Heathrow Airport faces busiest day of Easter today

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  #1  
rwoman , Mar 30, 2012 3:57 am
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Glad I am not traveling until Sunday...although my flight has been Y0 for a month...

Heathrow Airport faces busiest day of Easter today

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Heathrow expects to handle 220,000 passengers today, with the west London airport handling more than 1.6 million between today and Good Friday and a total of 3.4 million between today and Sunday April 15.
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  #2  
binman , Mar 30, 2012 6:35 am
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On the evidence available today it is not a happy place to be. Queues everywhere and trollies and like gold dust. The ticket offices for the tube and HEX are vile with few staff and even fewer ticket machines that work. And this is not yet Olympic season.
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  #3  
Flying Bat , Mar 30, 2012 7:37 am
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Maybe the good weather here will encourage some to stay at home...well you can only hope.
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  #4  
rwoman , Mar 30, 2012 2:02 pm
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My sister's friend landed from LAX this afternoon and non-EU passport control took two hours. Yuck!!
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mtkeller , Mar 30, 2012 5:16 pm
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Glad I was just on a flight in from DUB, so no need to queue for passport control. However, the experience with the dump that is the UK/ROI portion of T1 has given me a new appreciation for the parts of T4 outside the SkyTeam lounge.

My flights around Easter (BA to/from MUC) are showing 9 seats in most fare classes, so hopefully I've picked dates that aren't so insane.
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  #6  
silvergirl , Mar 30, 2012 6:31 pm
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Landed in T5 yesterday morning and immigration was busier than I had ever seen, people queuing way outside the actual immigration area around the corner, total chaos.
EU immigration took almost 1h, non EU looked like 2-3h!

Makes you think what it will be like for the Olympics
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  #7  
cph_flyer , Mar 31, 2012 5:58 am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by binman
On the evidence available today it is not a happy place to be. Queues everywhere and trollies and like gold dust. The ticket offices for the tube and HEX are vile with few staff and even fewer ticket machines that work. And this is not yet Olympic season.
On a Friday morning a couple of weeks ago the ticket hall for the tube was totally packed with people queing up to buy tickets. They finally urged people to just board the train and pay at their destination.
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  #8  
ajax , Mar 31, 2012 6:44 am
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I love it. Entirely predictable and yet each time it goes horribly wrong. With record bonuses at the top and champers all round for a "job well done", of course!
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  #9  
Antonio8069 , Apr 6, 2012 3:23 am
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T3 Immigration is fine
With widespread reports of long waits @ LHR, I arrived with trepidation this am.

Happy to report Good Friday wait time at 09:00 GMT was non-existent. Waited 3 minutes! Max.
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  #10  
Cavman , Apr 6, 2012 4:54 am
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Interesting. Just seen a BA 747, looked like passenger config, on final approach from South West into STN, wonder if there are diversions happening.
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  #11  
PlateMan , Apr 9, 2012 12:59 pm
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Landed at Gatwick South around 10pm on 2-Apr ... queues were quite long for both EU and non-EU passport holders. Very few lines open (only two for non-EU.)
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  #12  
rwoman , Apr 9, 2012 1:34 pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Antonio8069
With widespread reports of long waits @ LHR, I arrived with trepidation this am.

Happy to report Good Friday wait time at 09:00 GMT was non-existent. Waited 3 minutes! Max.
I was wondering what it would be like when I came into T3 on Saturday morning...the queues were pretty short but, thankfully, IRIS was open, and I was through in less than a minute!
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  #13  
antichef , Apr 9, 2012 1:50 pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cavman
Interesting. Just seen a BA 747, looked like passenger config, on final approach from South West into STN, wonder if there are diversions happening.
Was in STN last week and was surprised to see a BA747 parked, until I saw it was cargo! My guess is that may be what you saw too.

See:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo....main/4863983/
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  #14  
rwoman , Apr 9, 2012 2:02 pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by antichef
Was in STN last week and was surprised to see a BA747 parked, until I saw it was cargo! My guess is that may be what you saw too.

See:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo....main/4863983/
Maybe they were making deliveries for Harrods...or returning from delivering Cadbury Easter treats to the world??
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  #15  
alanR , Apr 9, 2012 3:15 pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rwoman
Maybe they were making deliveries for Harrods...or returning from delivering Cadbury Easter treats to the world??
Given the speed at which eggs were removed from Waitrose and Asda I wonder if they all are ending up there
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