Electronic passport control issues causing huge queues.

[Cowley]

This looks like it’s been an absolute nightmare:

Anger over airports' passport e-gates not working - BBC News

Passengers arriving in the UK faced hours of delays - but the situation is now resolved.

www.bbc.co.uk

Passengers flying into the UK faced hours of delays at airports across the country where passport e-gates were not working.
Travellers told of their anger at being stuck in queues at airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick.
The Home Office said on Saturday evening that all e-gates were now operating as normal.
The disruption, which began on Friday night, had been due to an IT issue, a source told the BBC.
All airports across the country using the technology were affected.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this will be sorted out this week? We’re flying out of Heathrow on Saturday and I’m not sure if I should allow for an extra couple of hours or not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[skyhigh]

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this will be sorted out this week? We’re flying out of Heathrow on Saturday and I’m not sure if I should allow for an extra couple of hours or not?

The quote you've added says the Home Office claimed the issue was resolved yesterday evening. I've got no idea how true that is though.

 

[Cowley]

The quote you've added says the Home Office claimed the issue was resolved yesterday evening. I've got no idea how true that is though.

Blimey. I read that the other day and then didn’t read the quote properly before I posted it.

 

[zwk500]

It did get resolved - I had a friend who queued up for 2hrs at Luton after an already 2h-delayed flight only for the e-gates to switch back on literally as they got to the manual desk. He was not impressed.

Whether it will recur or not is another question.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Eurostar was affected too, the example quoted was at Gare du Nord where e-gates are used for trains to London.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This looks like it’s been an absolute nightmare:

Anger over airports' passport e-gates not working - BBC News

Passengers arriving in the UK faced hours of delays - but the situation is now resolved.

www.bbc.co.uk

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this will be sorted out this week? We’re flying out of Heathrow on Saturday and I’m not sure if I should allow for an extra couple of hours or not?

Thanks in advance.

The UK doesn't have outbound passport control at airports so if flying from (not to) LHR you won't be affected.

 

[pitdiver]

The UK doesn't have outbound passport control at airports so if flying from (not to) LHR you won't be affected.

My wife and I flew from Luton two weeks ago. We had our passports checked there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My wife and I flew from Luton two weeks ago. We had our passports checked there.

Your passport is checked at check-in if you check a bag, and at the gate (because airlines are responsible for supplying accurate information on who they carry out of the country). There can also be random Police checks (the desks exist but are hardly ever manned) if they're looking for someone in particular. Lots of people seem to produce passports when entering security but you don't need to, all they care about is the boarding card.

The UK does not operate outbound passport control anywhere other than St Pancras/Ebbsfleet/Ashford and possibly the ferry ports* (and that's because Eurostar doesn't take part in the advance passenger information scheme and is not done by border control officers but rather contracted staff by Eurostar), and there are no e-gates on the outbound at any location.

Luton absolutely, categorically does not have e-gates on the outbound. I used it a couple of months ago.

* I forget if the ferries do API or not.

 

[Mike395]

Just as a data point - business as usual coming back through Stansted yesterday, e-gates working and was through in <5min. There were staff doing some sort of technical work on one e-gate (and they'd shut the one either side too presumably to give the technicians a bit of space) but suspect that was entirely unrelated to the issues over the weekend.