US visa waiver - what does it mean?

[Justinf]

Firstly, I apologise for the ridiculously dumb questions I am about to ask.
I am travelling to the US next month with my 62-year-old father. I understand we must apply for a visa waiver online at least 72 hours before we depart.
No problem.
What I am struggling to understand is the micro-chip passport etc part.
My passport expired in July, so I got a new one. I presume because it is so new, that mine has the microchip etc.
However my dad's passport in 8½ years old and I presume it is an old-style passport and does not have the micro-chip etc.
What I was wondering was whether we can still both fill out the online form or whether he needs to do anything different to me.
Thanks for any help and once again, I realise this is a stupid question so thanks for your patience.

 

[serfty]

Your father's passport should be fine as it is "Machine Readable".

Do a search of this forum on that.

The only issue you may find on return to Oz is that you will be able to use "smartgate" while your father will need to use the normal Oz residents queues.

 

[Justinf]

Thanks serfty and sorry, I should have done a search before posting.

 

[serfty]

No problems, the words "Machine Readable" would not readily come to mind for most people.