Long queues at T5 border control

Old Apr 27, 2012, 7:31 am
  #226  
 
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Originally Posted by Andriyko
It amazes me that they have not come to this realization yet...
It's been like this for weeks, they are aware of teh poblem, and yet are not able to man all desks...
I know it just amazes me these people are in power and paid well....

It's really simple:

Pick up phone - Ask how many frontline staff are available for work in Heathrow - Get Answer - Either allocated more staff to front line or budget for a few more people - Check they are allocated....

Seriously - Are you telling me that the UK is so broke and bankrupt, that all the money has run out and we can't employ AND make sure they are deployed a few extra UKBA staff?
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 7:37 am
  #227  
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What queues?

Got in on Wednesday (25/4) around 4:30 PM. T5. Not a single person in the UK/EU queue!
Looked like 1 hour+ in the non UK/EU queue.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 7:58 am
  #228  
 
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Yup, the UK is bankrupt, entered a second dip recession and UKBA staff numbers are being cut, not increased.
LGW has issues sometimes.... took me more than 30 mins to come thro' eu desk last time......

Back on Monday, tho' not using either LHR or LGW.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 8:01 am
  #229  
 
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Originally Posted by Andriyko
It amazes me that they have not come to this realization yet...
It's been like this for weeks, they are aware of teh poblem, and yet are not able to man all desks...
It's not that they are not able to man all desks - it's that they simply will not do it.

BAH
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 8:03 am
  #230  
 
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
Yup, the UK is bankrupt, entered a second dip recession and UKBA staff numbers are being cut, not increased.
LGW has issues sometimes.... took me more than 30 mins to come thro' eu desk last time......

Back on Monday, tho' not using either LHR or LGW.
Good luck. One of my colleagues, Hungarian, took over 2 hours to get through Border Control at Stansted earlier this week.

BAH
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 8:12 am
  #231  
 
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Thanks... BAH.... I am actually using LCY.... (Unless diverted!!!) So will be interesting to see how it works out.

NO BA evening flight back to LGW now until 21:30 from AMS on a monday
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 8:41 am
  #232  
 
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Not seen any mention of Terminal 4. Can anyone report on the situation in this terminal over the past few weeks. We are due in at 13.15 on 29 April.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 9:19 am
  #233  
 
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Originally Posted by LondonAndy
OK, I haven't read all 15 pages of comments in detail, but is this predominantly a problem at LHR and, in particular T5? How come I don't see the same problems at LGW for example? If it was a commercial organisation that was under-resourced I guess people would be moved around pretty quickly...

I understand LGW is getting a number of new e-passport machines that are significantly faster than the original ones (which took upto 40 seconds to get a person through).
Definitely not just LHR - I took an hour to get through LGW a month or so ago. I don't have an ePassport but it looked like their shorter queue was MUCH slower moving than the longer non-ePassport queue, so they still don't seem to have a decent new system yet.

BAA don't exactly cover themselves in glory either - returning from NCE in February I was through immigration in 5 minutes when connecting to a domestic BD flight, but then BAA security only had one lane open (you're forced to go through it again, even when you've remained airside) & their new camera system took ages - resulted in a 1.5h delay and missing a connecting flight!
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 9:25 am
  #234  
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Originally Posted by alanjrobertson
BAA security only had one lane open (you're forced to go through it again, even when you've remained airside)
Not if you've arrived from a domestic flight without a terminal change. However, the UK doesn't "trust" the security arrangements of any other country, so international arrivals must be rescreened before proceeding to the secure area of a UK airport.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:10 am
  #235  
 
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Long queues at T5 border control

This is the main story in tonight's Evening Standard.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:15 am
  #236  
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Please forgive a selfish and personal perspective.
UK Residents, UK e-chipped passports.

We usually arrive at LHR T5 at around 0630 ex-IAD. I don't think we've ever had a major SANFU we just wade through the crowd [in the Tensa maze] to use the e-passport gates. Although we're both registered with IRIS, only mine works. OK, so we haven't done this since last October, but is it really dramatically different now?

I have a slight sensation that there are a lot of posts from non-EU, or even non-British EU, which are slightly fogging the picture.

So How difficult is it now, for me [and the OH] as British chipped passport holders to get across the Border? At 0600-0700?
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:19 am
  #237  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
Please forgive a selfish and personal perspective.
UK Residents, UK e-chipped passports.

We usually arrive at LHR T5 at around 0630 ex-IAD. I don't think we've ever had a major SANFU … we just wade through the crowd [in the Tensa maze] to use the e-passport gates. Although we're both registered with IRIS, only mine works. OK, so we haven't done this since last October, but is it really dramatically different now?

I have a slight sensation that there are a lot of posts from non-EU, or even non-British EU, which are slightly fogging the picture.

So … How difficult is it now, for me [and the OH] as British chipped passport holders to get across the Border? At 0600-0700?
Er. No.

I'm British and I promise you the queues last night were horrendous. And please can you explain to me why it is that it's somehow acceptable for the rest of the world to be left to queue for hours and hours just because you waltzed through in 30 seconds or whatever it was ? In case this hasn't registered, LHR is the face of the UK and the first thing many people encounter of our country. I was ashamed to be British in the queues last night.

The eGates were not working last night and the queues for Iris (which doesn't work for me - believe me I've tried) were pretty long too.

So please take back your assertion about picture fogging.

BAH
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:29 am
  #238  
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Originally Posted by BAHumbug
Er. No.

I'm British and I promise you the queues last night were horrendous. And please can you explain to me why it is that it's somehow acceptable for the rest of the world to be left to queue for hours and hours just because you waltzed through in 30 seconds or whatever it was ? In case this hasn't registered, LHR is the face of the UK and the first thing many people encounter of our country. I was ashamed to be British in the queues last night.

The eGates were not working last night and the queues for Iris (which doesn't work for me - believe me I've tried) were pretty long too.

So please take back your assertion about picture fogging.

BAH
Thank you, BAH. you have answered my question … I think.
Although "last night" is not the same as "0600-0700".
No need to be scratchy, eh?

The fact that the entire arrangement is appalling is a slightly different subject, as I implied. I was just unclear about which categories of pax were actually suffering from this farrago. If it's all of us, regardless of colour, Nationality, gender … then I would like a ticket on the top deck of the Outrage Bus.

I was just trying to put some personal perspective on the subject, because I'm self-centred. And it appears that entering UK is now worse than [as a Brit] entering the US through IAD. Thank you.
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:36 am
  #239  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
So How difficult is it now, for me [and the OH] as British chipped passport holders to get across the Border? At 0600-0700?
The queues have become terrible over the last few weeks now, I'd estimate about 50 minutes for T3 this morning for the e-passport based on the time it took to move for the 5 minutes I was there (before darting for iris)

There may be idle periods -- 2 weeks ago on a late-afternoon arrival was under 5 minutes, but they are worse than your last trip, and I daresay that for non-EU people may be worse than IAD!
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Old Apr 27, 2012, 10:41 am
  #240  
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The overall grossness of the UK Border certainly seems to be matching the "horror stories" of the USA. However, I'm equally conscious that time/destination can create enormous variations.

We used to expect 1h plus at IAD on a 1500-ish arrival. Now it seems to be 10m. Juggling International arrival times may have helped - I note the BA217 is now nearly an hour earlier.
Equally, T5 at 0630>0700 may be completely different to T3 at [whenever].
I also have sympathy for the Hungarian at STN, as cited by BAH above.

I re-emphasise … I accept that things are BAD.

I'm just trying to find out what to expect at LHR T5 at 0630+ off a TATL. Thanks.
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