Gatwick South last week.

my observation was it was mainly clueless other travellers and unhelpful Gatwick staff causing the delay. There should also be signs telling people to take their glasses off and clearer instructions of how to put your passport into the machine as these seems to cause the most rejections

It's the standard ineptness from a government and civil service than canned IRIS as it actually worked. God forbid something would actually speed people on their way and reduce the need for surly people snarling at arriving passengers. ;)