Revolution at UK Airports: How ‘Contactless Borders’ Could Change Travel Forever Without a Passport Scan
Travel is supposed to be our golden ticket outta stress, right? But somehow, airports keep turning that sweet escape into a labyrinth of lines, confusion, and missed flights. Ever wonder why you sometimes feel like you need a degree just to navigate the ever-changing chaos that greets Brits returning home — especially after that “fantastic” decision to leave the EU? One minute you’re an early bird showing up hours ahead, the next you’re rolling in with a mad dash 15 minutes before boarding – a bizarre game of airport roulette, if you ask me. But hey, don’t hang your hat on those long waits just yet. There’s a shiny new ‘contactless borders’ system landing at Birmingham and East Midlands airports that’s about to change the game. Picture this: no fumbling for your passport, just your face doing the talking as you breeze back through — basically your mugshot becomes your ticket home. It’s a bit like the future whispered sweet nothings and said, “We’re making your exit less miserable.” At least, that’s the hope — because if it succeeds, soon enough you’ll find this facial recognition wizardry at airports all over the UK, speeding things up by a cool 25 percent. So, could your next trip through the gates be less “passport panic” and more “shopping for snacks”? Fingers crossed we won’t all end up starring in a real-life episode of tech gone wrong… especially come holiday season.
Travelling is supposed to be a way for us to feel less stressed but the various changes in airports can often make it very difficult to relax.
In the last few years alone, we’ve seen the increased queues for Brits following our obviously fantastic decision to leave the EU, as well as the new entry exit system in airports which did more harm than good over a busy summer, with some even missing their flight because of it.
Depending on your approach, you might get to the airport hours before your flight or maybe just 15 minutes before you’re due to board, which seems to be a bizarre working theory for some folks.
But the good news is that when you’re tired and probably depressed about coming back to the UK, there’s now set to be some ‘contactless borders’ which will roll out at selected airports in the next few weeks.
You might be wondering why or what this means for you, and essentially it means that if you’re a UK citizen, you can put your passport away once you’re through security and on the plane back home.
At first it will only work for British passport holders but it could be extended to other nationalities with biometric passports allowed to use e-gates.
Your face will now be your passport in some airports (Getty Stock)
These new borders, which are due to arrive at the Birmingham and East Midlands airports in the coming weeks, will use facial recognition technology to allow you back through, without the often slow and painstaking process of scanning your passport and fingerprints.
Should this prove to be a success, it would then be extended to all e-gates, which are already in operation at Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow, London City, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted airports early next year.
Speaking to The Times, Phil Douglas, the director general of Border Force, suggested this could speed up the process by a significant 25 per cent.
He 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.”
It will replace the usual passport scanners (Getty Stock)
Anything that speeds up the process at an airport is a good thing, even if it does rely on facial recognition technology and serve as a strong reminder that the government know exactly who we are, what we look like and even where we go on our holidays.
The current process is of course a long one, especially when you’re stuck behind someone who doesn’t know which way to put their passport down, and fortunately it seems as if there will still be back-up options to the facial recognition, including the physical scanning and then a border official at a gate if needed.
While it feels inevitable that it will go wrong at first, at least it’s been done in the winter, so we can all hopefully have a less stressful experience in UK airports the time that our next summer holiday comes around.
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