I am transiting at LHR in a few weeks and I detest their transit security. So I applied for and was approved for the the UK ETA this morning before the price went up from £10 to £16.

The app is slower than slow. It took almost 15 minutes to complete the application, most of the time was for the app to read the electronic chip on my passport and process the selfie picture. Approval came within fifteen minutes.

Entering the UK will enable me to transfer landside between T3 and T5 and use the First Wing security channel.