FlyingQuant

So far this year I've travelled almost every week, mostly flying from Heathrow. Until about 5 weeks ago, my success rate using the Heathrow ePassport gates was fairly good: I'd make it through probably 4 out of 5 times.

In the last 5 weeks I've failed the gates every time on my return to the UK.

The last 2 weeks I have asked if there is a problem, and the border control agents say everything is fine as far as they can tell: the passport reads well on their machine and there's no other issues being reported.

I have no problems with eGates in other countries.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it possible I get flagged for travelling too much?

Up In The Air

Mine works in the e-gates 100% of the time abroad and 0% of the time in the UK. The chip is in working order. I have asked Border Force agents on a number of occasions why this might be, but none has come up with an explanation. I'd very much doubt that frequency of travel has anything to do with it.

WorldLux

It's hit or miss in my case. Sometimes UK egates accept my passport. Sometimes it doesn't. There seems no apparent reason for it. Passport generally works with egates in other countries.

flatlander

Has your appearance changed? Spectacles/no spectacles/different spectacles? Beard? Different shaped hair cut? Been punched hard in the nose recently?

FlyingQuant

I don't think my appearance is any different. The boarder control agents clearly recognise me from the photo in any case

Maybe this is the first sign of putting on weight...

WorldLux

The e-gates had no issues to recognise me with different spectacles (rectangular ones rather than round ones), different beard and having gained weight compared to the photo in the passport. As far as I can tell it's all relatively sporadic.

:D!

In the past year, usually as soon as I look at the camera the gates open.

But I've had a few experiences where it rejected my passport instantly as soon as I inserted it into the scanner, in less than 0.1 seconds before I even looked at the camera. The UKBF agents also didn't see any problem but I wonder if it's some sort of security thing like contactless cards needing a PIN once in a while, or BA online check-in / mobile BP not working as a one-off on uncontroversial EU flights.

Don't know if this is related but for some reason my passport has problems when trying to enter Germany at manned desks only. While we are in the EU, I suppose they can't refuse entry but they need to spend a few minutes typing something every time, never happened in any other EU/EEA country.

GUWonder

A name like yours ever on an identity/identity doc theft/loss list? That’s most commonly what I’ve encountered when I see most of the manual typing done for EU passport users at MUC.

I know there was some suggestion about keeping border agents alert by requiring a certain percentage of manual action. Perhaps something like that is in play with the UK border?

Silver Fox

Do you have one of the newer passports where the photo page has gone from being a firm piece of clear plastic, to a sort of flimsy plastic paper like our new slippery-as-an-eel fivers/tenners? My daughter just switched and has had a couple of issues like you have experienced.

SwissBritMiss

I don't understand that change. My photo page is already bent from a border agent scanning my pass

That having been said, I've not had any issues with e-Gates, with the exception of last Friday, where I was so tired on landing I hadn't realised that I had my passport cover in my mouth and blocking the facial recognition

:D!

I highly doubt that my full name would be flagged in Germany and nowhere else, although if you abbreviate my first name and remove my middle names, then it is a possibility.

The problem started when I exited Germany with no matching Schengen entry (as I entered by Eurostar which does not collect API(?) and the French police did not scan my passport). After doing the typing etc, whatever he saw on his screen prompted the German officer to ask me whether I lived in Germany or was just visiting. Of course as an EU citizen it doesn't matter whether my entry records match exit records, but I wonder if they still track this stuff.

Well yesterday at LHR T3, the sole officer in the manual / ID cards / children queue was falling asleep with nothing to do, while the 2 officers manual processing e-gates failures had a queue of 10-15 people.

To be fair all 15 gates were in use and people were using the available space efficiently (unlike at LGW last month where everyone bunched up at the right hand side and the e-gates on the left hand side were mostly not being used).

GUWonder

I’m sure it’s something like that when I’ve seen this kind of stuff go on at say MUC. It need not be a full name hit, of that I have no doubt.

The whole dynamic as you mention is exactly what I’ve seen happen to various non-German EU citizens whose partial name match with a German citizen/resident is what took place.

Jcado

Entry/exit of EU/EEA/Swiss nationals is not routinely logged.