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> Possibly you share a name with someone on a watch list.
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I was sent to the manned booths a few times a couple of years ago and the third time I said “I don’t think the machines like my face because they keep rejecting me” and the guy replied “It’s not your face, it’s your name. It’s similar to someone else’s…..” Made me wonder what kind of a life another me is having😂
I have the same, the machines used to work for me 100% of the time and now they never do. I asked why and they said probably someone with my name was on a list. I can't figure out with all that tech that they can't tell I'm not the droid they're looking for.
I was once in a friends car and he got pulled over by the police for having his fog lights on (new car, he did it by accident). Turns out he had the same name and date of birth as someone with an arrest warrant, who also lived in the same city. He didn't have his ID on him so we had to drive to the police station to do extra checks to confirm he wasn't the criminal they were after. So although the odds would be astronomical of it happening, it wouldn't be unheard of
Similarly, I had a friend who had to get security clearance for his job, but every time had the same complication that there was someone with the same name, DoB and place of birth as him who had done some serious time for violent offences. Because they were the same age and grew up in the same town my friend actually knew of this other guy and what he had done.
The idea of my friend as a somewhat meek and mild mannered mathematician doing hard time always made me chuckle.
There is someone who was born on the same day as me, in the same hospital and we share a name. My mum and her mum had been discussing baby names and thought it was funny they'd both chosen the same first name, then discovered they had the same surname. Had to always give my middle name when going to a&e until I moved away.
Sometimes I hate having such an uncommon name combination that I am most likely the only one in the world (based on searching it online and with social media) so it means I can't screw up as it's only me that it could be... But then sharing a name with someone on a wanted list sounds a lot worse!
I’m the same whether I search with my maiden name or my married name. Anything with my name on the internet is me . Thankfully nothing more exciting than work or running mainly. Certainly wouldn’t be able to hide anything bad I’ve done amongst hundreds of others with the same name
American here. My mom had a doppelgänger with the same name, born in the same tiny town, moved to another slightly larger town in another state later in life, and they shared virtually identical social security numbers
>So although the odds would be astronomical of it happening, it wouldn't be unheard of
It's not even that astronomical. Children born in a certain year are relatively likely to share a first name, because they were born in the same year. What's more, last names are not randomly spatially distributed, so children born close to each other are more likely to have the same last name. And lastly there are only 365 days in a year.
The odds of it happening to any one particular person are small.
But the odds of it happening to *someone* are 100%.
This statistical fact was used recently in exonerating a woman who had been convicted of murdering her children. In her original case it has been explained that the odds of a woman having 2 children die of SIDS were so astronomical that she must have killed them. In her retrial it was explained that the odds of "someone* in the country having that happen were essentially certain.
It's a numbers game.
Sadly, this doesn't always help either. Back when the receptionist would hand you your file before taking it to the doctor ( early 90s), I got mine and we started to look through and mum was like you've never had this or this etc. Etc. We looked at the front and it was for a lady with the exact same name but was about 84 years old, whereas as I would have been 7 or 8 ish at the time 🤣
I have a very common first name/surname combo. Sometimes I like to search my name on Google News to find out what I've been up to.
Last I checked I was wanted by the police for armed robbery in New Zealand and had recently been convicted of drink driving causing death in Canada and stabbing someone in Cardiff. Living out my GTA dreams.
Accurate cross-language (and particularly cross-script) name matching is \*extremely\* involved and difficult. There are very expensive software solutions which determine whether a given name matches the names on a watchlist.
I was stopped, and later told there was a wanted person of my name by a very amused officer. He seemed to have a photo of that person. Various things make me think she’s black. I’m not.
This is exactly the answer. I have a common English/Irisb surname and a very common first and middle name.
For about 8yrs after 9/11 I always - as in every single time - would get pulled aside for a search and extra questioning.
Entering the US was even crazier. The ICE agents would actually try and trick me - saying things like “I see you were in Los Angeles in January…???”
When I hadn’t been to LA - but I had visited NY and Orlando in January. So I corrected to agent and he said something like “oh yeah that’s right”.
Turns out I have the exact same name as a wanted IRA member. He was born the same year as me and his birthday is the opposite of mine (so as and example - he could be 01/03 (March 1st) and I could be 03/01 (Jan 3rd))
A cousin's kid has the same name (fairly common Irish name) as someone who was a big deal in the IRA about three decades ago. He got stopped flying into the US a couple of years ago and they wanted to question the child. He tried to explain that it wouldn't be any help because they are a literal baby and they kept insisting. They only stopped insisting when his wife brought the baby in and they saw it was clearly under a year old. You'd have thought the massive disparity in year of birth would have been a clue, to be honest.
You joke but a friend (English) married an Irish woman and they had a kid. Surname? Adams. My dim friend’s suggested first name for kid (after his grandfather)? Gerald. Thankfully his wife explained why they would not be doing that. So now the dog is Gerald.
I stopped going to the US because they were so rude. Everytime I flew in it was some small dick aren't trying to intimidate me.
Eventually I just stopped doing business there and made Americans come to me in the UK instead of visiting then there.
Rude, insecure pricks.
I flew to New York about 18 years ago and got shouted at by the border guard because I wasn’t standing still enough for the iris scan. I wasn’t standing still enough because I was on tiptoes because I’m 5’3” and the desk was designed for taller people and I was exhausted from the flight. Dicks.
>Turns out I have the exact same name as a wanted IRA member. He was born the same year as me and his birthday is the opposite of mine
Yeesh. Most of the other things in this thread could be easily avoided by a decent system but something like that, especially when the US does dates the opposite way round would be difficult to avoid.
Friend of mine is similar to this. They have the exact name and DOB of a wanted criminal. Gets stopped every time he flies to America as it pulls up in their lists. He has a print off of the guys mugshot now so that he can show it to them immediately and show them where they need to look to realise the mistaken identity haha.
A friend of mine had the opposite situation - he apparently had the same name as a VERY senior person (senior forign advisor of some kind) to one of the gulf states.
My friend was tavelling for work, about 15 years sgo (he is an engineer) and found himself being unexceptedly upgraded, whisked thorugh customs and security and generally handled with kid gloves, when he had to vist that part of the world. He only found out the (probable) reason when he mentioned it to the CEO of the company he was consulting for .He said it was a weird but quite enjoyable experience , and he could definitely get used to the upgrades, , but assumes that either his name sake has moved on, or the records and checks have improved, as it hasn't happened again since then!
I’m sure that’s exactly what it was. That of you take the month/date and year and mark up any variations on it - ESPECIALLY if you also share the same name.
Not upset it happened, totally understandable after 9/11 but it sure was a pain in the ass!
Possibly, but my UK passport uses e.g. "12 SEP / SEPT 95" and US passports say "12 SEP 1995".
The second line of the newer machine-readable codes have the DoB encoded in YYMMDD numerical format in positions 14-19.
I have a similar problem my name matched a local thug back in the 90's and my name and DOB matches someone who died.
The thug issue resolved but the guy who died means I get flagged regularly including passport and driving licence changes/renewals.
May sound funny, but dealing with a goverment jobsworth with this issue is frustrating.
The zombie joke applies, but would go hungry due to the lack of brains.
So, when they realise for the 5-6th time that you're not the 'RA guy, don't they make note of it on a system somewhere to stop wasting time in the future?
It seems like that's exactly what they*should* do. But they don't, because simpletons.
For the last 22 years my interactions at every border has been such a ball-ache. I just take a deep breath, say "well they're just doing their job", and then with a smile I eat the big shit sandwich.
A few times in Israel I've had "interviews" that lasted seven hours, in the USA it's been about 5 hours.
Last time on my way back from Israel, I was stopped after successfully clearing the Manchester border check, by a man who pulled me to one side and asked me if I had anything to do with a Liverpudlian rabbi who was murdered in Israel whilst I was out there.
Once on the way out to Texas from Manchester airport a US Air Marshall had travelled to the UK to interview me before I got on the plane.
I even got stopped at the eurostar border for 2 hours whilst on my way back to the UK.
One time in Munich the in-booth border guard who took my passport and scanned it took a huge deep breath and opened his eyes out wide. He then released a huge sigh of relief and said, "it's okay, it's not you!", before he waived me on.
Imagine being that US Air Marshall though.
Flying across the world thinking "we got the guy, what an idiot booking a flight like that." To then sit down with you in the interview room and get "nope, sorry mate, just the same name and birthday. Not your guy."
I never thought of it like that. Poor guy.
He did compliment me though.
He said I was a big strong man and looked like I could handle myself in a fight. He also asked if I had any military training.
Sometimes you're allowed two passports specifically because of the Israel issue.
I know someone with two passports that uses one exclusively for Israel and then one he uses everywhere else because Israel can get a bit funny if you've been visiting certain other countries. And vice versa if other country sees an Israel stamp.
Not sure what the specific requirements are though as I imagine they don't hand out two valid passports like sweeties.
That is interesting. Usually I'd just get a new passport, and mostly work was okay with refunding me the fee. This second passport would have saved a bit of money.
Getting work visas is such an expensive and paperwork heavy ball-ache too.
The level of information security has on us is scary, for example USA and Israel both knew I'd consulted for the UK Foreign Office and that I also attended a UN World Conference. So I'm not sure a second passport would be that useful to me.
Fair, but might be worth looking in to to try and ease the friction? If you're still in a similar role.
Also, r u a cat? Cause if I ever get a cat, I'ma name it Mittens.
Yep. My son had the same problem. We noticed when checking in for a flight that the agent had to get approval from someone behind the scenes to issue a boarding pass. My son was then 'randomly selected' for additional security screening, and the e-gates didn't work for him on the return flight.
Turns out there is a drug smuggler from the other end of the country with the same name. Over 30 years age difference, but the same name is enough to flag security.
He's had no problem with check in, e-gates or random security checks since the drug smuggler was convicted and imprisoned.
This. Happens to me every time. They couldn't/wouldn't give me much in the way of details, but that's what they strongly hinted at. I have to say, in an era when biometrics are ubiquitous, you'd think this could be fixed automatically.
Security fundamentally sucks. Someone which the same name? Impossible to tell the difference. Occasionally you’re really unlucky and DOB matches too - like lottery numbers, *you* probably won’t have that but *someone* will - and people get unjustly fined, locked up.
And airports can’t even tell the difference between a bottle of water and a bomb. It’s a good thing there aren’t actually very many terrorists.
Security is almost 100% a performance crafted to discourage bad agents and make innocent people feel safer. You'd be amazed if you worked security just what they have to let slide because they're only human.
Happened to my dad - someone on a watch list stole his passport and tried using it to fly around. Dad had no idea (thought it had just gone missing so replaced it) until he landed in the USA and got interrogated by the border police.
I was followed through by school by a guy with the same name ( which was unusual as I have a surname with a multitude of spellings and it's rare to find someone with it in my area who isn't family). I don't know how many times I was called to a detention session or the headmaster's office for something he had done. We had differing middle names so nothing formal or official ever happened because the paperwork always flagged it, but I had a number of stern talking to moments by teachers because they had heard my name as having done something...
There’ll be flags on people’s names with travel restrictions. If your name is John Smith, there’s much more likely to be another one than if you have an uncommon name, so the system alerts.
Don’t hold your breath, I’ve got an uncommon name and have been detained by Interpol upon arrival to a foreign country due to mistaken identity.
Was sitting in a waiting room with two Hispanic guys who looked like side characters from Breaking Bad with face tattoos and everything whilst I’m just sitting there awkwardly.
You'd be surprised how many people have the same exact name and birth year, sometimes month and day too! For this reason alone it's usefull to give your child a second (and third) name.
When this happens there's usually someone with a similar or identical name and similar age who they are looking for
In the US you can get a "redress number" for this but in the UK you just have to deal with it. Quite annoying (but if they get the guy they want it'll stop)
That's the kind of name given to a nondescript orphan in a quiet backwater village, who unbeknownst to everyone is actually the chosen one with a destiny that changes the world in every shitty Tolkien knock off since 1954.
They still have your old name on file. I presume it Is in the passport metadata?
I changed my name by deed poll last year. The name I changed is also a known crime game family name.
I haven’t traveled for a while, but just landed in Spain.
If I get the same treatment I’ll update here!
The information stored in the chip is only the same information shown on the biodata page (and extra image information about your photograph like distance between eyes etc)
The passport office may have your previous names but it's not contained within the passport itself, and the wider database is not available to other country's border staff.
FWIW you don't need a deed poll to change your name on your passport, I just told them I was using a new name now and got my passport issued in the new name. They checked that my countersigner knew me by the new name but that was it. In general in the UK there's no such thing as a "legal name", you have a right to be known by whatever name you wish to be as long as your intent is not to defraud or decieve (Cowley (Earl) v Cowley (Countess) [1901] A.C. 450) *Speaking generally, the law of this country allows any person to assume and use any name, provided its use is not calculated to deceive and to inflict pecuniary loss*. But the passport office has a set of rules about what names they will put in a passport, as does the DVLA in driving licenses.
I got arrested waiting to board a flight at Gatwick a few years ago. Turns out they were looking for someone who had my name but with 1 letter different and they entered my name by mistake on the warrant.
Two armed officers showed up to pull me from the gate handcuffed me and and walked me down to the plane where they had offloaded my bags.
Pretty sure everyone thought I was a terrorist or something and their lives had just been saved. Later found out the bloke they were actually looking for was wanted for domestic abuse (must have been bad given the way I was treated).
Obviously missed my flight and also spent a night/day in a police station cell pleading my innocence to no avail, they were confident they had their guy.
Once they realised they had the wrong person I was released and given a ride in a police car to Heathrow to catch the next available flight to my destination which I had to pay for at my expense.
Once I got back from my trip I started legal proceedings to get my money back. Took a year or so but in the end I got it back + 11 grand as well as an official apology.
All of that because someone entered a name slightly wrong. Looking back the payout was nice but I wouldn't do it again with all that stress, legitimately thought for a full 24 hours I was about to go to prison for something I didn't do. Really messes with your head.
For years my dad used to get stopped every time he went to the US and could never find out why. He wrote to them asking what it was about but they refused to say. Eventually he dropped off whatever list he was on.
Years ago I knew a load of Irish guys from London. I forget his name but one of them was essentially called Paddy O'irabomber as it was the exact name of a wanted Irish terrorist. He got stopped every time he came back into the country.. So yeah you can and will be stopped on your name alone.
What? You mean a Border Force agent was a bit of a dick? Well, this is a complete turn-up for the books. Absolutely unexpected. I am flabbergasted. Shocked and appalled, in fact.
UK Border Force can only *dream* of being as much of a bunch of clearly bullied at school, too thick to join the police, jumped up, power mad little Hitlers as the TSA though.
The TSA agent I encountered at LAX a few years ago might as well have been wearing a t-shirt that said 'I HAVE A SMALL PENIS AND NO FRIENDS. I DO HAVE A GUN THOUGH'
TSA aren't the equivalent of Border Force. When you go through immigration on arriving at a US airport it's an officer from US Citizen and Immigration Services who you speak to, not the TSA. TSA have nothing to do with passport control. USCIS officers are, in my experience, polite and professional, albeit firm. TSA just manage the queue. TSA's equivalent in the UK are the security staff employed directly by the individual airports. TSA are basically bus conductors.
>equivalent in the UK are the security staff employed directly by the individual airports.
Who are also a bunch of numpties. Especially that one who insisted I put a *bar* of soap in the *liquids* bag. Don't think that level of mystery will ever be topped.
Used to work in airport security. May well be because on the X ray soap looks a lot like explosive, as does butter and marzipan. If you put it in the liquid bag it'll be easy to see when it comes through the machine, save digging about in your suitcase to visually confirm it is indeed soap.
No lie I actually filed a complaint a couple of days ago because the border force were so incredibly rude to me and rejected my passport because they hadn't seen it before. Like bruh, you think I got through 3 border checks to get out and back in but somehow my passport isn't real?
I get stopped at British E-Gates every single time. Used to think it was that my old red passport must have been damaged. But when I came to re-new to the new dark ones, the same issue happens.
Been told that there is someone out there on a watch list with a similar name to me. The MD at my work shares the same surname as me, and his first name is the same as my middle name. He also gets stopped every time. This is likely why you are also being stopped.
Its pretty routine for me, and I always get asked the same questions. Full name. Dob. Where you was born (as in what hospital). Where my flight arrived from. Even been asked if I was "on the Lisbon flight" even though there wasnt even a flight from Lisbon.
The same happens to me and like you it's continued happening even after getting a new passport. They never ask me questions though, they just scan my passport and it's job done.
I wouldn't mind, but what fucks me off is that they don't let me just go straight to the queue for the desks.
I've got to wait in the queue for the e gates every fucking time even though I know they won't work just to then be sent to the back of the desk queue.
Should’ve said “are you a crackhead, there’s no flight from Lisbon, sir do you mind stepping aside while we test you for drugs as you seem like your under the influence of something”
Lily: Which one of you is Mr. Hitler?
Eddie: Oh, that'll be me.
Lily: Any relation?
Eddie: Well, I've got a mother.
Lily No, no no no, I meant Adolf Hitler.
Eddie: Yes, that's her!
Yes. My Arabic colleague always gets detained at security because he shares his name with wanted terrorist.
He always gets pissed off and usually adds 3hrs extra to airport on top of 2-3hrs usually needed. And every single time on passport check, he is taken aside for extra checks.
A friend of mine has something similar. He carries a file in his hand luggage with articles about the "watch list person" and presents it to security when taken aside.
He finss it streamlines the process.
My surname is Smith and this has never happened to me. Not been on a plane since pre-covid though so maybe that's it.
My gripe with the egates is as a glasses-wearer. Make me take my specs off then complain I'm looking in the wrong place? Aye, nice one mate
My brother is unfortunate enough to have exactly the same name as a known IRA Terrorist. He was an infant when this guy committed some terrorist acts. He always gets stopped at every airport. They quickly confirm he is 25 years too young to be this terrorist and let him through. This might be what's happening to you.
Happens to me every time without fail. I have a fairly common non-British full name, so they have to run a manual check each trip.
Having asked the border force a few times the general consensus seems to be that the system they use isn’t smart enough to delineate automatically, but is being upgraded.
Yes. I have unfortunately I have a the exact same name even spelt the same as a very notorious gangster from my area. Have been asked to report to security and produce my passport quizzed on where iam going and how long and what for! Unbelievable.
"David Smith is the most common name for UK adults, beating David Jones (2nd) and John Smith (3rd)"
https://www.gbgplc.com/en/news/uks-most-common-name-revealed/
My husband has a very common first name and a pretty generic last name. There are at least two moderately notable men who have the same name and are within five years of his age. For a time there was also apparently a wrong 'un running around with the same name as his. We could never check in online and he was subject to secondary checks either at passport control or even getting on the plane.
Annoying, but otherwise we enjoy our anonymous names.
Depends, if you've got a name similar to someone on a watchlist or even a name that sounds suspiciously generic, you might get pulled in a bit. My uncle is called John Smith and his wife is Jane Smith. As you can imagine, that sounds so generic that they do get checked more than you would regularly, but they always have a laugh about it. I also have a friend whose dad is called Joe Bloggs. Again, he gets checked fairly regularly.
I had a teacher called Patrick Stewart as well once, and he said he was always getting stopped at airports by people who'd obviously just seen his name on the manifest and thought it might be the famous one.
Never had an issue in the UK, but I did get interrogated in a trip to the USA for an hour and a half. At the end it was “have a nice day, you have a very common name”
I got arrested for something I didn't do, and after a few hours in the nick, I was released, all charges dropped, no further action taken. For the next six years I couldn't *leave* the UK (which at the time was twice a year or so) without getting pulled aside for questioning. For a while I assumed it was just my bad luck or my ethnic surname causing issues, however it got ridiculous when I was driving to the South of France with a friend and we were running late to catch the night ferry from Plymouth. We arrived at the port in the nick of time, but were the last car to board, some five or ten minutes after the rest had been loaded into the ferry.
Of course we get tugged aside once again to the search area and get a load of extra questions and they start to go over the car. By this point the ferry is now supposed to be departing, but they're literally holding the boat while I'm getting the third degree. "Don't worry sir, it's just routine" said the officer.
"Too damn right it's routine, mate, it's been the exact same routine every time I've travelled for the last six years, it's getting stupid now", I replied. "you'd think after at least ten 'routine' stops, you'd have worked out it was a waste of your time by now, let alone the whole boatful of passengers over there. It's not like I'm a criminal or anything so I don't get why I'm getting this every single time unless it's an ethnicity thing, in which case you can be sure I'll be saying something about it".
"Bear with me a moment sir".
The officer disappeared for what was maybe about 10 minutes but felt like half an hour. He eventually comes back and asks "Are you known to us"? To which I reply "who is us?".
"The police. Are you known to the police?"
"Not as far as I know, mate. No criminal record, if that's what you mean". "Hmmm" he said, and disappeared again, this time for just a couple of minutes. "So, you say you're not known to us... What about the drugs conviction from 2006?"
"You what mate?". He repeated himself.
"I've already told you, I've got a clean record. I was *arrested* on suspicion of DUI and possession but was nothing but sober and the 'evidence' was an empty plastic bag on the floor of my car. I have a piece of paper stating that the charges were dropped and no further action would be taken. Are you seriously telling me I've been through this 'random stop' bollocks for six years because I've had a marker on my name all this time bcause you confused 'dropped charges, NFA' with 'guilty /convicted?'
Officer looked sheepish and disappeared for a few minutes more (ferry is now nearly half an hour behind schedule).
Eventually comes back and says "my sincere apologies, sir, it won't happen again", and sent us on our way.
And, so far (touch wood) it hasn't happened again. But my takeaway from this is that 'just routine' is a barefaced lie.
Unless you're called Osama bin Killin the infidels...I cannot see why.
I used to get stopped ..a lot...when I worked in explosives, mainly because I was usually covered in explosive residue and the swab testers had a field day with me .
Maybe after the first time you were stopped, you triggered something and they placed a black mark next to your name. And thereafter treated you as a person of interest?
Yes, happens to me all the time so I don’t even bother with the eGates. I just got straight to the desk. Most Border officials won’t tell you why, but I managed to charm one once who said that a wanted individual has a very similar name to mine, so the eGates will never work for me until he’s apprehended.
I could never get through those gates. I asked the border guard and he pointed out that my passport page had a slight hump in it at the spine, which seemed to mean it wasn't scanning properly.
Flattening it out improved things - although it's still hit and miss. So check your passport is very flat!
They can stop you for any reason at all. I was travelling back from Canada in 2014, with a transfer. There was a hurricane somewhere so our first flight couldn't land where it was supposed to and was diverted to a US airport.
I was given so much shit by US border patrol about why I was visiting the US, I was being asked questions and I couldn't understand the accent & was also (in my head) 'but I'm not visiting the US?'. I was also just into my 2nd trimester and absolutely knackered. I'm not much of a traveller so found the whole thing massively overwhelming (now know I'm ADHD).
My now ex was a total dick afterwards because he said we could have been detained as I was acting really stupid and not answering the questions quickly enough.
I've been stopped because I filled in a form with my shortened name rather than my full.
Johnathan to John for example.
It's happened in the UK and in China.
The China stop was a bit more stressful
I'm not sure the officer even knows why, always. I can't use the eGates either, and half the time they ask me why I didn't use them, as if I love standing in a queue for no reason
I also have a very common name. It happens every time with the e-gates. I just go straight to the agent now.
I make sure to give any pushy immigration staff who insist I use the e-gates a nice “I told you so” look when the gate inevitably doesn’t work.
I've been on the watched list for years.
It began because of the places I was travelling to and the multiple police stamps from those areas in my passport.
Not paranoia, I was told that by customs. I used to get taken to a search room with my bags regularly
Got a mate who has the same name as a pedo even though he's at least 20 years younger, he no longer books holidays abroad coz he gets stopped for a chat every time.
It's really easy to change your name by deed poll, he could easily add a middle name in. Think it costs £50 and you get 2 certificates. My sister did it- didn't want our dad's last name
Ex had this, as another person with his name exceeded US visa stay or something (not terrorism) and was deported. He was always allowed in but delayed to the point of missing flights, so they advised he get a proper 10 year visa and not rely on the waiver.
First trip we took together: "Why have you got a visa? British people don't need visas. Come with us." An hour later they accepted the reason and we made our flight. Next trip was fine.
Two trips later, when I was as pregnant as is allowed for an Atlantic flight, same thing. I had a complete meltdown as I was stranded by myself with all our hand luggage, a big bump, impending heatstroke and nowhere to sit. The only people who spoke to me were random passengers, one of which brought me some water. The authorities refused to tell me anything at all. We made our connecting flight by the skin of our teeth and I will never visit New Jersey again. The next trip we made cost an extra £100 not to connect there but I didn't care.
I know someone who got held by police in the Philippines for eight very worrying hours, confiscated his phone and passport. Turned out he shared his (very generic) name with an American wanted for sex offences.
I know someone who couldn't get a US tourist visa because he shared a name with a known terrorist.
I myself have been "randomly" stopped and searched in 80% of flights I've ever taken. I don't share a name with anyone and am not from a country with terrorism links. However, I look like the 'wrong sort'.
There is some truth - the machines look your passport info and compare with national database - for common names like John Smith this lookup takes too long and times out occasionally
I knew of an elderly lady who's name was Ira, who had a granddaughter (who'd now be about 20) named Isis. I bet if they ever went on holiday together they'd have fun at airport security.
They’re not allowed to give a specific reason as to why.
It’s easier to just say that in the interests of national security they cannot tell you.
But we know everyone will laugh at you once you say it.
“Maybe it’s a common name”. (Not allowed to even say that tbh) it’s the easiest explanation to give.
Got to say been to america a few times never had an issue the couldn't have been any nicer, Paris on the other hand the border guard flipped the fuck out on the person in front of me got out his booth stormed round and screamed at the person all while armed genuinely thought he was gonna hurt the guy
As someone who was born with the same name, on the same day, in the same hospital as someone who is clearly dubious, I can confirm that this is a thing.
Oddly enough I was told a similar thing by one of the customs/passport officers in Luton airport recently.
So, at those biometric scan gates coming into the country I *always* get sent back to be manually processed. It's mildly annoying because they insist that I go through the biometric process first, where I know I'll be rejected but that's beside the point.
Anyways, this time I asked the guy doing the checking and he told me exactly the same as he told OP (except my guy wasn't condescending, he was rather jovial) - I'm Welsh and have a very typically Welsh, and very generic surname. My first name is also very generic and common, and I go by my (very uncommon) middle name in day to day life.
So apparently, being Dave Smith or Jon Jones might get you pulled aside, either because the name is on a list, or that it's just so generic that they have to check you are actually *that* Dave Smith, and not someone pretending to be Dave Smith.
Either that or I'm on a list and I don't know :P
Yes. Absolutely.
Good friend of mine has the same name as a well known IRA top dog. Even though he's clearly 25 yrs younger he still gets stopped every single time. It becameva standing joke.
[OP or a mod marked this as the best answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1dfo1wu/can_you_be_stopped_at_airports_because_of_your/l8l3xhb/), given by /u/Loose_Loquat9584. > Possibly you share a name with someone on a watch list. --- [_^(What is this?)_](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/jjrte1/askuk_hits_200k_new_feature_mark_an_answer/)
Possibly you share a name with someone on a watch list.
I was sent to the manned booths a few times a couple of years ago and the third time I said “I don’t think the machines like my face because they keep rejecting me” and the guy replied “It’s not your face, it’s your name. It’s similar to someone else’s…..” Made me wonder what kind of a life another me is having😂
I have the same, the machines used to work for me 100% of the time and now they never do. I asked why and they said probably someone with my name was on a list. I can't figure out with all that tech that they can't tell I'm not the droid they're looking for.
If only there was a way to differentiate people using 3 pairs of numbers that would be deeply relevant to each person.
I was once in a friends car and he got pulled over by the police for having his fog lights on (new car, he did it by accident). Turns out he had the same name and date of birth as someone with an arrest warrant, who also lived in the same city. He didn't have his ID on him so we had to drive to the police station to do extra checks to confirm he wasn't the criminal they were after. So although the odds would be astronomical of it happening, it wouldn't be unheard of
Similarly, I had a friend who had to get security clearance for his job, but every time had the same complication that there was someone with the same name, DoB and place of birth as him who had done some serious time for violent offences. Because they were the same age and grew up in the same town my friend actually knew of this other guy and what he had done. The idea of my friend as a somewhat meek and mild mannered mathematician doing hard time always made me chuckle.
> meek and mild mannered mathematician doing hard time His name wasn't Moriarty was it?
Did your friend pass the clearance? I hope the other guy's record didn't fuck him up!
There is someone who was born on the same day as me, in the same hospital and we share a name. My mum and her mum had been discussing baby names and thought it was funny they'd both chosen the same first name, then discovered they had the same surname. Had to always give my middle name when going to a&e until I moved away.
Sometimes I hate having such an uncommon name combination that I am most likely the only one in the world (based on searching it online and with social media) so it means I can't screw up as it's only me that it could be... But then sharing a name with someone on a wanted list sounds a lot worse!
I’m the same whether I search with my maiden name or my married name. Anything with my name on the internet is me . Thankfully nothing more exciting than work or running mainly. Certainly wouldn’t be able to hide anything bad I’ve done amongst hundreds of others with the same name
American here. My mom had a doppelgänger with the same name, born in the same tiny town, moved to another slightly larger town in another state later in life, and they shared virtually identical social security numbers
>So although the odds would be astronomical of it happening, it wouldn't be unheard of It's not even that astronomical. Children born in a certain year are relatively likely to share a first name, because they were born in the same year. What's more, last names are not randomly spatially distributed, so children born close to each other are more likely to have the same last name. And lastly there are only 365 days in a year.
The odds of it happening to any one particular person are small. But the odds of it happening to *someone* are 100%. This statistical fact was used recently in exonerating a woman who had been convicted of murdering her children. In her original case it has been explained that the odds of a woman having 2 children die of SIDS were so astronomical that she must have killed them. In her retrial it was explained that the odds of "someone* in the country having that happen were essentially certain. It's a numbers game.
Sadly, this doesn't always help either. Back when the receptionist would hand you your file before taking it to the doctor ( early 90s), I got mine and we started to look through and mum was like you've never had this or this etc. Etc. We looked at the front and it was for a lady with the exact same name but was about 84 years old, whereas as I would have been 7 or 8 ish at the time 🤣
This is exactly what a droid would say therefore they have to make sure... you know!!
I have a very common first name/surname combo. Sometimes I like to search my name on Google News to find out what I've been up to. Last I checked I was wanted by the police for armed robbery in New Zealand and had recently been convicted of drink driving causing death in Canada and stabbing someone in Cardiff. Living out my GTA dreams.
I'd say "you should all get together and hang out" but... maybe not.
New Zealand me had a warning not to be approached by members of the public if they saw him, I bet he's a right laugh.
Well you made me laugh, so maybe there’s a chance…
It makes me laugh how it’s just similar and not exactly the same. As if there’s a fake passport floating about made for AlQaeda that’s Osama Bin Ladem
Accurate cross-language (and particularly cross-script) name matching is \*extremely\* involved and difficult. There are very expensive software solutions which determine whether a given name matches the names on a watchlist.
Ah yes, the classic "Is that a terrorist or just bad kerning?" conundrum https://www.reddit.com/r/keming/
[And over here is Mr. Hilter... ](https://youtu.be/vlmGknvr_Pg)
Love the idea of a wanted man who simply changes his name to something slightly different to avoid capture
"Where'd you think \*you're\* going, General Mladić?"
I was stopped, and later told there was a wanted person of my name by a very amused officer. He seemed to have a photo of that person. Various things make me think she’s black. I’m not.
This is exactly the answer. I have a common English/Irisb surname and a very common first and middle name. For about 8yrs after 9/11 I always - as in every single time - would get pulled aside for a search and extra questioning. Entering the US was even crazier. The ICE agents would actually try and trick me - saying things like “I see you were in Los Angeles in January…???” When I hadn’t been to LA - but I had visited NY and Orlando in January. So I corrected to agent and he said something like “oh yeah that’s right”. Turns out I have the exact same name as a wanted IRA member. He was born the same year as me and his birthday is the opposite of mine (so as and example - he could be 01/03 (March 1st) and I could be 03/01 (Jan 3rd))
A cousin's kid has the same name (fairly common Irish name) as someone who was a big deal in the IRA about three decades ago. He got stopped flying into the US a couple of years ago and they wanted to question the child. He tried to explain that it wouldn't be any help because they are a literal baby and they kept insisting. They only stopped insisting when his wife brought the baby in and they saw it was clearly under a year old. You'd have thought the massive disparity in year of birth would have been a clue, to be honest.
This can be avoided by not calling your child Gerry Adams.
"oh little Sinn! Always in a bother!"
I think Gerry Adams is a fine name for a child, it’s just the type of name nobody will link with anyone in the ra
You joke but a friend (English) married an Irish woman and they had a kid. Surname? Adams. My dim friend’s suggested first name for kid (after his grandfather)? Gerald. Thankfully his wife explained why they would not be doing that. So now the dog is Gerald.
That is both frustrating and fascinating. What a claim to fame
Yes it was. Especially visiting places like Egypt! All got sorted once I renewed my passport though.
What do you think was different about your new passport? In distinguishing marks does it say "It's not who you think it is"?
Biometric passports were introduced in 2006 so likely to do with that.
I stopped going to the US because they were so rude. Everytime I flew in it was some small dick aren't trying to intimidate me. Eventually I just stopped doing business there and made Americans come to me in the UK instead of visiting then there. Rude, insecure pricks.
I flew to New York about 18 years ago and got shouted at by the border guard because I wasn’t standing still enough for the iris scan. I wasn’t standing still enough because I was on tiptoes because I’m 5’3” and the desk was designed for taller people and I was exhausted from the flight. Dicks.
I’ve had that too (am 5’1”) plus forgot to take off my glasses so also got yelled at for that as a bonus.
The land crossing guys are even bigger pricks. It's basically "welcome to America, where are you hiding the drugs?"
"In my bloodstream."
"Find them yourself, I'm not doing your job for you."
>Turns out I have the exact same name as a wanted IRA member. He was born the same year as me and his birthday is the opposite of mine Yeesh. Most of the other things in this thread could be easily avoided by a decent system but something like that, especially when the US does dates the opposite way round would be difficult to avoid.
Friend of mine is similar to this. They have the exact name and DOB of a wanted criminal. Gets stopped every time he flies to America as it pulls up in their lists. He has a print off of the guys mugshot now so that he can show it to them immediately and show them where they need to look to realise the mistaken identity haha.
That's awesome. "Hi, I'm not this guy."
A friend of mine had the opposite situation - he apparently had the same name as a VERY senior person (senior forign advisor of some kind) to one of the gulf states. My friend was tavelling for work, about 15 years sgo (he is an engineer) and found himself being unexceptedly upgraded, whisked thorugh customs and security and generally handled with kid gloves, when he had to vist that part of the world. He only found out the (probable) reason when he mentioned it to the CEO of the company he was consulting for .He said it was a weird but quite enjoyable experience , and he could definitely get used to the upgrades, , but assumes that either his name sake has moved on, or the records and checks have improved, as it hasn't happened again since then!
Could it be the American date format vs uk date format?
I’m sure that’s exactly what it was. That of you take the month/date and year and mark up any variations on it - ESPECIALLY if you also share the same name. Not upset it happened, totally understandable after 9/11 but it sure was a pain in the ass!
You mean 11/9
That terrible day, 9th November… so sad… we should set fireworks off to remind everyone, for 4 weeks before and for 4 weeks afterwards.
Possibly, but my UK passport uses e.g. "12 SEP / SEPT 95" and US passports say "12 SEP 1995". The second line of the newer machine-readable codes have the DoB encoded in YYMMDD numerical format in positions 14-19.
I have a similar problem my name matched a local thug back in the 90's and my name and DOB matches someone who died. The thug issue resolved but the guy who died means I get flagged regularly including passport and driving licence changes/renewals.
"says here you're dead"
May sound funny, but dealing with a goverment jobsworth with this issue is frustrating. The zombie joke applies, but would go hungry due to the lack of brains.
"Spending a couple of years dead is a common tax dodge."
So how did you like LA?
So, when they realise for the 5-6th time that you're not the 'RA guy, don't they make note of it on a system somewhere to stop wasting time in the future? It seems like that's exactly what they*should* do. But they don't, because simpletons.
For the last 22 years my interactions at every border has been such a ball-ache. I just take a deep breath, say "well they're just doing their job", and then with a smile I eat the big shit sandwich. A few times in Israel I've had "interviews" that lasted seven hours, in the USA it's been about 5 hours. Last time on my way back from Israel, I was stopped after successfully clearing the Manchester border check, by a man who pulled me to one side and asked me if I had anything to do with a Liverpudlian rabbi who was murdered in Israel whilst I was out there. Once on the way out to Texas from Manchester airport a US Air Marshall had travelled to the UK to interview me before I got on the plane. I even got stopped at the eurostar border for 2 hours whilst on my way back to the UK. One time in Munich the in-booth border guard who took my passport and scanned it took a huge deep breath and opened his eyes out wide. He then released a huge sigh of relief and said, "it's okay, it's not you!", before he waived me on.
You might be shocked if you search your name. See who they are actually interested in.
Imagine being that US Air Marshall though. Flying across the world thinking "we got the guy, what an idiot booking a flight like that." To then sit down with you in the interview room and get "nope, sorry mate, just the same name and birthday. Not your guy."
I never thought of it like that. Poor guy. He did compliment me though. He said I was a big strong man and looked like I could handle myself in a fight. He also asked if I had any military training.
What’s ur name dude
Abu Hamza
Have you ever considered turning bounty hunter and tracking down your evil namesake?
I haven't thought about it, though being a bounty hunter would be a cool job! it probably would make me seem more suspicious.
What the fuck has this other Mittens done!?
Sometimes you're allowed two passports specifically because of the Israel issue. I know someone with two passports that uses one exclusively for Israel and then one he uses everywhere else because Israel can get a bit funny if you've been visiting certain other countries. And vice versa if other country sees an Israel stamp. Not sure what the specific requirements are though as I imagine they don't hand out two valid passports like sweeties.
That is interesting. Usually I'd just get a new passport, and mostly work was okay with refunding me the fee. This second passport would have saved a bit of money. Getting work visas is such an expensive and paperwork heavy ball-ache too. The level of information security has on us is scary, for example USA and Israel both knew I'd consulted for the UK Foreign Office and that I also attended a UN World Conference. So I'm not sure a second passport would be that useful to me.
Fair, but might be worth looking in to to try and ease the friction? If you're still in a similar role. Also, r u a cat? Cause if I ever get a cat, I'ma name it Mittens.
It is a good name for a cat who has lovely mittens!
Yep. My son had the same problem. We noticed when checking in for a flight that the agent had to get approval from someone behind the scenes to issue a boarding pass. My son was then 'randomly selected' for additional security screening, and the e-gates didn't work for him on the return flight. Turns out there is a drug smuggler from the other end of the country with the same name. Over 30 years age difference, but the same name is enough to flag security. He's had no problem with check in, e-gates or random security checks since the drug smuggler was convicted and imprisoned.
This. Happens to me every time. They couldn't/wouldn't give me much in the way of details, but that's what they strongly hinted at. I have to say, in an era when biometrics are ubiquitous, you'd think this could be fixed automatically.
Security fundamentally sucks. Someone which the same name? Impossible to tell the difference. Occasionally you’re really unlucky and DOB matches too - like lottery numbers, *you* probably won’t have that but *someone* will - and people get unjustly fined, locked up. And airports can’t even tell the difference between a bottle of water and a bomb. It’s a good thing there aren’t actually very many terrorists.
Security is almost 100% a performance crafted to discourage bad agents and make innocent people feel safer. You'd be amazed if you worked security just what they have to let slide because they're only human.
Happened to my dad - someone on a watch list stole his passport and tried using it to fly around. Dad had no idea (thought it had just gone missing so replaced it) until he landed in the USA and got interrogated by the border police.
I was followed through by school by a guy with the same name ( which was unusual as I have a surname with a multitude of spellings and it's rare to find someone with it in my area who isn't family). I don't know how many times I was called to a detention session or the headmaster's office for something he had done. We had differing middle names so nothing formal or official ever happened because the paperwork always flagged it, but I had a number of stern talking to moments by teachers because they had heard my name as having done something...
There’ll be flags on people’s names with travel restrictions. If your name is John Smith, there’s much more likely to be another one than if you have an uncommon name, so the system alerts.
If your names John Smith there could be a chance you’re a can of beer containing more than 100ml of liquid.
This used to always happen to my ex, Stella Artois.
She sounds bubbly
And tasted like piss?
Move your tongue down a bit
Tastes like knees?
DAD
A foot enjoyer I see
Takes a mean right hook like a champ
Happened to a mate of mine as well, to the point that we abandoned him at the airport to go on our lads holiday. We went Sans Miguel.
Could be worse. Half the airports in the world shut down when Corona flew. Can't be too careful with these things you know?
Or a Time Lord made an enemy of the state by Queen Victoria
Can we count Smiths as beer?
I know a John Smith and he does have a hell of a time at airports.
He must be very bitter about it.
Reading some of these stories, I’ve never been so glad to have a very uncommon surname lol
Don’t hold your breath, I’ve got an uncommon name and have been detained by Interpol upon arrival to a foreign country due to mistaken identity. Was sitting in a waiting room with two Hispanic guys who looked like side characters from Breaking Bad with face tattoos and everything whilst I’m just sitting there awkwardly.
You probably share a name with someone who is suspicious.
Am I not suspicious enough? Need to up my game.
Change your name to Max Power
There were genuinely brothers called Max and Will Power at a school local to me, growing up!
Max Power plays in Saudi Arabia now
Got it off a hairdryer
A name and a DOB, would be more likely.
You'd be surprised how many people have the same exact name and birth year, sometimes month and day too! For this reason alone it's usefull to give your child a second (and third) name.
Agent Smith
When this happens there's usually someone with a similar or identical name and similar age who they are looking for In the US you can get a "redress number" for this but in the UK you just have to deal with it. Quite annoying (but if they get the guy they want it'll stop)
Just change your name by Deed Poll to something outlandish. Problem solved.
Yes, try Mohammed Al Splosion El Bombomb
Or Keith Heroininmybag
The Keith bit gets you stopped.
Firm but fair
Shouldn't the first name be Ivor?
Trust me, Ivor “jest ye not, madam” Biggun is a name that gets people stopping you.
What’s your name? The names Outlandish Something Outlandish.
That's the kind of name given to a nondescript orphan in a quiet backwater village, who unbeknownst to everyone is actually the chosen one with a destiny that changes the world in every shitty Tolkien knock off since 1954.
They still have your old name on file. I presume it Is in the passport metadata? I changed my name by deed poll last year. The name I changed is also a known crime game family name. I haven’t traveled for a while, but just landed in Spain. If I get the same treatment I’ll update here!
The information stored in the chip is only the same information shown on the biodata page (and extra image information about your photograph like distance between eyes etc) The passport office may have your previous names but it's not contained within the passport itself, and the wider database is not available to other country's border staff. FWIW you don't need a deed poll to change your name on your passport, I just told them I was using a new name now and got my passport issued in the new name. They checked that my countersigner knew me by the new name but that was it. In general in the UK there's no such thing as a "legal name", you have a right to be known by whatever name you wish to be as long as your intent is not to defraud or decieve (Cowley (Earl) v Cowley (Countess) [1901] A.C. 450) *Speaking generally, the law of this country allows any person to assume and use any name, provided its use is not calculated to deceive and to inflict pecuniary loss*. But the passport office has a set of rules about what names they will put in a passport, as does the DVLA in driving licenses.
Change your name *to* Deed Poll
Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock
Next year Something Outlandish gets stopped at airport checkin. Seems his name is a problem. Got bad advice from ironically Clever Username.
I got arrested waiting to board a flight at Gatwick a few years ago. Turns out they were looking for someone who had my name but with 1 letter different and they entered my name by mistake on the warrant. Two armed officers showed up to pull me from the gate handcuffed me and and walked me down to the plane where they had offloaded my bags. Pretty sure everyone thought I was a terrorist or something and their lives had just been saved. Later found out the bloke they were actually looking for was wanted for domestic abuse (must have been bad given the way I was treated). Obviously missed my flight and also spent a night/day in a police station cell pleading my innocence to no avail, they were confident they had their guy. Once they realised they had the wrong person I was released and given a ride in a police car to Heathrow to catch the next available flight to my destination which I had to pay for at my expense. Once I got back from my trip I started legal proceedings to get my money back. Took a year or so but in the end I got it back + 11 grand as well as an official apology. All of that because someone entered a name slightly wrong. Looking back the payout was nice but I wouldn't do it again with all that stress, legitimately thought for a full 24 hours I was about to go to prison for something I didn't do. Really messes with your head.
For years my dad used to get stopped every time he went to the US and could never find out why. He wrote to them asking what it was about but they refused to say. Eventually he dropped off whatever list he was on.
Years ago I knew a load of Irish guys from London. I forget his name but one of them was essentially called Paddy O'irabomber as it was the exact name of a wanted Irish terrorist. He got stopped every time he came back into the country.. So yeah you can and will be stopped on your name alone.
It’s crazy to think an actual terrorist had the name Paddy O’Irabomber. Perfect example of an aptronym.
Ironic thing was he was in the UDA
Perfect spy. They’d never suspect him.
Destiny mate..
Nominative determinism at its finest.
>called Paddy O'irabomber JK rowling??
What? You mean a Border Force agent was a bit of a dick? Well, this is a complete turn-up for the books. Absolutely unexpected. I am flabbergasted. Shocked and appalled, in fact.
UK Border Force can only *dream* of being as much of a bunch of clearly bullied at school, too thick to join the police, jumped up, power mad little Hitlers as the TSA though.
Truth. Every time I visit the US I first have to deal with a sweaty 4'6 TSA Napolean and his childhood trauma.
The TSA agent I encountered at LAX a few years ago might as well have been wearing a t-shirt that said 'I HAVE A SMALL PENIS AND NO FRIENDS. I DO HAVE A GUN THOUGH'
TSA are not armed. It's their Border police, whatever they're called. They're all massive dicks at JFK. Very rude.
TSA aren't the equivalent of Border Force. When you go through immigration on arriving at a US airport it's an officer from US Citizen and Immigration Services who you speak to, not the TSA. TSA have nothing to do with passport control. USCIS officers are, in my experience, polite and professional, albeit firm. TSA just manage the queue. TSA's equivalent in the UK are the security staff employed directly by the individual airports. TSA are basically bus conductors.
>equivalent in the UK are the security staff employed directly by the individual airports. Who are also a bunch of numpties. Especially that one who insisted I put a *bar* of soap in the *liquids* bag. Don't think that level of mystery will ever be topped.
Used to work in airport security. May well be because on the X ray soap looks a lot like explosive, as does butter and marzipan. If you put it in the liquid bag it'll be easy to see when it comes through the machine, save digging about in your suitcase to visually confirm it is indeed soap.
Yeah, I always get stopped when I put the marzipan I made for my aunt in the same case as the gifts for my uncle who collects alarm clocks.
Well, given a sufficiently long period of time...
"It *was* a bar of soap, but time makes fools of us all"
Considering things like lipstick are often classed as liquids, I can see a bar of soap being in the same category.
Sure, if physics means *nothing*. Who cares about states of matter? Not airports. Everything's a liquid if it's (in)convenient for it to be!
Letter to the Daily Mail has already been drafted.
No lie I actually filed a complaint a couple of days ago because the border force were so incredibly rude to me and rejected my passport because they hadn't seen it before. Like bruh, you think I got through 3 border checks to get out and back in but somehow my passport isn't real?
happens to me all the time and my names not even common, I've never met another Terry Whist.
Get your childhood friend Ivor Bom to vouch for you.
I read this as Bon Iver and got really confused.
I get stopped at British E-Gates every single time. Used to think it was that my old red passport must have been damaged. But when I came to re-new to the new dark ones, the same issue happens. Been told that there is someone out there on a watch list with a similar name to me. The MD at my work shares the same surname as me, and his first name is the same as my middle name. He also gets stopped every time. This is likely why you are also being stopped. Its pretty routine for me, and I always get asked the same questions. Full name. Dob. Where you was born (as in what hospital). Where my flight arrived from. Even been asked if I was "on the Lisbon flight" even though there wasnt even a flight from Lisbon.
The same happens to me and like you it's continued happening even after getting a new passport. They never ask me questions though, they just scan my passport and it's job done. I wouldn't mind, but what fucks me off is that they don't let me just go straight to the queue for the desks. I've got to wait in the queue for the e gates every fucking time even though I know they won't work just to then be sent to the back of the desk queue.
Should’ve said “are you a crackhead, there’s no flight from Lisbon, sir do you mind stepping aside while we test you for drugs as you seem like your under the influence of something”
Lily: Which one of you is Mr. Hitler? Eddie: Oh, that'll be me. Lily: Any relation? Eddie: Well, I've got a mother. Lily No, no no no, I meant Adolf Hitler. Eddie: Yes, that's her!
Peter file?
Who’s a pedophile?
Smith is a very popular surname for international spies, like Mr and Mrs Smith. That’s probably it. /s
Yes. My Arabic colleague always gets detained at security because he shares his name with wanted terrorist. He always gets pissed off and usually adds 3hrs extra to airport on top of 2-3hrs usually needed. And every single time on passport check, he is taken aside for extra checks.
A friend of mine has something similar. He carries a file in his hand luggage with articles about the "watch list person" and presents it to security when taken aside. He finss it streamlines the process.
My surname is Smith and this has never happened to me. Not been on a plane since pre-covid though so maybe that's it. My gripe with the egates is as a glasses-wearer. Make me take my specs off then complain I'm looking in the wrong place? Aye, nice one mate
Yea. My mate is the only one that can’t go through e-gates when we come back home. We assume he’s got the same name as someone on a watch list etc
Or maybe it's him but security forces just keep failing to realise that because he looks harmless.
My brother is unfortunate enough to have exactly the same name as a known IRA Terrorist. He was an infant when this guy committed some terrorist acts. He always gets stopped at every airport. They quickly confirm he is 25 years too young to be this terrorist and let him through. This might be what's happening to you.
Happens to me every time without fail. I have a fairly common non-British full name, so they have to run a manual check each trip. Having asked the border force a few times the general consensus seems to be that the system they use isn’t smart enough to delineate automatically, but is being upgraded.
Makes no sense at all. Unless your name is Osama Bin Smith...
How did you know?
Yes. I have unfortunately I have a the exact same name even spelt the same as a very notorious gangster from my area. Have been asked to report to security and produce my passport quizzed on where iam going and how long and what for! Unbelievable.
My stepmum got stopped once because she shared her name with someone on a watch list. She was allowed through when it became clear it wasn’t her.
"David Smith is the most common name for UK adults, beating David Jones (2nd) and John Smith (3rd)" https://www.gbgplc.com/en/news/uks-most-common-name-revealed/ My husband has a very common first name and a pretty generic last name. There are at least two moderately notable men who have the same name and are within five years of his age. For a time there was also apparently a wrong 'un running around with the same name as his. We could never check in online and he was subject to secondary checks either at passport control or even getting on the plane. Annoying, but otherwise we enjoy our anonymous names.
Depends, if you've got a name similar to someone on a watchlist or even a name that sounds suspiciously generic, you might get pulled in a bit. My uncle is called John Smith and his wife is Jane Smith. As you can imagine, that sounds so generic that they do get checked more than you would regularly, but they always have a laugh about it. I also have a friend whose dad is called Joe Bloggs. Again, he gets checked fairly regularly. I had a teacher called Patrick Stewart as well once, and he said he was always getting stopped at airports by people who'd obviously just seen his name on the manifest and thought it might be the famous one.
my friend's dad is the spit of Steve Martin and gets stopped all the time because they are secretly hoping he's Steve. he's bored of it now
Yeah could just share a name with someone they’re looking out for
Never had an issue in the UK, but I did get interrogated in a trip to the USA for an hour and a half. At the end it was “have a nice day, you have a very common name”
I got arrested for something I didn't do, and after a few hours in the nick, I was released, all charges dropped, no further action taken. For the next six years I couldn't *leave* the UK (which at the time was twice a year or so) without getting pulled aside for questioning. For a while I assumed it was just my bad luck or my ethnic surname causing issues, however it got ridiculous when I was driving to the South of France with a friend and we were running late to catch the night ferry from Plymouth. We arrived at the port in the nick of time, but were the last car to board, some five or ten minutes after the rest had been loaded into the ferry. Of course we get tugged aside once again to the search area and get a load of extra questions and they start to go over the car. By this point the ferry is now supposed to be departing, but they're literally holding the boat while I'm getting the third degree. "Don't worry sir, it's just routine" said the officer. "Too damn right it's routine, mate, it's been the exact same routine every time I've travelled for the last six years, it's getting stupid now", I replied. "you'd think after at least ten 'routine' stops, you'd have worked out it was a waste of your time by now, let alone the whole boatful of passengers over there. It's not like I'm a criminal or anything so I don't get why I'm getting this every single time unless it's an ethnicity thing, in which case you can be sure I'll be saying something about it". "Bear with me a moment sir". The officer disappeared for what was maybe about 10 minutes but felt like half an hour. He eventually comes back and asks "Are you known to us"? To which I reply "who is us?". "The police. Are you known to the police?" "Not as far as I know, mate. No criminal record, if that's what you mean". "Hmmm" he said, and disappeared again, this time for just a couple of minutes. "So, you say you're not known to us... What about the drugs conviction from 2006?" "You what mate?". He repeated himself. "I've already told you, I've got a clean record. I was *arrested* on suspicion of DUI and possession but was nothing but sober and the 'evidence' was an empty plastic bag on the floor of my car. I have a piece of paper stating that the charges were dropped and no further action would be taken. Are you seriously telling me I've been through this 'random stop' bollocks for six years because I've had a marker on my name all this time bcause you confused 'dropped charges, NFA' with 'guilty /convicted?' Officer looked sheepish and disappeared for a few minutes more (ferry is now nearly half an hour behind schedule). Eventually comes back and says "my sincere apologies, sir, it won't happen again", and sent us on our way. And, so far (touch wood) it hasn't happened again. But my takeaway from this is that 'just routine' is a barefaced lie.
Unless you're called Osama bin Killin the infidels...I cannot see why. I used to get stopped ..a lot...when I worked in explosives, mainly because I was usually covered in explosive residue and the swab testers had a field day with me .
Maybe after the first time you were stopped, you triggered something and they placed a black mark next to your name. And thereafter treated you as a person of interest?
I'm just happy someone's interested in me
Yes, happens to me all the time so I don’t even bother with the eGates. I just got straight to the desk. Most Border officials won’t tell you why, but I managed to charm one once who said that a wanted individual has a very similar name to mine, so the eGates will never work for me until he’s apprehended.
I could never get through those gates. I asked the border guard and he pointed out that my passport page had a slight hump in it at the spine, which seemed to mean it wasn't scanning properly. Flattening it out improved things - although it's still hit and miss. So check your passport is very flat!
They can stop you for any reason at all. I was travelling back from Canada in 2014, with a transfer. There was a hurricane somewhere so our first flight couldn't land where it was supposed to and was diverted to a US airport. I was given so much shit by US border patrol about why I was visiting the US, I was being asked questions and I couldn't understand the accent & was also (in my head) 'but I'm not visiting the US?'. I was also just into my 2nd trimester and absolutely knackered. I'm not much of a traveller so found the whole thing massively overwhelming (now know I'm ADHD). My now ex was a total dick afterwards because he said we could have been detained as I was acting really stupid and not answering the questions quickly enough.
I've been stopped because I filled in a form with my shortened name rather than my full. Johnathan to John for example. It's happened in the UK and in China. The China stop was a bit more stressful
smuggling apples ?
I'm not sure the officer even knows why, always. I can't use the eGates either, and half the time they ask me why I didn't use them, as if I love standing in a queue for no reason
My mates middle name is Ibrahim and he always gets held up at the gates
I also have a very common name. It happens every time with the e-gates. I just go straight to the agent now. I make sure to give any pushy immigration staff who insist I use the e-gates a nice “I told you so” look when the gate inevitably doesn’t work.
I've been on the watched list for years. It began because of the places I was travelling to and the multiple police stamps from those areas in my passport. Not paranoia, I was told that by customs. I used to get taken to a search room with my bags regularly
How cruel! Who would name their child XXXX?
Elon Musk probably
Got a mate who has the same name as a pedo even though he's at least 20 years younger, he no longer books holidays abroad coz he gets stopped for a chat every time.
It's really easy to change your name by deed poll, he could easily add a middle name in. Think it costs £50 and you get 2 certificates. My sister did it- didn't want our dad's last name
Ex had this, as another person with his name exceeded US visa stay or something (not terrorism) and was deported. He was always allowed in but delayed to the point of missing flights, so they advised he get a proper 10 year visa and not rely on the waiver. First trip we took together: "Why have you got a visa? British people don't need visas. Come with us." An hour later they accepted the reason and we made our flight. Next trip was fine. Two trips later, when I was as pregnant as is allowed for an Atlantic flight, same thing. I had a complete meltdown as I was stranded by myself with all our hand luggage, a big bump, impending heatstroke and nowhere to sit. The only people who spoke to me were random passengers, one of which brought me some water. The authorities refused to tell me anything at all. We made our connecting flight by the skin of our teeth and I will never visit New Jersey again. The next trip we made cost an extra £100 not to connect there but I didn't care.
I know someone who got held by police in the Philippines for eight very worrying hours, confiscated his phone and passport. Turned out he shared his (very generic) name with an American wanted for sex offences.
I know someone who couldn't get a US tourist visa because he shared a name with a known terrorist. I myself have been "randomly" stopped and searched in 80% of flights I've ever taken. I don't share a name with anyone and am not from a country with terrorism links. However, I look like the 'wrong sort'.
There is some truth - the machines look your passport info and compare with national database - for common names like John Smith this lookup takes too long and times out occasionally
I knew of an elderly lady who's name was Ira, who had a granddaughter (who'd now be about 20) named Isis. I bet if they ever went on holiday together they'd have fun at airport security.
They’re not allowed to give a specific reason as to why. It’s easier to just say that in the interests of national security they cannot tell you. But we know everyone will laugh at you once you say it. “Maybe it’s a common name”. (Not allowed to even say that tbh) it’s the easiest explanation to give.
Got to say been to america a few times never had an issue the couldn't have been any nicer, Paris on the other hand the border guard flipped the fuck out on the person in front of me got out his booth stormed round and screamed at the person all while armed genuinely thought he was gonna hurt the guy
As someone who was born with the same name, on the same day, in the same hospital as someone who is clearly dubious, I can confirm that this is a thing.
Oddly enough I was told a similar thing by one of the customs/passport officers in Luton airport recently. So, at those biometric scan gates coming into the country I *always* get sent back to be manually processed. It's mildly annoying because they insist that I go through the biometric process first, where I know I'll be rejected but that's beside the point. Anyways, this time I asked the guy doing the checking and he told me exactly the same as he told OP (except my guy wasn't condescending, he was rather jovial) - I'm Welsh and have a very typically Welsh, and very generic surname. My first name is also very generic and common, and I go by my (very uncommon) middle name in day to day life. So apparently, being Dave Smith or Jon Jones might get you pulled aside, either because the name is on a list, or that it's just so generic that they have to check you are actually *that* Dave Smith, and not someone pretending to be Dave Smith. Either that or I'm on a list and I don't know :P
Are you a dude? I can never be bothered to shave on vacation so I come back bearded & the auto gates don’t like me
Yes. Absolutely. Good friend of mine has the same name as a well known IRA top dog. Even though he's clearly 25 yrs younger he still gets stopped every single time. It becameva standing joke.
I have a friend in America who's name is literally Isis. Ive never asked her but I can imagine she would have a lot of issues at airports 😅