<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Elderly having a tough time at checkpoints
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->DESPITE the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's reply on Monday ('Long queue? Passenger cleared immigration in 6min', Forum Online) elderly passengers have genuine problems with automated clearance channels.
When I returned from a Malaysian visit with a group of elderly family members last year, we had difficulty at such channels at the Second Link checkpoint. Finally, we had to be checked and cleared at the officer's booth manually.
Three weeks ago, we visited Malaysia again and suffered the same problem: our passports were rejected. I asked the officer on duty why it was so and she said it could be the fading lines of our ageing thumbs.
Yet, the computer screen showed my thumbprint clearly.
When I queried the officer, she told me to move on. The two other elderly family members with me suffered the same difficulty. The crowd at the checkpoint that morning were about three busloads. Ironically, 70 per cent of them cleared the manned counters while we were still stuck at the automated channel.
And this wasn't the peak period.
We learnt out lesson and upon our return, we opted for the manned counters. It seems evident from letters to this page that other passengers using other checkpoints, like Changi Airport and Woodlands, experience a similar hassle.
The ICA should rectify the problem.
Until then, it should open a manned counter for senior citizens.
Paul Chan
Let's move on! *tata*
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><DIV class=story_text><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->DESPITE the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's reply on Monday ('Long queue? Passenger cleared immigration in 6min', Forum Online) elderly passengers have genuine problems with automated clearance channels.
When I returned from a Malaysian visit with a group of elderly family members last year, we had difficulty at such channels at the Second Link checkpoint. Finally, we had to be checked and cleared at the officer's booth manually.
Three weeks ago, we visited Malaysia again and suffered the same problem: our passports were rejected. I asked the officer on duty why it was so and she said it could be the fading lines of our ageing thumbs.
Yet, the computer screen showed my thumbprint clearly.
When I queried the officer, she told me to move on. The two other elderly family members with me suffered the same difficulty. The crowd at the checkpoint that morning were about three busloads. Ironically, 70 per cent of them cleared the manned counters while we were still stuck at the automated channel.
And this wasn't the peak period.
We learnt out lesson and upon our return, we opted for the manned counters. It seems evident from letters to this page that other passengers using other checkpoints, like Changi Airport and Woodlands, experience a similar hassle.
The ICA should rectify the problem.
Until then, it should open a manned counter for senior citizens.
Paul Chan
Let's move on! *tata*
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