Heathrow face-off

Picture: Heathrow Airport

I have had my new UK passport for exactly three years, give or take a week. The previous one was starting to fall apart - no great surprise given that I was living abroad, travelling a lot and carrying my passport everywhere as a required legal form of identification in the Netherlands and France.

With my new passport came the magic biometric identification, theoretically allowing me to pass through so-called ‘e-gates’ at British airports, thus speeding up the transit process while reducing the need for the UK Border Force to have expensive human beings checking my document. Except it hasn’t worked that way: from the moment I had the new passport (at a cost of £177 for a rush job), it has failed to work at the electronic arrival gates of any UK airport I've landed at. Passport officers have assured me there’s nothing wrong with it and, yet, arriving at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City, the passport refuses to work. Not even the British airports authority will acknowledge there is a problem, though a quick search online reveals that I’m far from alone. I - and they - are simply the unlucky ones. It’s quite galling to watch hundreds of other passengers breeze through e-gates while I have to queue up, old school, to have an officer look at my virtually new passport and wonder why I haven’t joined everyone else to go through the ‘digital border’.

The irony of all this is that, as a holder of a good old red European Union passport, I can and do freely pass through the e-gates at other countries’ airports. I’ve arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Barcelona, Helsinki, Madrid, Stockholm, Zurich and Rome and walked straight through the biometric barriers. A small, but significant victory for Brexit being delayed, perhaps. And, still, no one will admit in the UK that there’s a problem. Other airports have gone further with easing the security process: at Schiphol now new scanners mean that you no longer have to remove your belt (one of the major causes of airport stress for me, given what horror it could unleash…) or take out laptops and tablets from your carry-on. Frankly I find this as big an innovation in air travel as anything else, given that, 18 years after 9/11 we’re still being made to shuffle through departure security in our socks with our trousers at half mast hoping some git hasn’t made off with your out-of-reach MacBook and house keys.

Picture: Heathrow Airport

So this morning I read with interest in The Times news that Heathrow is to install permanent facial recognition technology this coming summer that will mean passengers will no longer have to show their passport at all when departing. It’s long been the case that when taking off the only time you have to show your passport is at the departure gate, along with your boarding pass. I’ve noticed British Airways progressively experimenting with e-gates of their own to speed up the boarding pass check process. The new facial recognition technology will, in principle, do without the need for both passport checks and boarding passes, relying instead on facial biometric identification. The process won’t be without need for passports, however: the £50 million project will require passengers to get their passports scanned and their pictures taken at automated kiosks before then running through the biometric gates.

Heathrow claims the new facial recognition booths could reduce the average passenger's journey time by up to a third, being implemented at various stages of the departure process, from check-in and bag drop to boarding gate. A Heathrow press release says that: "The long-term aim of the technology will be for passengers to be able to walk through the airport without breaking their stride. Passengers have already been trialling the new services in the live operation throughout 2018 and feedback has been tremendously positive." The airport cites International Air Transport Association (IATA) research which revealed that 64% of passengers would choose to share their biometric data in exchange for a better experience when travelling.

Picture: Heathrow Airport

There are, of course, inevitable concerns about privacy with facial recognition. While that might have validity for application in public spaces, airports have to, by need, to be amongst the most secure environments anywhere. Anything which ensures security while speeding up the departure process is surely a good thing, seeing as passing through a hot, sweaty airport while stressed by everything from other people to flight delays is one of life’s least enjoyable experiences.

Heathrow, and when others join it, is playing catch-up, however. “Major American airports already have this [technology] and Asia is light years ahead,” aviation consultant Alex Macheras told The Times. “From the point of view of convenience it undoubtedly works, although customers will have concerns about how their data is protected and airports must be transparent about this.” In the US - which has traditionally been behind the rest of the world when innovating in travel - facial recognition has been introduced for international passengers, in which their faces are compared to a central database. It is claimed that the introduction in the US has halved the time it takes to board flights.

"As our passenger numbers continue to grow, we must look for innovative ways to make it easier and quicker for them to travel through Heathrow with choice, whilst keeping our airport secure," says Heathrow's Customer Relations and Service Director, Jonathan Coen. "Biometrics are key to helping us do that and we are really excited about the biggest roll out of this equipment at any UK airport.  With this technology we’ll be able to offer passengers choice on how they travel through our airport, with colleagues on hand to guide passengers that require it. Biometric technology has been well received by our passengers so far and we’re looking forward to working with our colleagues and the airline community as part of our ongoing transformation at Heathrow, with a focus on enhancing passenger experience."

All well and good, but seeing as I still haven't had any official recognition from Heathrow, the Passport Authority or the Border Force as to why my expensive, three-year-old passport won't work in any of the current e-gates at British airports, I hope the rollout of facial biometrics will be a genuine boon to this passenger's experience, rather than the somewhat irritating barrier my biometric passport has been when arriving in the UK.