5 ms·

I'm always rejected at airport e-gates– so the Office suggested changing my name

20 points by redbell 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ufmace 3y ago
https://archive.is/WOhu8 https://archive.is/WOhu8
SoftTalker 3y ago
It's been a number of years since I re-entered the US from abroad, last time was before facial recognition. In my passport photo I think I look quite different from my current appearance (I have a heavy, fairly long beard now, which I started during the pandemic). But I sailed right through, didn't even have to show my passport at all.
freitzkriesler2 3y ago
I always got a kick out of those "e gates" the lines were always way longer and slower to move than going through the old fashioned boarder agent.
- elthran 3y ago
  As someone that came through London Heathrow this morning - most of the time it's because half of the gates are switched off, seemingly for no reason as far as I can tell. Combine that with the fact that US, EU and UK passports can all use these in the UK, I'm sure if i went to the "other countries" line I'd probably get through faster
  - everfrustrated 3y ago
    In the UK the e-gates are not automated. Your picture goes a few meters to a staffed desk who operates I think 8 gates. It's an efficiency measure not an automation and as such is subject to the usual staffing problems.
    - elthran 3y ago
      Interesting - I did try to find more information about how these work, since I apparently did not understand how they function - but everything I could find mentions "facial recognition algorithm" as the mechanism for determining a person-passport match. Examples - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPassport_gates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPassport_gates https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/international/news/public/e-passport-gates.aspx https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/international/news...
    - dfawcus 3y ago
      Ha - so akin to a Discworld camera! Pratchett would be laughing...
kstrauser 3y ago
My wife has a problem at airports related to her name. When we married, she changed her name from Ann Betty Smith to Ann Smith Jones. That is, first name Ann, middle name Smith, last name Jones. Some federal agency or another entered her name into their database as first name Ann, no middle name, last name “Smith Jones”. Now her drivers license is “Ann” “Smith” “Jones”, but we signed up with TSA Precheck and it expects her name to be “Ann” “Smith Jones”. Every time we travel, someone at the airport has to reconcile it. We’re currently in the middle of spending $600 to legally change her name from Ann Smith Jones to Ann Smith Jones. That’s what the ad we had to run in the newspaper says.
- mbg721 3y ago
  Whenever someone says there's a glorious technological future and we're living in it, I read an anecdote like this one. The robots won't be using us as slaves, they'll be confused by the traffic-calming speed-bump that the apathetic underpaid offshore programmer didn't factor in. I hope "Smith" was "Morgan" and "Jones" was "Stanley", just for the irony.
  - lazide 3y ago
    Yeah, the future is more likely to be a variant of ‘Brazil’ than anything else.
- lazide 3y ago
  Also a bunch of watch lists use soundex algorithms and fuzzy matches and put you into all sorts of tarpits/extra screenings based on them. If the name is actually ‘smith jones’ (or ‘Mohammed’, or ‘Chan’) your odds of getting whacked by one of them goes way up. Since what are the odds one of the hundreds of millions of people with a similar name misbehaved enough to get on one of those?
  - kstrauser 3y ago
    If the other Torgel McForkelsen gets one more DUI in this state and it causes me to get pulled over again, I'm gonna lose my mind. Edit: More seriously, TSA has the idea of a "redress number". If you get flagged because your name buddy did something shady, you can get your own ID number that says "no, I'm a different John Smith than the one you're looking for". See https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers for more.
mikelward 3y ago
I thought date of birth was used to disambiguate?
drawfloat 3y ago
I’ve the same issue, been told point blank there’s nothing I can do about it because it relates to an issue “not about me” and will never be able to use the egates. It’s a complete shit show.

20 points by redbell 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

ufmace 3y ago

https://archive.is/WOhu8 https://archive.is/WOhu8

SoftTalker 3y ago

It's been a number of years since I re-entered the US from abroad, last time was before facial recognition. In my passport photo I think I look quite different from my current appearance (I have a heavy, fairly long beard now, which I started during the pandemic). But I sailed right through, didn't even have to show my passport at all.

freitzkriesler2 3y ago

I always got a kick out of those "e gates" the lines were always way longer and slower to move than going through the old fashioned boarder agent.

elthran 3y ago
As someone that came through London Heathrow this morning - most of the time it's because half of the gates are switched off, seemingly for no reason as far as I can tell. Combine that with the fact that US, EU and UK passports can all use these in the UK, I'm sure if i went to the "other countries" line I'd probably get through faster
- everfrustrated 3y ago
  In the UK the e-gates are not automated. Your picture goes a few meters to a staffed desk who operates I think 8 gates. It's an efficiency measure not an automation and as such is subject to the usual staffing problems.
  - elthran 3y ago
    Interesting - I did try to find more information about how these work, since I apparently did not understand how they function - but everything I could find mentions "facial recognition algorithm" as the mechanism for determining a person-passport match. Examples - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPassport_gates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPassport_gates https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/international/news/public/e-passport-gates.aspx https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/student/international/news...
  - dfawcus 3y ago
    Ha - so akin to a Discworld camera! Pratchett would be laughing...

kstrauser 3y ago

My wife has a problem at airports related to her name. When we married, she changed her name from Ann Betty Smith to Ann Smith Jones. That is, first name Ann, middle name Smith, last name Jones. Some federal agency or another entered her name into their database as first name Ann, no middle name, last name “Smith Jones”. Now her drivers license is “Ann” “Smith” “Jones”, but we signed up with TSA Precheck and it expects her name to be “Ann” “Smith Jones”. Every time we travel, someone at the airport has to reconcile it. We’re currently in the middle of spending $600 to legally change her name from Ann Smith Jones to Ann Smith Jones. That’s what the ad we had to run in the newspaper says.

mbg721 3y ago
Whenever someone says there's a glorious technological future and we're living in it, I read an anecdote like this one. The robots won't be using us as slaves, they'll be confused by the traffic-calming speed-bump that the apathetic underpaid offshore programmer didn't factor in. I hope "Smith" was "Morgan" and "Jones" was "Stanley", just for the irony.
- lazide 3y ago
  Yeah, the future is more likely to be a variant of ‘Brazil’ than anything else.
lazide 3y ago
Also a bunch of watch lists use soundex algorithms and fuzzy matches and put you into all sorts of tarpits/extra screenings based on them. If the name is actually ‘smith jones’ (or ‘Mohammed’, or ‘Chan’) your odds of getting whacked by one of them goes way up. Since what are the odds one of the hundreds of millions of people with a similar name misbehaved enough to get on one of those?
- kstrauser 3y ago
  If the other Torgel McForkelsen gets one more DUI in this state and it causes me to get pulled over again, I'm gonna lose my mind. Edit: More seriously, TSA has the idea of a "redress number". If you get flagged because your name buddy did something shady, you can get your own ID number that says "no, I'm a different John Smith than the one you're looking for". See https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers for more.

mikelward 3y ago

I thought date of birth was used to disambiguate?

drawfloat 3y ago

I’ve the same issue, been told point blank there’s nothing I can do about it because it relates to an issue “not about me” and will never be able to use the egates. It’s a complete shit show.