Features

Looking forward

24 Nov 2007 by Mark Caswell

Here’s a question: which is worse, queuing for security on our way out of the country, worried we will miss our flight, or queuing for immigration on the way back in, when we are tired and irritable and just want to go home? For many business travellers, there’s no right answer, as both have been unavoidable. And since they have been forced to check in baggage, they may have had long and fruitless waits at the carousel once they get through.

The sightless eye

Many countries have introduced biometric schemes to protect their borders. Although they are often accompanied by claims that they will speed the immigration process, that isn’t their primary purpose, and often they end up causing queues.

Australia has been developing its SmartGate since 2002, a system which uses biometric facial recognition technology linked to the passenger’s e-Passport. Travellers to the US this winter may well experience the new biometric security system of giving ten fingerprints at ten different airports within the country, while its Clear Cards, which store biometric information, have been in use by Americans since 2005. Dubai has e-gates where registered passengers swipe an ID card and have a fingerprint scan, while the Netherlands has Privium, an iris scanner which you pay to register with (which includes other benefits like lounge access and fast-track).

When Business Traveller reported on the progress of the Home Office’s Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS), some of you hailed it a great success, while others complained about technical difficulties and problems with enrolling. The vast majority had never heard of it. Business Traveller went behind the scenes to enrol and speak to the experts about IRIS and the plans for the future.

Electronic borders

E-borders (electronic borders) is a programme run by the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency, and is intended to improve security through UK borders. Brodie Clark, head of the UK Border Control Operations, explains: “Principally e-borders is about data collection on people, allowing us to check the right people are coming into the UK. It allows us to look at people going out as well as coming in.”

The e-borders programme has so far implemented two schemes in the run-up to completion in 2014. Firstly there is Operation Semaphore, which collects data on passengers in advance and warns Immigration of wanted people entering and leaving the country (so far there have been around 150 arrests at airports as a result of Semaphore information). Assuming you are not reading this in prison, or under indefinite house arrest, IRIS will be the bit which is relevant to you.

The IRIS machine

IRIS takes a picture of your unique iris pattern and breaks it down into a digital code, which is then linked to your passport and a database. The iris is the most personally distinct human characteristic and it remains unchanged throughout your life (unless of course you swap eyes with someone else). It is believed that no two irises are alike in their mathematical detail, even with identical twins, so iris scanning is currently the most reliable and secure use of biometrics at border control.

 Instead of queuing at immigration, once you have registered with IRIS, you simply pass through the machine (see diagram). Currently there is one IRIS machine each at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 4, two at Terminal 3, and two more planned for Terminal 5. Gatwick North and South, Birmingham Terminal 1 and Manchester 1 and 2 also have IRIS points of entry. As well as being an obvious security benefit (the database is cross-referenced against information held by other agencies across the country), the Home Office claims it is also a way of cutting queues and easing the flow for what they call “Trusted Travellers”. Clark explains: “I am very keen that my staff should be free to concentrate on those who may cause a threat or a risk and I don’t want them spending time on people who are perfectly safe.”

Problems with IRIS

To use the service, you first have to register at the IRIS office, and as many of you have mentioned, despite each participating airport stating very specific times, the enrolment offices are not always open. Clark says: “We have tried to vary the time of the enrolment in order to catch the broadest number of passengers through the airports. But the afternoons generally are a quieter time.” Heathrow Terminal 4, where I enrolled, is open 12 hours a day (see box for all opening times).

Another problem many of you have flagged up is that the IRIS machines don’t always work. Clark accepts the criticism: “There have been … some technical issues which we think have now been resolved. We set up IRIS as a proof of concept to help us to understand the potential and we now have a fairly good idea regarding the success of it and the interest of the public in it.”

The future of IRIS

So far 130,000 people have registered with IRIS and Clark says that it has seen around one million “crossings”. The Department for Transport estimates that if travel continues with its current trends, 400-600 million passengers will pass through UK airports each year by 2030 (compared with 2003 figures of 200 million).
With this in mind, and with IRIS becoming more popular, how will the system cope with the capacity? Clark says: “We are looking at the next stages of developing IRIS because at one or two times in the day, and one or two ports of entry, we are getting some small queues developing. So we have got judgements to make as to whether we go down the Dutch line – the commercial view around linking it together with some other facilities with travellers – or whether we continue to roll out and for the taxpayer to pay for it, or look at some other means of developing the fast-track system.”

Clark says there are a number of other options for e-borders. While IRIS will be installed at Terminal 5, there is no guarantee that it will be the preferred system for recognising travellers in the future. “We will expand a ‘Trusted Traveller’ scheme but it may not be working on the IRIS biometric network. We will, in time be looking at the other biometric options such as facial recognition and finger printing.”

Until then, it’s probably worth signing up with IRIS. Just be prepared to learn how to use it quickly. If you can’t line your eyes up with the dots, you are left bending over and swaying your head backwards and forwards like a drunk trying to read the opening times on a pub door. If all goes well, however, you can be through immigration in a matter of seconds.

Considering IRIS has been up and running since January 2006, there really are very few people using it. At the moment that might be its main attraction. As one reader commented: “I don’t want to read about IRIS, because I don’t want anyone else to know about it.”

How it works

1. As you approach the queues for immigration, identify the IRIS sign and tell colleagues you will meet them at the baggage carousel.

2. Stand in front of the machine and wait for the doors to open. Keep your luggage close to you because the scanner has been set to detect two people trying to get through with one pair of eyes.

3. Once inside, the doors will close behind you. A scanner will assess your height and light up the correct machine window to scan your eyes. Align your face with the green dots in the mirror.

4. If your wheelie bag has been mistaken for you, the machine will think you are a midget. No one should have to kneel at immigration but if the error occurs it’s either that or the queue.

5. If you are having trouble lining your eyes up with the circles, move slowly forwards or backwards. Don’t get impatient or make jerky movements.

6. Hold your breath. If it’s worked, you’re through. Only baggage reclaim, immovable crowds of illegal taxi drivers and public transport stand between you and home. If it hasn’t worked, you will have to back out of the machine, and hope an immigration officer has seen you and can direct you to the front of a queue.

IRIS enrolment

To enrol, you need to be flying somewhere (the enrolment process happens airside), your passport, and some eyes. The process takes around ten minutes. First you look into a machine where you line up your eyes with the dots and the machine captures a picture of your irises. This is then linked to the scan of your passport and there is a small amount of data-capturing. The opening hours are below, although there is no guarantee that they will be open at these times (this is not a commercial organisation after all).

Heathrow

Terminal 1 (on your right before the shops): 6.30am to 6.30pm.
Terminal 2 (near Gate 1): 7am to 9pm.
Terminal 3 (before duty free on the right opposite BAA security desk): 8am to 6.30pm and 7pm to 8.30pm.
Terminal 4 (near Gates 3 and 4): 7.30am to 7.30pm.

Manchester

Terminal 1 (near Gate 20): 6am to 2pm.
Terminal 2 (on the right as you enter the shopping area): 6am to 2pm.

Gatwick

Gatwick North (turn right as you enter departure lounge and follow signs for Gates 59-63): 7.30am to 1.30pm.
Gatwick South (from the departure lounge follow signs to Gate 90): 7.30am to 1.30pm.

Birmingham

Terminal 1 (on the left of the departure ramp before you reach Gate 56): 8am to 12pm and 3pm to 8pm.

Loading comments...

Search Flight

See a whole year of Reward Seat Availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls