A traveller was left stuck at Bali Denpasar Airport’s AI-powered passport gates after the facial recognition system confused his David Bowie T-shirt for his actual face.
Terry Bezant, a 74-year-old lawyer from Milton Keynes, UK, repeatedly failed to pass through Bali Airport’s auto-gates, which have been in place since March 2024 to streamline entry for the island’s six million annual visitors.
“I tried five times to get through the barrier, using three different gates,” he told The Independent.
“But the Indonesian AI systems would not budge. The screen consistently told me to consult an official – but there were none to be seen.”
Meanwhile, Bezant’s wife, Deborah, cleared immigration without an issue.
After multiple failed attempts, the problem became clear – the AI system was fixated on the 1969-era image of David Bowie, when the star was 22, printed on his shirt rather than his actual face.
“As I was on the very verge of breakdown, Deborah brilliantly identified the problem,” he said.
“The dumb machine was trying to match my passport photo to the image of a young David Bowie emblazoned on my T-shirt.
“Surprisingly there seemed to be little overlap.”
With no option to remove the T-shirt in the sometimes conservative province, Bezant improvised by layering a thick fleece over it – despite the 31°C heat, The Independent reported. The fix worked, and he was finally able to proceed.
“On we stumbled to Arrivals,” Bezant said.
Having cleared immigration, the couple continued their holiday without further disruptions.
So if you want a smooth run through Bali Airport’s new passport e-gates, consider who’s face might be on your t-shirt: or you might be in for your own airport Space Oddity.
Wardrobe fails aside, Bali-bound travellers may have a smoother run through I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport with the recent introduction of automated tray return systems at security checkpoints, eliminating the need to remove laptops, tablets or toiletries from their bags.
