Issues w/passport in scanning machine - leaving France - advice for next trip

I thought that maybe too, but they kept trying to get the machine to take it, so it didn't seem like they encountered that frequently.

The same thing happened to me last week leaving CDG. The reader took four tries, the last attempt from a different officer who seemed to have the right touch. I don't think it's anything to do with anything you did or didn't do. I believe it's the sensitivity of the readers.

I agree, no problem with your passport, just the scanner. I have seen it happen many times.

This has happened to me as well.
Also I've noticed that if I am Sky Priority on Delta it doesn't print on my tickets. Very annoying. Flying is awful. lol

It is possible something about your passport is making it difficult to read, but really hard to tell if it is a fluke or a real problem based on one incidence.

But certainly something to keep an eye on. These scanning stations are part of the EES system they have been trying to get implemented, as a precursor to ETIAS, to be used on entry as well as exit.

A true glitch in your passport chip will just cause future delays, you still get in, but rather than scan and go, you will get diverted to a manual line. About all you can do is try again, the machines are relatively new in some airports, maybe some bugs they are working out. I suppose if you are near renewal for your passport, that would help.

Kate, I was just thru CDG yesterday, terminal 2. I had no problem scanning, but there was a fellow ahead of me that tried several different machines and had to be assisted. The agent implied it was just a fluke. I wouldn't worry about it.

I agree with the others that it was the machines not your passport. On one transit thru CDG I had an employee take my passport and say (in English) "Let me do this for you, this machine is touchy" and boom, it was done.

It happens. It even happens to French passports entering France.

It didn't happen to me last year, but it happened to my wife. It has happened to me entering Australia on my Australian passport once.

We recently (late April 2025) took the Eurostar to France and my husband's passport wouldn't work in the e-gates in either direction. One of the French customs agents asked if it was new (it was indeed renewed about 2 months before we traveled). It worked fine in the UK. According to the agent, newer US passports are having issues.

We checked his passport with an app that was able to read it perfectly fine. 🤷🏻‍♂️

(I found this thread trying to see if this was really am issue or not)

Thanks everyone for your replies. I just discovered that I never replied back or thanked anyone. So, thank you all. In fact, we are returning to France in October, so this very much helped me. We try to go twice a year now. I have friends and family there. The travel and flying part is so frustrating sometimes. :-) Hopefully, it won't be touchy this time.

It may be an issue with 2025 US passports, combined with touchy readers. When we were leaving from CDG in late June, the agents were scanning everyone's passports for them. Or at least all the US ones. Three or four people ahead of us with US passports were sent to have someone look at their passports in person and I heard the one agent say to another "vingt-cinq", which I took to mean that the passports were issued this year. Our passports from 2023 had no problems. Hopefully this will all be cleared up by the time you return in October.

Hi Kate, I’ve had this happen multiple times this year. I thought maybe it was because my hair is dyed brown in my passport photo, and my hair is now white.