I flew through HKG last week. Biometric scan to transit from incoming to outgoing space, then at gate, I only had to be scanned by my eyeballs and face, I didn't even have to present my boarding pass.
Returning to Canada on my Canadian passport now no longer involves talking to a human at all. Scan passport, then facial scan, quick touch-screen questionnaire, and that's that. Fast and convenient, but disturbing.
I'm used to the humiliating invasions of privacy and overtones of fascism etc when traveling to the US where it can be "excused" because I'm a foreigner there. But I don't particularly feel great about the biometric stuff in my own country.
I kind of miss the "welcome back, I hope you didn't smuggle anything in" routine TBH.
> I kind of miss the "welcome back, I hope you didn't smuggle anything in" routine TBH.
I mean, you're not actually required to use the kiosks. You're allowed to go to the regular stand with an immigration official and get processed the normal way. Given that the vast majority of countries don't support this system, I don't see this option going away any time soon.
This was unexpected.