Passport e-gates back online after outage causes delays at UK airports
On late Tuesday, several major airports in the UK, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, and Manchester, experienced delays with arrivals due to a Border Force issue.
Social media posts displayed long queues at these airports, with one passenger reporting spending more time waiting for passport control than on their flight from Lisbon.
The problem stemmed from the outage of e-gates, automated gates using facial recognition for identity checks, which allow travelers to enter the country without interacting with Border Force officers. With over 270 e-gates in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK, they are intended to expedite entry into the country. However, staff had to resort to manual processing of passengers due to the outage.
The Home Office, responsible for Border Force, stated that e-gates came back online shortly after midnight following a “system network issue” reported around 19:50 BST. They assured that border security was not compromised, and there was no indication of malicious cyber activity.
Apologies were extended to affected travelers, with gratitude expressed to partners, including airlines, for their cooperation during the disruption.
Notably, the issue affected not only airports with e-gates but also Belfast International Airport, which does not utilize them.
By Wednesday morning, flights across UK airports were mostly operating on schedule. Passengers described long queues at passport control, with priority given to families and vulnerable individuals. While frustration was prevalent, many passengers accepted the situation, although some expressed discontent.
Individual accounts depicted chaotic scenes at airports, with border officials rushing to manually process passport holders. Delays varied, with some passengers waiting up to 90 minutes for processing.
Manchester Airport announced the waiver of excess charges for late departures from car parks due to the issues.
This incident marks a recurrence of previous disruptions involving e-gates in the UK, highlighting ongoing challenges in maintaining automated systems at airports.