Passports, fingers prints and DP's missing finger?

[Pigeonangel]

Are the recent issues at airports to do with fingerprint requirements on entry? We experienced this in Spain in Feb. They were taking fingerprints as we entered and the machines couldn't cope with DP's missing finger. It took ages to get through.

It felt a bit like a disability discrimination ( he doesn't see himself as disabled btw) but apart from that, is he going to be faced with this everywhere he goes?

Could he not just use his other hand?

You'd think wouldn't you? but no. In Spain, at least, it had to be the right hand and the security officer kept insisting he tried again, as if the machine would suddenly be able to regonise a finger that wasn't there.

Could he not have used the same finger from the other hand? Or is that too much common sense.

He made lots of suggestions along those lines and security got ruder and more aggressive.

Sadly, I expect so. The world isn’t very disability friendly.

I’ve got one leg and it’s the small things that nobody thought of, that just irritate me. For example, weighing scales that measure body fat etc, you have to have two fleshy feet for the signal to pass through unless you’re double jointed and can bend double to put a hand on the missing leg place (I am flexible 🤣)

It might be worth getting a letter from the GP to confirm his condition and see if it can be used to help, when you book a flight, otherwise, I am sorry you both have to deal with this discrimination.

I don't understand this at all.

The security officer could see with their own eyes that your husband had one finger missing, and insisted the machine could infact scan 4?

From Google.

Here is the breakdown of the process:

• Initial Registration: At the self-service kiosk, you will be asked to place the four fingers of your right hand flat on the scanner.
• If Right Hand Fails: If the scanner cannot read the right hand, or if it is unavailable, the four fingers of the left hand will be scanned.
• Subsequent Trips: Once registered (valid for 3 years), you may only need to provide one or two fingers for verification, typically the right index and middle finger, or a facial scan.

Well I don't know, but in February in Spain they definitely insisted it had to be the right hand, and when they finally accepted that wasn't going to work (he has part of the finger but no fingertip so no fingerprint) , he had to go to a different security processing place where he wasn't fingerprinted at all but did eventually get through.

In Lanzarote in Feb at the machines they didn’t take our fingerprints, it skipped that part. Dunno why

This happened to my DH in Gran Canaria as he's also missing a finger tip but they just let him use the left hand. You probably met some rude and jobsworth border police.

Thats interesting, I hadnt thought of this! My partner has had 2 seperate accidents so there are 2 missing parts of the top of both index fingers!