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Highlights
- UK airline passengers reported delays of up to four hours across UK airports following biometric passport gates failure.
- This is second such incident in two weeks
UK airline passengers reported delays of up to four hours across prominent UK airports following biometric passport gates failure. Travellers in most UK airports, such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh, had to wait in long queues for hours at the terminal due to rush at the gates on Wednesday when there was a glitch in self-service passport gates. Travellers across Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh were either had to wait in long queues at the terminal or had to be seated inside the aircraft due to rush at the gates.
The automated gates act as an effective functioning mechanism system at the UK’s busiest border posts. Instead of doing it manually, the self-service passport gates manage to quickly process the applications and fasten the process and reduce the crowds.
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What caused the blip?
The UK Border Force, which manages the e-gates allows the travellers with biometric passports to pass through border control without a manual inspection. However, due to the technical glitch, the passengers had to bear the brunt of waiting in long queues to get their turn.
Not the first time
This was not the first time that passengers were stuck at the airport. Wednesday’s delay was an addition to the long list of such incidents that have taken place across UK airports over the past 18 months. Almost a fortnight ago, the airports had faced a similar situation, where passengers were stuck for hours. Although the Heathrow airport was quick to notify the passengers through its Twitter handle.
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The system failure comes at a time when the UK airports are struggling with new Covid travel rules protocol for fully vaccinated people.
With the steady influx of travellers, the technical glitch was surely an unwanted headache. The officials need to find tangible solutions so that such an incident doesn’t get repeated in frequent intervals.
