Airport chaos as eGates down for the count across UK
- Reference: 1695385932
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/22/egates_down/
- Source link:
Would-be passengers confirmed, via social media, hours-long queues at Gatwick Airport while they have their passports hand checked by officials after being told the automated passport-scanning gates had been shut down for "updating." Earlier this morning the eGates were down nationally, though some have reportedly opened.
According to authorities, there are a [1]total of 264 eGates in the UK, at 15 air and rail terminals.
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The gates use facial recog technology to compare the passenger's faces to the scanned photos from their passports. The gates are monitored by Border Force officers, so anyone rejected at a working eGate is then sent to a manned passport check to have their identity and passport scrutinized. The automated self-service barriers were meant to lessen the queues by using data stored in biometric passport chips – though the microchip can be damaged. If you're traveling with an under-12, your chipped passport won't help you – although accompanied 12-17s may travel through the gates.
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The electronic passport gates are supposed to supplant border officers so if "low-risk" travelers have a biometric passport, they can simply scan it, thereby easing queues for Brits, EU folks and people with chipped passports from the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.
To add insult to injury for some travelers today, a social media handler for [5]London Gatwick confessed that "short notice sickness" and poor weather meant that temporary ATC restrictions were in place, "which may cause delays or cancellations by airlines."
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Air Traffic Control techies could be forgiven for feeling a little under the weather after the nightmare of several [7]weeks back , where a technical error at National Air Traffic Systems (NATS) sparked chaos over UK airspace on [8]August 28 that was followed by weeks of flight rescheduling.
One miserable traveler [9]said Gatwick had just canceled his return flight after his outgoing flight was delayed by three hours all while "eGates down and thousands waiting."
An eGate failure during the May bank holiday weekend earlier this year also resulted in queues of several hours at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick. A Home Office spokesperson said at the time this was the result of an unspecified "IT issue."
[10]Scared of flying? Good news! Software glitches keep aircraft on the ground
[11]The Home Office will need to overturn a long legacy of failure to achieve ambition of all-digital border by 2025
[12]UK government has 'no clear plan' for replacing ageing legacy IT estate, MPs report
[13]Delayed UK digital border system was only stable enough to be used by 4% of intended users, MPs say
International hub
According to [14]OAG's monthly aviation data, London's Heathrow Airport – which serves 4.3 million passengers a month – is the busiest airport in Europe. There is a small gap between LHR and Istanbul Airport, the second busiest with 4.2 million seats.
The Home Office has spent an estimated £311 million ($280 million) building systems in its Digital Services at the Border, according to a 2020 [15]NAO report [PDF] – and it was a key part of a the country's plan to "provide the border controls required following the UK's decision to leave the EU."
Key pillar in the UK's border control upgrade programme 'lacks a systems integrator' [16]READ MORE
Collectively the UK airports serve hundreds of thousands of passengers each day, meaning there's an enormous knock-on effect when things go wrong. The eGates issue doesn't just affect people coming to Britain on purpose. London is a hub for flights from the US and Asia into Europe more generally so passengers with connecting flights are also affected because international flights need to pass through passport control/immigration.
Last year, the current Home Office provider of eGates, [17]Vision Box , noted its concern that the UK government's ePassport airport gate upgrade program had no systems integrator, while Digital Services at the Border [18]2014-15 to 2021-22 [PDF] was upgrading 298 automated eGates to allow them to link to new systems built to secure UK borders and remove their reliance on legacy data systems.
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As we reported [20]at the time , it was not just a technical upgrade but rather building a fresh system to connect eGates to Border Crossing, a project that holds records on "people of interest" to border agencies and which itself [21]has suffered delays and budget busting issues . It replaced Warnings Index, a 26-year-old system supported by Fujitsu until April 30, 2022.
The Home Office told us at the time: "The ePassport Gate rollout to the new platform was completed last year, and we are committed to making further improvements. ePassport Gate technology continues to be part of the overall strategy to make our border as efficient, smart, and responsive as possible."
We have asked the Home Office, which looks after Border Force, for comment about today's issues and how the maintenance program for the automated gates is scheduled more generally. ®
Get our [22]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-expands-use-of-epassport-gates-to-7-more-countries
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZQ26KIGBPGrMHVGHg-43ZAAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQ26KIGBPGrMHVGHg-43ZAAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQ26KIGBPGrMHVGHg-43ZAAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://twitter.com/Gatwick_Airport/status/1705154041385304436
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZQ26KIGBPGrMHVGHg-43ZAAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/06/airline_software_bugs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/28/uk_flights_disrupted/
[9] https://twitter.com/BoxingLondon/status/1705142411658174794
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/06/airline_software_bugs/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/24/uk_home_office_digital_border/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/13/uk_government_has_no_clear/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/15/delayed_digital_border_system_300/
[14] https://www.oag.com/blog/europes-busiest-airport-march-2023
[15] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Digital-Services-at-the-Border.pdf
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/14/uk_border_upgrade_confusion/
[17] https://www.vision-box.com/blog/smoother-travel-families-through-uk-border-summer
[18] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Digital-Services-at-the-Border.pdf
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZQ26KIGBPGrMHVGHg-43ZAAAAAg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/14/uk_border_upgrade_confusion/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/09/fujitsu_border_crossing_contract/
[22] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Probably, about 8 years ago the automated gate I was using at Luton airport had the taskbar present, I can't remember if it was an issue with the Windows License, it was something license related but was Windows 7.
Then again might be different as my Passport always worked at Luton, never at London City or Stansted.
Current problems
1) Border force / eGates
2) Metropolitan Police
3) Asylum detention centres
4) Windrush
etc.
Do we sense a pattern - Home Office involvement in all cases.
Is the Home Office not fit for purpose?
Re: Current problems
I'd suggest that maybe 13 years of cuts have resulted in the quagmire we find ourselves in.
And to think a decade ago, to not vote Tory would've resulted in a "coalition of chaos".
Happy Friday everyone!
Re: Current problems
and yet we pay highest taxes in most people living memory and have record level of borrowing.
That being said it was smart to cut funding to agencies that could investigate this.
Re: Current problems
The Home Office has been a disaster zone long before any cuts or even a Tory government. It was incompetent under Labour in the same way as it is incompetent under the Tories. The common factor is the civil service, an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Re: Current problems
You forgot
The online safety bill
Wondering whether there will be equal or greater chaos when UK introduces the "it's not a visa, but you still have to pay for it and get approval" (aka Electronic Travel Authorisation) starting in a couple of months.
Even when I came through Heathrow last Sunday only a small number of eGates were operational and there were no reported problems then. Staff also shouting at travellers to use all lanes or something like that, many of whom clearly didn't understand the language and through there was a problem like a fire. It's also dirty and shabby, and I'd come from Delhi which was fast, efficient and clean ! Why can't we get basic things like this right and India and most other countries can ?
Probably because usual suspects learned that they can charge tax payer to the moon and deliver nothing and nothing is going to happen to them.
The last time I came in through Manchester all the e-gates were working and there was still a queue nearly an hour long to get through.
The Home Office seem to have elevated the "hostile environment" rhetoric to a point at which people seem to accept it's their patriotic duty to put up with border mayhem in order to keep out the "immigrants". And of course people with money can now pay to skip to the front of the security queues and the passport queues: so as long as it's only the plebs who are inconvenienced, why would the government care?
"The gates use facial recog technology"
ws t wrth sving a fw kystrkes fr tht?
Re: "The gates use facial recog technology"
It's wrong anyway. They use farcical recognition.
Do they run Windows? If so then they'd be Bill Gates...