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worldwidedreamer

It was a physical UA Plat Card.

thejaredhuang

When I went to enroll at the office in Central they make copies/scans of all your documents, pretty hard to do that with a digital card.

eng3

I don't know if its related, but I have found that it sometimes does not work with the back sticker. Maybe because of all the other stickers I have on the back. Either the first gate wont open, or it does and the second gate wont open and a guy needs to come over and manually look at it.

The last time, I used the passport page and it worked every time.

Maybe it was all a coincidence or for all I know, I was using the wrong finger for the fingerprint. I always forget if its thumb or index.

fly2lanai

I just used my passsport information page. The sticker that i had wasn't a bar code type like before. I believe its the index finger.

eng3

Oh, its not a barcode anymore? and it still can read it if you just put in the back cover? I have lots of other stickers from other airports so I thought that might have confused it. Yes the information page always works.

I remember the finger is the opposite of what everyone else uses. So if it is index, I remember seeing everyone else using their thumb.

I remember one trip where every time, the guy had to come over or I even had to go to a counter (without waiting in line). I asked the guy why or there was something wrong, and they would say "no, nothing is wrong"

Steve M

Which finger to use? The correct answer is whichever one you used when you enrolled. To state the obvious, the system doesn't know which finger it is - it's just comparing whichever finger you scan with what's on file. Asking someone or looking up the official rules won't help if you somehow scanned a different one at enrollment.

UA_Flyer

I prefer using bar code. It saves me time opening the page.
Also, I travel so much that my passport gets opened and closed by so many airlines agents, border controls and hotel clerks. By not opening my passport minimizes the wear and tear.

IIRC, HK is probably the only one that offers bar code scan. I use e-channels at Mainland China, Singapore, Australia and Global Entry, all need to scan the passport information.

dsgtc0408

Some nationalities are not getting the barcode. My wife, who is not American, did not get the barcode on her passport when she renewed. I got the barcode on mine.

Sometimes, the machine doesn't read the barcode, in which case I switch to the passport page. 100% batting average on that.

ryman554

Japan TTP has a QR code. It actually wouldn't/couldn't read my information page (either it bends too much or my chip is out or....) and they stuck on a barcode. Works every time at the expense of one visa page quadrant.

Darlox

I think it might actually be the enrollment center you use, and/or whether or not their barcode printer happens to be working... I got a new passport and had to transfer my eChannel enrollment back in December. My wife had never been in the program before. She enrolled at the airport for the first time and did NOT get a barcode on her passport. I went to the Immigration Tower in Wan Chai to transfer my registration from the old passport to the new one, and I DID get a sticker on my new passport. We're both American. So unless barcode is somehow an "old registration" versus "new registration" kind of thing (which seems unlikely), I think your mileage may vary on this one...

In something like ~5 years of being in this program, I've never had a problem with the gate reader reading the barcode. I just slap the back of my passport down on the reader, and it's always worked great! Again, suspect it may be the quality of your barcode sticker and how much schmutz is on your passport that might cause a bad scan. Don't think it's a problem with the readers.

illico

Just a quick update. Both my wife and I were able to register for the HK e-channel as premier silvers without a physical card. This was on April 7. We both had the United app loaded on our smartphones and they took scans. Total time about 10 minutes each. This was done at the airport (not central immigration office) with a mid-afternoon arrival and the office was not too busy.