Quote Originally Posted by somebody View Post
Dont know for sure but from my last couple of flights they just semed to be checking the scanned data matched the printed page.
I remeber reading they recorded people entering but only kept the data for so long. As there was a big ho ha in the papers regarding it a few months back if i recall correctly.

To be honest recording the 10's of millions of flights which enter and depart from the UK would probably mean visas would reach even greater amounts.
That would make sense if they were checking your passport/photo against the record they held for you. Be fairly easy to flag up people of interest.

You might want to read about the e-Boarders programme. Over the next year most carriers are going to be forced to collect information about passengers to/from the UK even before they travel (like Spain, etc does now) and your travel history will be kept for up to 10 years.