Travel expert issues ‘chaos’ warning for Brits flying back to UK airports

A travel expert is issuing a warning to everybody arriving in UK airports with border force checks to drastically change very soon.

Rules will change across the United Kingdom later this year with a move away from physical passport checks when you arrive in the country and do through border control.

If you've experienced this before it's pretty standard, where border police check your passport, ask where you've been and give you a right old stare down before letting you on your way.

Of course they are just doing their job, which is essential to national security, but it is a moment where you don't half feel incriminated, despite only coming back from Disneyland Paris with Mickey Mouse ears on your head (yes, I'm speaking from experience).

But from 6 October, 2024, everything could change across most of the UK's airports when arriving in the country.

Instead of physical checks on a passport, airports are introducing increased facial recognition technology through eGates. Similar rules are being brought in on the same day if you're travelling to an EU country from the UK, with three year bans on the cards if you break them.

Currently, there are more than 270 eGates in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK to enable quicker travel into the country, and it is only going to be expanded further.

Long delays await? (Getty Stock Images)

From 6 October, they are set to be expanded and no longer see people required to show their passport.

It means that from this date, travellers to the UK will be able to use eGates to pass through border control without needing to present their passport or necessarily speak to a Border Force officer.

But Anton Radchenko, CEO at flight compensation experts AirAdvisor, has this week suggested the change could lead to 'chaos' at passport control due to the technology being prone to outages, with one recent outage causing delays of more than four hours for passengers.

He says: “eGates are notoriously prone to outages, you only need to look back to 8 May when passengers arriving at major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh were affected by huge delays due to eGates failing.

Passport checks won't be required. (Getty Stock Images)

“A nationwide system network issue persisted for more than four hours, with some passengers speaking of spending longer in queues at arrivals than they did on their flight.

“While the new plans are designed to offer ‘frictionless’ travel, if the roll-out of the technology isn’t flawless, passengers could face chaos at UK borders when systems go down.

“When this technology fails, you need human border staff on hand to process passengers manually, airports will need to be conscious of this - and won’t solely be able to rely on the new technology.

“There are currently around 270 eGates in place at UK airports and railway stations which will need to be upgraded to accommodate the new technology.”

Radchenko warns that if you miss a flight due to 'security or immigration processing reasons' you do not have the right to request a new flight free of charge, so the knock on effect could be costly if you're simply getting a connection.

Passport control can be a lengthy wait under current rules (Getty Stock Images)

How to use an eGate

You can normally use eGates if you meet the following criteria.

First of all you have to have a biometric symbol on the cover of your passport. You've also got to be aged 10 or older, with under 18s accompanied by an adult.

On top of this you will have to be a British citizen or a national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the USA. You can also be a member of the Registered Traveller Service.