Smart Gate - how popular is it?

[MissBurrill]

Why are you pedantic about having your passport stamped in and out of Aus if the main issue will be it takes up pages making replacement an earlier possibility? At any time you can request a record of entry and exit from the Immigration department as required:

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1359.pdf

It's highly unlikely I will ever fill a passport before it expires. I just like having stamps.

 

[midcoast1]

Same limited experience.

I guess my face doesnt look like my photo (according to the computer).

Must have been a big change in your looks . I used it in 2010 and 2011 with a number 2 haircut and moustache . 2012 i had longer hair and no moustache and still went through without problems .

 

[markis10]

It's highly unlikely I will ever fill a passport before it expires. I just like having stamps.

That is fair enough!

 

[ajw373]

Must have been a big change in your looks . I used it in 2010 and 2011 with a number 2 haircut and moustache . 2012 i had longer hair and no moustache and still went through without problems .

Hair doesn't matter. What it is doing is measuring the distance between various points on your face. Apparently we are unique enough in this regards especially when for our system you need the physical passport. Ad opposed to the iris system they used in the UK where no passport was required as part of the process. It is for this reason why kids cannot use smart gate as they are growing the points they measure change.

 

[Mal]

Hair doesn't matter. What it is doing is measuring the distance between various points on your face. Apparently we are unique enough in this regards especially when for our system you need the physical passport. Ad opposed to the iris system they used in the UK where no passport was required as part of the process. It is for this reason why kids cannot use smart gate as they are growing the points they measure change.

One of the big iris faults was their decision to do a one to many comparison vs smartgate doing a one to one comparison.

It is much simpler to go "does this person match this person" (and error tolerance may be allowed to increase) vs searching an immense database for a match.

That said.. I miss iris. Registration should have expired in Sept 2011 (or thereabouts) . According to some reports it might still work for me, but the walk of shame backwards isn't something I want to do!

 

[dot]

One of the big iris faults was their decision to do a one to many comparison vs smartgate doing a one to one comparison.

It is much simpler to go "does this person match this person" (and error tolerance may be allowed to increase) vs searching an immense database for a match.

That said.. I miss iris. Registration should have expired in Sept 2011 (or thereabouts) . According to some reports it might still work for me, but the walk of shame backwards isn't something I want to do!

Isn't the point of having a smartchip embedded in the passport that you can maintain the biometric data there, thus do a 1 to 1 comparison with the person at the gate and assuming the data in the passport is trustworthy (ie. signed) then you know who they are and they are real? It avoids holding millions of records that each gate needs to access every time the next pax walks up (either centrally or within the gate itself) and having to do a search of all the records every time.

 

[Mal]

Isn't the point of having a smartchip embedded in the passport that you can maintain the biometric data there, thus do a 1 to 1 comparison with the person at the gate and assuming the data in the passport is trustworthy (ie. signed) then you know who they are and they are real? It avoids holding millions of records that each gate needs to access every time the next pax walks up (either centrally or within the gate itself) and having to do a search of all the records every time.

Iris just relied on iris scans. There was no passport involved.
basically you registered with your passport and an iris scan was done
. When you arrived into the uk, you walked into a booth and looked into a camera. It then compared your Iris with everyone registered and looked for a match.

The uk does also have biometric gates similar to smartgate, but without a uk (or EU iirc) passport you can't use it. I presume it similarly does face measurements etc.

 

[dot]

ok - I figured it was Iris scan based, but I also assumed that it stored that biometric data on the passport chip (and some central store as well) rather than completely separate from passport itself.

 

[get me outta here]

The last time it did not work for me, they told me it was because I was holding a magazine or something and so confused it.

 

[here2go]

It's highly unlikely I will ever fill a passport before it expires. I just like having stamps.

. No NZ trips for you then. They don't have stamps

 

[gwilli1]

Used SmartGate for the first time last week in Melb , what a breeze to get through . The delay for me was waiting for the damn bags , otherwise would have got through in around 20 mins.

 

[Deleted member]

I like it, speeds things up a bit

 

[cove]

Sure it speeds that process up but then you wait longer for your" priority bags " to make it onto the carousel.
Actually Sydney domestic and Perth domestic baggage handling is often the worst so I don't really mind international baggage handling.

 

[MissBurrill]

. No NZ trips for you then. They don't have stamps

My first trip to NZ was in 2006 and the guy didn't have a stamp with him. He had to send me to another desk to be stamped in which was happily done.

 

[here2go]

My first trip to NZ was in 2006 and the guy didn't have a stamp with him. He had to send me to another desk to be stamped in which was happily done.

Immigration at Christchurch in 2010 said they just didn't have them either direction, and they had the stamps all taken away (wanted them for the kid). Have to travel to third world for more stamps!

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

I generally use it as it gets me through faster.

Wish they had it on the way out of the country too.

They really need a lot more of them though. Nothing worse for a visitor to a country than waiting an hour or more to get through immigration. Love the version the Malaysians have. Seems to work even faster, but I suppose it would be difficult to get everyone to be willing to have their finger print taken for the passport.

 

[Simsy85]

Used it last night at Darwin - Landed on JQ084 DPS - DRW at about 10:45, at 10:55 I was in the taxi on my way home?

 

[here2go]

Used it last night at Darwin - Landed on JQ084 DPS - DRW at about 10:45, at 10:55 I was in the taxi on my way home?

You obviously weren't buying Duty Free grog from JR Duty arguing the price on the posters didn't match the shelves (we got our discount)

 

[openseat]

I see they now advertise on the digital direction sign smartgate being available for US Global Entry, though I've never noticed a yank at the machines. Can't wait till we have reciprocal rights to use GE to enter the US.

 

[thewinchester]

Have only ever used SmartGate on arrival, because it's lightning fast.

At PER, there's a machine at each end of the arrival concourse before you go past duty free. I've always seen people walk right past these ticket machine, but I make a point of stopping so I have no queue downstairs and can walk straight on through.

Sure it speeds that process up but then you wait longer for your" priority bags " to make it onto the carousel.
Actually Sydney domestic and Perth domestic baggage handling is often the worst so I don't really mind international baggage handling.

I beg to differ on this point, albeit with only one recent expeirence to speak of.

Yes, PER has generally be a shocker for baggage handling. Those cases, no priority tags to speak of as only a QC Bronze.

Most recently, 17min flat from gate to car (that included including a Blue Lane diversion for a question regarding laptop I acquired on the trip) as an SG on my usual QF78 flight. Bag was 12th on the carousel, in the first cart off the plane.

And for PER, I usually make sure to have something low risk but enough to need a check that'll send me down the red channel simply because the Green line always takes ages to clear. And when it's a 1am arrival, you don't want to stand in a queue for 30min in case something does go wrong.