Originally Posted by
antichef
If you have lots of slack time you could always clear immigration/border control at T5 and then go out to landside and take the lifts up to departures and come back into airside using TFW. The T5 transfer process has improved in recent times and my last few trips I have just stayed airside, as I did last weekend. There are now automatic passport gates in the FCC area and getting the Fast Track to security is swift.
Originally Posted by
KARFA
Just to add to antichef's reply I assume you are a US passport holder and as such you can use the e-passport gates. The fast track and non-fast track lanes for immigration are only for those not able to use the e-passport gates.
As suggested, I think I would be tempted to use the airside connection buses to go to T5 and then just follow the signs for arrivals and clear immigration there using the e-passport gates.
I had contemplated this as well. I've also found the bus transfer to be very quick these days. It's the T5 Security (where even with Fast Track it can be a bit if a wait) and the slog through the terminal to the Galleries South to be the part I want to miss. I thought I had read (perhaps incorrectly) that after taking FCC, one is in a departure area and clearing immigration at that point is a pain. But I guess one is still in an Arrivals stream at that point and can still leave (maybe I was reading about trying to leave the terminal [font]
after clearing through security).[/font]
[font]Pretty sure I can use Fast Track immigration as Diamond in T5. As to the e-passport, my US passport is about 5 years old and I don't believe that it has the embedded electronics, but I really should confirm
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[font]Thanks for the suggestions.[/font]
[font]Cheers.[/font]