catandmouse

Well actually Switzerland is neither EEA nor EU, but is Schengen.
For immigration purposes into the UK you tend to see signs along the lines "EU, EEA and Switzerland".
Very confusing I know.

Cap'n Benj

hahahahhah, how utterly ridiculous.


*deletes BA iPhone App*

catandmouse

So how is this going to work with pax doing international transit to short-haul at T5, say SFO-LHR-HEL? There isn't a visa desk in flight connections (or at least not one that I have seen). Is it the conformance dragon that is going to do the necessary check? And if so couldn't the conformance dragons letting you into security from landside do the same thing, rather creating yet an additional bottleneck on your way through T5?

layz

There's no 'conformance dragons' between landside and security though. They've been replaced with machines and a person whose job appears to be to tell people to go away and use the machines even though it looks like this person still has the means to scan boarding passes.

clarkeysntfc

I mean that 'floating customers' such as myself will bear this in mind when looking at future plans.

I recently went to Edinburgh, flew from LTN with EasyJet as they:
a) were cheaper than BA
b) don't charge £20rtn for a reserved seat
c) don't involve using a congested delay-prone airport like LHR.

What I'm saying is that if BA is going to take away the key benefit of flying with hand baggage then the significant time saving associated falls in favour of other carriers.

shorthauldad

How many of us actually have serious loyalty to BA for short-haul flights? I know I don't! If another airline has better timings, or better fares, I'm there.

Many aspects of T5 are a real PITA, so I can completely understand why someone might find "one more minor inconvenience" enough to give up BA@T5 and go elsewhere - particularly for s/h flights.

windowontheAside

I do. I live a fair way from LHR so need to allow plenty of contingency for the journey. Most of the time it isn't needed so lounge access is a big benefit for me.

BA's short haul program offers me enough choice of times to get me out and home at convenient times almost every time.

Except for EIN, where I have to take the dreaded FR.

shorthauldad

Can't you get (paid) lounge access with other airlines / at other airports? How much is Priority Pass?

I can (sort of) understand BA loyalty if you live near LHR and so start your journeys there. If you start from an outstation (MUC / FRA / SZG / INN in my case), the advantages are a lot less clear, especially if you're not actually heading for (the western side of) London.

If I need to go MAN, BA would be MUC-LHR-MAN, with the re-screening palaver at T5 after landing from MUC. LH and U2 both offer direct flights to MAN. In my book direct beats indirect almost by default, even without the LHR factor.

LH has several lounges at MUC, U2 flights leave from an gate area with a paid lounge.

windowontheAside

Yep, that's always an option. But I'd have to foot the bill and I can't see any purpose when BA does meet my needs 99% of the time. That's why I am "loyal" to BA. It suits me. It's about some of the status perks and the benefits that come from a consistent routine that I know very well. It works for me.

If I were paying the bill for flights, and being price conscious I guess I would look at it a bit differently.

I can't see that an extra few-minute step is going to change that. It's just another PITA aspect to travelling as a whole.

I completely agree with your comments about transiting though. I would favour a direct flight with someone else over a transit with BA every time, unless I needed the TPs or something.

cazoz

So is the BA app now pointless and obsolete, if everybody is going to end up with a paper boarding pass anyway?

irishguy28

Unless you live substantially closer to STN than to LHR - in which case that sounds like the best approach for you - are you aware that Schiphol is linked to Eindhoven by a 90-minute train journey that leaves every 15 minutes on workdays? Services that depart on the hour and the half-hour require a quick (and very easy, adjacent platform) change in Utrecht, the other trains go direct. As all Intercities have free wifi these days, you can even work on the train.

continentalclub

Presumably because self-landing is much easier at domestic outstations than it is from T5 gates - especially B & C.

catandmouse

Have never understood why self-landing is so complicated at T5. You need a one-way gate and some stairs down to the arrivals level. It doesn't even need a person to do that. After all that's exactly what they do when a flight gets cancelled and they have to land you. They take you to an unused gate open the door and let you walk all the way back to Border Control.

Crampedin13A

I have an YYZ-LHR ticket and then an onward separate ticket to MUC just after this new system comes into effect for flights to Germany. Hand baggage only. Where under this new system would I get my U.K. passport checked if I don't go landside and use the Arrivals lounge? I'm arriving in F and continuing on in CE. Would the CCR lounge agent be able to do it?

It won't be done in YYZ because the APIS on that booking has my CDN passport details.

corporate-wage-slave

It can be done in YYZ if you are checking in there. I know you should stay passport consistent and use the same passport on arrival as in APIS (but I never have). If not, at Flight Connections they typically look at your passport now anyway. So no change there. The only people affected by this are short haul customers starting their journeys at LHR landside and not checking luggage. And I don't think this wheeze will last for very long, thanks to App users mainly. They tried something similar at LGW, signs everywhere, and it didn't survive the first week.