Major change coming to UK airport gates set to affect 1,500,000 Brits

Passport checks at UK airports could look different for families with younger children (Picture: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

If you’re heading on your summer holidays in the coming months there’s a big change coming to major UK airports you should be aware of.

Holidaymakers have already had to deal with the chaos of the new biometric entry and exit checks which were rolled out last month causing significant delays, but in a welcome change, this new rule should make navigating airports a little easier.

The age requirement for passport e-gates is set to be lowered, meaning children as young as eight years old will be able to use them.

Previously children had to be 10 to use e-gates, after being lowered from 12 years old in 2023, with families with younger children forced to have their passports checked manually by border officers.

But now, this change could see as many as 1.5 million more children able to use the electronic system, as part of an effort by the government to cut border queue times.

The new age limit will be implemented on July 8, just ahead of the school summer holidays which begin on July 21.

Passengers arriving at Gatwick Airport use the ‘ePassport gates’ at Passport Control (Picture: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Eight year olds using the scanner must be at least 3ft 11in tall (120cm) – although it’s not clear whether they’ll be measured prior to using the gate – and they must be travelling with an adult.

This lowered age limit will also be open to passengers and their children who are EU nationals or citizens of Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the US.

The Home Office said using e-gates takes just minutes and expanding access to younger children will speed up airport waiting times.

You can expect to see these changes at airports like Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, and more as more than 290 e-gates in various UK and overseas travel hubs are involved.

Karen Dee, Chief executive of Airports UK, the trade body for UK airports, said: ‘This is a welcome development as it will give more families the ability to take advantage of this technology, speeding up the border process and reducing waiting times for many.’

‘By expanding e-gate access, more families can experience a swifter and smoother journey home – freeing up precious time this summer holiday season,’ Minister for migration and citizenship, Mike Tapp, added.

He stressed it would also aid efforts to keep ‘our borders safe and secure’. 

While e-gates are typically very efficient, they’ve been hit with problems in the past. Back in 2024, UK airports faced lengthy delays when the gates her plagued with a technical problem.

More than 270 e-gates failed, with arriving passengers having to be manually processed as a result.

Passport e-gates previously only allowed children aged 10 to use them, but this will be lowered to age eight (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Concerns around summer travel plans have also stemmed from the jet fuel crisis triggered by the war on Iran.

But the British government is now introducing legislation which should prevent last-minute flight cancellations for passengers.

Airlines around the world scrapping have been routes and rolling out extra charges, but the transport secretary has stepped in with new rules that will allow airlines to ditch empty flights and tweak their timetables to make better use of their fleets.

They will also be able to merge identical services operating on the same day, meaning passengers could be moved from their original booking to a similar one to save fuel.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) states that compensation for delays or cancellations must be given if they occur with less than 14 days notice, ‘good time’ indicates that passengers will be informed of any adjustments before this threshold.

This was confirmed by a government spokesperson who told Metro: ‘If it’s less than 14 days, [passengers] are entitled to significant compensation, so there’s no incentive for [airlines] to cancel under 14 days.’

So, you may still get your summer in the sun yet.

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