On departure from UK airports , passports are not scanned or even checked by UK border officials .

Surely this is a loop hole which enables , terrorists , criminals , paedophiles, wanted by the police, to leave the country .

Some will say , your passport information is passed onto Government Agencies , at check in . I doubt it .

Even if it is , the Big Bird has flown, Bon Voyage .

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The same things applies to the US. No passport checks/stamps on departure .

The same things applies to the US. No passport checks/stamps on departure .

How do they track who is out of the country?

But they know, you know. Several years ago flying from to from Bristol to Tehran via Amsterdam I was approached just before getting on the plane, "excuse me...where are you going?", "Amsterdam" I replied, "no, after that?" said. He knew who I was and where I was off to, and was looking for people regularly travelling to Iran who might be willing to be contacted after their trip. So the information entered at check in gets seen pretty quickly it seems.

They don't if your just Joe the pensioner

yes it s Controlled by the airline. they know who you are, what flight you are flying, destination....

some people have been arrested in the plane or before they reached the gate.

If your a routine traveler to the U.S., the U.K., or many of the EU countries, your travel details (name, passport number, nationality, etc.) is probably already on file with at least one of the country's security clearance agencies.

I've traveled to the U.S. three times in the last two years, and the last two times, as soon as I entered my passport number when I booked a flight, I became a "known person" and my data was automatically entered into the airline booking form.

These days, you would be a fool to assume otherwise.

You are just a "known traveler" from your previous travels, and there is no need to check you further.

Especially if you fly the same route on the same airline more than once in a year or so.

Some will say , your passport information is passed onto Government Agencies , at check in . I doubt it .

The airlines know your details the second you buy your ticket. They pass the info on to the government. It all happens well before check-in.

Why do you think that airlines now insist on your name matching your passport? It makes no difference to them who sits in a seat, as long as it has been paid for. No, it's governments that oblige the airlines to match names to tickets and ID; the airlines themselves couldn't care less.

When you check-in for your return flight, the airline verifies your name & passport, I've always assumed that this information was also available/passed-on to Immigration and/or the security-services.

There's also that natty little electronic thingy, built into your passport, these days. That can surely be scanned, as you pass out of the country, without your even knowing it ?

I've known people be stopped after the Gate, as you walk down onto the plane, to be questioned, but I believe that was more a check (by Customs on behalf of HMRC ?) on who might be carrying cash out of the UK, an attempt to stop tax-evasion or money-laundering perhaps ?