last time I went through Schengen passport control, the guy said for some reason my passport did not scan and the he had to manually input my passport number and information.
This was exiting the Schengen area and it was the normal passport booths (not e gates).
I’m worried I’ll have issues traveling in the future. Should I request a new passport? I tried the NFC chip app but it works fine. Not sure what happened
I had that same problem with my old passport when going through UK immigration. My passport wouldn't work in the egates and I had to see an officer. I was told their system was having trouble reading the computer chip in the passport.
Surprisingly, I had no problem using the Global Entry machines when returning to the US.
I asked if I needed to get a new passport and was told I didn't as the officers have other ways to check your passport.
I certainly wouldn't waste time and money getting a new passport. My passport occasionally doesn't scan properly in egates - there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, and I suspect sometimes its the gates, not the passport. They can always check it manually.
My passport has the chip and has been unreadable by scanning it for two years now.
Each time the passport number is entered manually by the Immigration officers and in a minute I’m waved through the border.
I would just continue using your current passport until 6 months before its expiration date.
I have a brand new passport (issued earlier this year). I had no problem at the e-gates in Milan earlier this summer. Similarly, I had no problem at e-gates in Paris CDG in early September. But in Madrid two weeks later, the machine could not read my passport so I had to go to see a human.
Never had a problem with the passport as I can recall. If I did , I just let "them" handle it. Maybe going to another scanner might help. I know once or twice in the last 3 trips I had to go from one scanner to another drawing their attention that something was amiss.. ..ça ne marche pas.
I received the new passport for the 2025 trip, the old one did not arrive until after I had left...to my pleasant surprise the old expired one wasn't perforated. ...fantastic.
