E-Gate Outage Causes Chaos at U.K. Airports

Arriving passengers are facing hours-long delays at U.K. airports nationwide. The U.K. government acknowledged a technical issue affecting passport control e-gates has been causing long queues at airports in the country.

The Home Office said it would “resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologize to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

The e-gate system allows passengers to scan their own passports to enter the country. In response to the chaos, contingency plans are in place and extra staff will be on hand to assist travelers. The system is not only for Britain; passengers from the U.S., Canada, and some other countries can use the system too.

Airports around the country including London’s Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted, along with Manchester, Edinburgh, and Bristol are suffering from the technical glitch. But the government didn’t go into details.

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Manchester Airport said, ”UK Border Force is experiencing nationwide issues affecting at a number of airports, including Manchester. Our teams are supporting UK Border Force staff to minimise disruption to passengers while they fix the problem. We apologize for any inconvenience caused during this time and thank you for your patience.”

According to Sky News, passengers are being queued for up to three hours at London’s Stansted. In the meantime, some passengers couldn’t disembark because of the “huge queue” at passport control. Even the pilot told the passengers “he has not been given any time frame.”

The e-gate outage has been a sense of déjà vu; travelers nationwide suffered from the glitch for several hours around the same time last year.

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