KARFA

Everyone here apart from you is speaking from experience rather than seeing something on a website and misinterpreting it. What you said was rubbish and despite it being pointed out by others you continued to dig yourself in to a hole.

The section you refer to on the LHR website refers to connecting and visiting the airside departures area - a question which comes up often on FT in the guise of "I am departing from T3 can I visit the CCR in T5". It has no relation to the question at hand.

Occasionally I get things wrong on FT, I try not to but it happens. However, when those who are more experienced than me point out my mistake I will apologise for my misunderstanding and not adopt a rather silly attitude.

GUWonder

The truth of the matter is that when "secret law" doesn't apply, then some of us do know what the law is, and many others can find out.

There is nothing illegal about a passenger arriving on an AA or SK flight into LHR and going to clear passport control and customs with all their belongings at LHR Terminal 5.

Custardthecat

You really are quite obnoxious. The answer to the question was prefaced with 'You should only transfer to another Terminal if you have a connecting flight from that Terminal' and then a full stop. For me that is fairly clear and flagged up that whilst they were answering a different enquiry the general sentiment was
obvious as already pointed out by LHRSFO. Because you have spouted forth on here nearly 14,000 times does not mean that you are an expert on anything. All I did was say I dont believe its allowed and cited their official guidance about matters related to transferring betwern Terminals. Interpret it as you see fit but please try not to be obnoxious.

Custardthecat

Im afraid I dont undwrstand what you mean by 'secret law'. I understand that Heathrow Airport has its own bye laws. I have not looked but I am guessing the type of thing it may say would relate to complying with signage, directions of their officials etc. I suppose it all boils down to their attitude to you doing what I think they are suggesting you should not do. You may well be right. Why dont you ask them next time and post the answer.

NWIFlyer

Grief, how to make a simple thing so complicated and, frankly, totally useless to the OP (who must be absolutely pulling their hair out by now)! We are supposed to be a helpful, informative crowd here - it strikes me that this has degenerated into something that's heading rather south of those aims.

Anyone has the right to present themselves at any immigration desk or automated machine, anywhere in the airport, irrespective of what flight they arrived at

There are no Heathrow by-laws that prevent this. Categorically. Period. As almost everyone has said. If you really want to know the type of things the by-laws deal with, try this link. Not a single mention of immigration, or obeying orders ... but at least you know not to run out of fuel in the central tunnels.

There are no immigration laws that prevent this. Categorically. Period. As almost everyone has said. Those purple suited Heathrow employees who try to direct you to a machine when the desks are free? Perfectly ignorable - they don't have any power, and in fact they usually make things worse if you actually know what you're doing. You can present yourself to any officer at the border and they will process you. The Border isn't different at T2 to that which it is at T3 or T4 or T5, and nor are the customs channels. Certainly as an EU citizen, you don't even have to tell an immigration officer where you've arrived from - if you have the right of admission, you have the right of admission.

Honestly, it really is simple, legal and very often done (particularly by those with Hand Baggage who are actually overnighting at a different terminal hotel to the one they arrived at. Someone with an AA arrival into T3 and a BA departure from T5 the next morning might well choose to stay at the Sofitel directly outside T5.)

KARFA

As already noted the text of that FAQ on the LHR site does not relate to the question at hand i.e. can you clear immigration at a terminal other than the one you arrived at. It relates to connections at LHR (hence the question wording about connecting and the reference to clearing security) which is not what is happening here.

You presented your answer as a statement of fact rather than your belief. When corrected by others (not just me) based on our experience and knowledge you still persisted with your incorrect answer and posted long irrelevant analogies to try and justify your incorrect answer. You did a lot more than merely say you thought it wasn't allowed and querying the text on the LHR website.

I am certainly not an expert on everything, but I (along with everyone else who has posted) am right on this. When everyone else seems to disagree with what you are stating it is an opportunity to reflect that you may not be right and learn rather than take it as some personal insult as you appear to have done.

This is not the only thread you seem to be insisting on your answer and have been advised it is incorrect http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...l#post27204536. Please stop posting this incorrect information as it just leads to unnecessary confusion.

Custardthecat

Yes thank you that was most helpful. Section 3.30 re failure to comply with signage. You are not a connecting pax. You are an arrival. You would not be complying with a sign. Just a thought. Anyway I give up. You all know better.

NWIFlyer

I understand how you can take this all literally. That doesn't mean that's how anything is actually enforced in practice, or indeed that it refers to what you believe. This relates to signs like "No Entry" or "Authorised Personnel Only" - not to a informational direction sign. For example, in T5 the signage if arriving by bus or tube tends to point you towards the escalators. Those in the know are aware that the lifts are at least 5x faster up to Departures, but if everyone tried to use them they'd become overwhelmed - so the signage tries to split the usage, even if it's not good for passengers. You're not forced to take the escalators, no-one will stop you getting into the lifts, and you're not breaking any by-law just because you did something different to what the sign said. There again, if you tried to barge through a door notated with "Authorised Personnel Only", you would probably be expected to leave (at best!).

If you don't accept that reasoning, I'm afraid you will remain forever at odds with the vast majority of the people posting here. Let's just say I know who my money's on being right.

Silver Fox

Was it Prince Charles that used to talk to trees?

GUWonder

He and other gardeners still do. But they don't make the laws change without due public engagement. And so it's still legal for an arriving LHR passenger to present himself/herself (along with their belongings) for admissibility into the U.K. at any and all terminals staffed with UKBF on duty.

"Fail to comply with signs etc" isn't a problem in this regard, as there is no prohibition sign for this thing at LHR.

Mizter T

Well, this is the internet...

stut

Let's let this one cool off a bit...