bmi diamond club - LHR T1 isn't working

Arrived back this morning from Joburg on SA236, so T1 international arrivals.

Got to the immigration area - what a nightmare. The near simultaneous arrival of 2 other SAA flights (the earlier Joburg and Cape Town) plus a United jet meant that immigration was a complete mess, with a spectacular T3 style queue for non-UK/EU

I barged past the Americans to get to the Iris scan to find it was "not operational at present", so I had to barge past again to get the UK and EU passports. I somehow ended up in the queue for transfers for 30 secs before realising my mistake.

So a short 2 mins later and I'm at the luggage carousel - waiting, and waiting and waiting. The problem with these carousel is they aren't designed for a fully laden A340-600. The first luggage off is of course the red priority tags. Only the SAA card holders are all stuck in immigration.

The carousels have some kind of annoying safety device which limits how luggage arrives. If there's something on the carousel already, or the gap isn't around 3 suitcases big, it refuses to provide fresh luggage.

A full 80 mins after landing, I approached my taxi driver in the main arrivals hall.

A message to BAA, tying this in with the merry-go-round that is domestic departures - it's not good enough!

I barged past the Americans .....
:td:
... so I had to barge past again .....
the Americans forced you to barge past?
.......my mistake.
Oh that's unfortunate. Maybe if you looked before you barged...
.....waiting, and waiting and waiting.
It's a good job you barged past everyone to get there.... eh?
Ah well... at least that gave you a chance to apologize to the Americans.

Well as a polite 'excuse me' wasn't enough to get them to move out of the way - barging was the 2nd best option.

Of course, barging past Americans is also a fun pastime :rolleyes:

Take it easy (http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=bC0h4U5__6Y).

Yuck - I hate Cadburys...

Galaxy?

Hope they fix IRIS before I get back tonight....

May have to waste another UA pink "Dear Premium Passenger" slip otherwise...

I get weird looks using them when their is no UA flight for hours... :rolleyes:

Thinking about it, do I do immigration from Dublin..? why don't I know that...

tht

Thinking about it, do I do immigration from Dublin..? why don't I know that...

Only if it's Dublin, Ohio.

Arrived back this morning from Joburg on SA236, so T1 international arrivals.

Got to the immigration area - what a nightmare. The near simultaneous arrival of 2 other SAA flights (the earlier Joburg and Cape Town) plus a United jet meant that immigration was a complete mess, with a spectacular T3 style queue for non-UK/EU

I barged past the Americans to get to the Iris scan to find it was "not operational at present", so I had to barge past again to get the UK and EU passports. I somehow ended up in the queue for transfers for 30 secs before realising my mistake.

So a short 2 mins later and I'm at the luggage carousel - waiting, and waiting and waiting. The problem with these carousel is they aren't designed for a fully laden A340-600. The first luggage off is of course the red priority tags. Only the SAA card holders are all stuck in immigration.

The carousels have some kind of annoying safety device which limits how luggage arrives. If there's something on the carousel already, or the gap isn't around 3 suitcases big, it refuses to provide fresh luggage.

A full 80 mins after landing, I approached my taxi driver in the main arrivals hall.

A message to BAA, tying this in with the merry-go-round that is domestic departures - it's not good enough!

Well, I was on the United jet, and am American, and enrolled in Iris. I too was mad that it was not working (again), but thanks for barging past twice while I was patiently waiting in the queue. I share your anger at BAA, but don't get why you have any directly or indirectly towards me. :rolleyes: :td::td:

Well, I was on the United jet, and am American, and enrolled in Iris. I too was mad that it was not working (again), but thanks for barging past twice while I was patiently waiting in the queue. I share your anger at BAA, but don't get why you have any directly or indirectly towards me. :rolleyes: :td::td:

Can Non UK passport holders enroll? was not aware of that.....

tht

Can Non UK passport holders enroll? was not aware of that.....

tht

It actually extends far beyond just UK nationals.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/managingborders/technology/iris/registeriris/caniregisteriris/

It actually extends far beyond just UK nationals.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/managingborders/technology/iris/registeriris/caniregisteriris/

But when its down :td: , you go back to the "long, slow" line...

that sucks... :(

tht

But when its down :td: , you go back to the "long, slow" line...

that sucks... :(

tht

Last time I tried in T1 it was down the BAA guard directed me to an empty desk of the Border Agency which had a sign "Crew" and once I showed him my enrollement confirmation he swiped my passport and said "that thing never works" and I was through very fast while other people were standing there waiting for ages.