irishguy28

Isn't the whole EU now supposed to be a single customs area? (Except for some special zones/tax free areas, ie the Canaries)

The CTA is really intended only for citizens of the countries that make up the area, it doesn't exempt people from other nationalities from complying with immigration regulations when moving around within the CTA. (A visa for Ireland does not automatically grant the holder the right to enter the UK, etc.) I know that's all a bit academic, given that there is an open land border between the two countries, but that's the law. Ireland reintroduced immigration control on all arrivals by air (and sometimes for arrivals by ferry) from the CTA back in the 1990s and the UK government had been considering doing the same, which would bring the CTA more or less to an end, but the House of Lords shot that down.

Habemuspapam

I would submit that knowledge of general BA/OW lounge access rules should suffice for the whole network. It's not a DYKWIA situation....it's a DYKWWA situation....Do you know who WE are! As in all GCH and OWE.

We have expectations. When they aren't met, we get grumpy. They have already been repeatedly reduced over the years, so we like to hang on to the ones we have.

It doesn't mean I'm going to tear up my gold card or spend all my miles, or run off to *A or Flying Poo. It does mean that when such things happen, they should be brought to the attention of the powers that be. I own a service oriented business, and it is my policy that, within reason, my customers should never hear the word "no." That is how you build real loyalty.

This issue is one that is easily resolved in BA's favor by simply incorporating this lounge into the BA/OW paradigm. I don't pretend to understand the nonsense over DUB, Ireland, domestic in T1, all this picture taking, and why BAA insists that you re-clear security after LANDING in the UK to fly somewhere else, (one would think that if they were really worried about the security at non-UK airports, they would consider that the inbound flights would be the danger, not passengers in transit,)....and I don't pretend to care. When I pay an airline for a premium ticket, and do it often enough to get top tier elite status, it becomes the airline's job to take care of me at every point in the experience to the best of their ability, not just to get me from point A to point B. That is the value proposition that is being sold to me, and any moment of unwarranted disappointment impacts the value of the service received.

Is it a great big deal? No. Should a service company be made aware when they disappoint you? Every single time.

LTN Phobia

I think you are forgetting the fact that you received lounge access. It just wasn't a particular lounge you wanted to access.

colm

All the picture taking, etc. is so that they can allow you to use the International departures lounge, while still being able to prove that you walked in from the UK. It's to "allow" you to enjoy the shopping

BAA doesn't insist you re-clear security, the CAA does. All passengers leaving the UK must have been screened in the UK, as standards differ, and other countries may not have UK standards of security. (or that's the theory).

Arriving passengers who are not getting on another plane are not likely to be a danger to aviation.

Habemuspapam

Recognized and appreciated, and nothing, per se wrong with the lounge itself.

My biggest gripe...I used the word "trapped" in my original post. Perhaps I should have articulated this better. Once in the LR lounge, and upon discovering that there was little of substance to eat, I was advised that I could not even return to the shopping area to join my wife at one of the restaurants without having to re-clear full security. This was my biggest reason for wanting to access the GBL....the ability to go in and out at will. Once you are in the LR, you are well and truly trapped, and that is a very unpleasant circumstance. Does BA have any other lounges in its network where accessing the lounge requires foregoing re-entry into the airside terminal?

Habemuspapam

Not to get too OT, but if there was a danger from lax non-UK airport security, wouldn't that danger be more likely to present itself in UK airspace prior to landing, as opposed to on the connecting flight? Seems like security theater to me.

LTN Phobia

It's not the lounge entry that does this to you, it's the set up of the Terminal 1. It's not BA's fault, actually.

Next time do as your wife does. How sensible that she went to a restaurant instead of the lounge. Doing what your wife dos usually works out, as you've learned on this occasion My husband has learnt that a long time ago and he gets to regret it when he forgets that.

Jenbel

To some extent, but not entirely.

For example, someone wanting to fly xxx-LHR-TLV might want the nasty stuff to happen on the LHR-TLV leg, quite deliberately.

And also, in the UK, we can't really control what happens at other security, so we have to accept the inbounds as a risk. However, we can control (to a large degree) what happens on the outbound.

Habemuspapam

Now on that point we can agree.

matthandy

It's treated as a domestic flight, as already explained earlier in the thread.

stifle

Customs would still be required on UK arrivals from the EU for excisable goods, commercial goods, and for transfer pax who had originated outside the EU.

layz

Glasgow, for one.

This is down to the original design of the terminal. At one time T1 was the only LHR terminal with domestic flights. The area where the London Room is had its own separate entrance (you can still see it, but now it's staff only). If flying domestic or Ireland you could not access the main departures area of the terminal just the special domestic area.

You can imagine how bad this was for people flying, there's not much in this area.

A few years ago BAA wanted people to use the main shops so they came up with the photographing idea, this photo checkpoint is what is stopping you going back to the main area.

They could put the photo checks just before the gate like in T5, but that would cost more in reconfiguring the gate areas and extra staffing and I doubt it'd be a priority.

Remember T1 won't be around much longer, so expect minor improvements but nothing major.

skipness1E

Never understood this one. All passengers on the domestic piers are cleared to UK / ROI standards. I assume the unwillingness to allow anyone domestic side to re-enter the shopping area is that we don't trust the Irish?

corporate-wage-slave

Newcastle is another, though you could probably get away with it (by waiting by the automated door for someone going the other way, AYOR). And in a milder way T5B unless you know the passageway back.

teflon

Historical reasons? It made sense when the security check was where EAT is now, but I suppose there's no good reason why you can't exit back to the shopping area by the same corridor. Other than getting in the way of departing passengers.