Originally Posted by
econometrics
On this note, I will say that in T3 arrivals, I had to almost argue with the LHR agent to let me use Fast Track with my OWE status recently. She was claiming you could ONLY use it if you had an invitation from the crew on your flight.
She said they are more lenient at T5 (which is true, they always let OWE through), but at T3 they are more strict. Odd.
She was correct. It is by invitation only at T3 and your cabin crew should have given you one. The invitation references the airline and it is the airline who pays.
At T5 there is only one airline really which is BA (apart from a few IB flights). Not too hard to work out who is paying for the passenger there.
Fast track at T5 flight connections is completely different to the immigration queues, and no invitaiton is needed for fast track connections either at T3 or T5. Your access is determined by your status or cabin for the departing flight.