Travelers faced long queues at major UK airports after e-passport gates failed | Air Transport

[ad_1]

Passengers arriving at major UK airports at the start of the bank holiday weekend faced long delays after problems with e-passport gates.

Travelers expressed their anger on social media over hour-long queues at a number of airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick, as arrivals had their passports checked by hand instead of automated machines.

On Saturday afternoon, a Home Office spokesman said the disruption began on Friday, stemming from a computer glitch that has since been resolved.

Following a technical fault in the border system which affected e-gate arrivals to the UK, we can confirm that all e-gates are now working normally, the spokesperson said. We thank the travelers who have been affected for their patience and the staff for their work in resolving the problem.

Millions are expected to travel this weekend as the UK semester begins.

Delays at some of the UK’s biggest airports have affected thousands of passengers, with reports of some people overheating and fainting in hot weather, and water being handed out to those queuing during long periods.

A passenger from Frankfurt said he queued at Heathrow to have his passport rejected by an electronic gate. In total, I waited in line for almost an hour to enter my own country with a British passport, David Steward wrote on Twitter.

Another traveler posted photos of a packed line at Gatwick passport control at 2am on Saturday. Amazing. Welcome to modern Brittany. And sure enough, the air conditioning is off, so it’s swelteringly hot, wrote Chris OHara.

A passenger arriving at Heathrow tweeted: Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. 2 hour queues just to get to the real queue. Broken doors.

Another person arriving at Heathrow described her as the mother of queues.

Back from Dubai overnight in this mother of queues. Apparently nationwide breakdown of border control machines, so manual passport checks. Moreso ridiculous when you pay extra for the privilege of traveling via @HeathrowAirport pic.twitter.com/pcPCkoxdVy

— Lina Tayara (@FabLoulou) May 27, 2023

At UK airports, electronic passport gates are replacing border agents, allowing travelers to scan their passports and, through the use of facial recognition technology, allow faster entry, easing queues at airports for UK and EU citizens.

Travelers from Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States, as well as those who have a symbol biometric on their passport, can also enter through the electronic gates.

A Gatwick spokesman said the problem started on Friday evening but queues eased by Saturday morning. He said: Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a domestic issue with UK Border Force electronic gates.

Our staff work with the UK Border Force who manage passport control, including electronic gates, to provide assistance to passengers if required.

In a tweet on Saturday morning, a Heathrow spokesperson said: We are aware of a national issue affecting electronic gates, which are operated by Border Force. This issue affects a number of ports of entry and is not specific to Heathrow.

Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the issue as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on site to manage queues and ensure passenger welfare. We apologize for any impact this has on passenger journeys.

Separate computer glitches affected 20,000 British Airways passengers on Friday, leading to the cancellation of more than 175 flights. This then affected services on Saturday morning.

The disruption also affected travel on ferries between Dover and Calais, as a problem with French passport control computer systems was delaying arrivals in France.

Passengers queue at Dover in Kent. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Passengers had to allow two hours for border checks and check-in at the UK’s main passenger port.

The Port of Dover said on Saturday evening that the queues had been eliminated, posting on Twitter: Thank you for your patience as we catch up with the pre-border control computer issues, which have been resolved. The traffic now passes well at the border. Average waiting times for cars and coaches are now 90 minutes.

A Home Office spokesperson said earlier on Saturday that the Border Force had robust plans in place to deploy officers to minimize disruption and wait times.

Last month Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sought to strike a deal with the EU to allow British passport holders to use e-gates when traveling to its member states. The UK government is also introducing a similar system for non-UK travelers to the UK, the Electronic Travel Authorization, which it will start rolling out this year.

[ad_2]