Brits to travel through UK airports WITHOUT scanning passports in new rules
NEW travel technology is being rolled out across UK airports – which will let you leave without having to scan your passport.
There is nothing worse than returning from your holiday tired and wanting to go home, only to have to dig out your passport to travel through the e-gates.
But within the next few weeks new ‘contactless borders’ are expected to be installed at Birmingham and East Midlands airports which won’t require you to scan your passport.
Instead, the new system will scan your face and match it to your passport image stored in its system.
The system would work by airlines sending passport images of British passengers arriving each day, to border control.
Anyone then not recognised at an e-gate, will be asked to revert to the current method of scanning their passport.
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If this also failed, then the passenger would need to go to a manned border force desk.
The aim of the new process is to reduce long queues at airports.
The Times reports that it would then eventually be used across all e-gates at a number of airports.
This includes Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gatwick, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted airports, by early next year.
Initially, it would only be for British passport holders, but could extend to other nationalities in the future.
Phil Douglas, the director general of Border Force, said: “It will mean we have a more secure border and a much faster transit through the airport.
“It’s quicker, it’s more modern, it’s more secure.”
Other new e–gate rules were rolled out earlier this year, which now allows kids aged as young as eight to use them, rather than manual checks.