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T5 security is a total disaster! [inc Fast Track issues]

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Old Jan 20, 2015, 5:28 am
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Last edit by: hillrider
LHR charges for the cost of this screening to the passengers. For example, if you transited LHR on a round-trip in economy class from the US, you paid GBP 54.39 (USD 83.10) for this (on the ticket under tax/fee "UB").

EU Regulations state that "transfer passengers and their cabin baggage may be exempted from screening, if: (a) they arrive from a Member State [...] or (b) they arrive from a third country where the security standards applied are recognised as equivalent to the common basic standards [...] [E.g. the USA]"

Security control when connecting between USA and Schengen flights (European airports competing for LHR traffic)

SECURITY CONTROL both ways:
  • LHR

NO SECURITY CONTROL either way (Schengen to USA or v.v.):
  • FRA (A/Z-gates only) [Lufthansa hub]
  • MUC [Lufthansa hub]
  • AMS (from mid 2015 when reconstruction works finish) [KLM hub]
  • HEL
  • ZRH [SWISS hub]
  • CPH

NO SECURITY CONTROL from Schengen to USA (control on the way back from USA to Schengen):
  • VIE
  • WAW
  • ARN
  • OSL
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T5 security is a total disaster! [inc Fast Track issues]

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Old Dec 24, 2014, 6:40 pm
  #931  
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Originally Posted by Skipcool3
So, I am shortly to do my first T5 transfer. EU (Frankfurt) arriving about 11.30' connecting to ABZ. No bags, travelling CE.
Do I use transfers, or just clear myself and go back through departures?
Thanks.
Unless there is an enormous queue just use the normal signposted route via UK Flight Connections.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 2:22 am
  #932  
 
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No South fast track today - apparently there aren't enough passengers ��. No one loading their trays so an absolute mess.

Rant over - in the lounge with a glass of LPGS
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 3:17 am
  #933  
 
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Thanks Calchas.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 5:53 am
  #934  
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Originally Posted by catandmouse
Even simpler, implement a system similar to that used in the Schengen area, where passengers are security screened once and are then considered secure and are not further security-screened during connections. To those who claim that the requirements in the UK are greater than in the Schengen area, I would respectfully point out that Heathrow appears to regularly fail EU tests and that is the justification for the "Go-Slow" activity in security. At least that is the reason given by the numpties manning security if you ask why they move so slowly and need to screen each laptop half a dozen times. Eliminating previously screened passengers from trusted airports would slash the number of people having to get through flight connections.
+1

I found it absolutely and totally moronic to be re-subjected to "security" (especially of the LHR T-5 kind) when transiting at LHR after originating in SFO/LAX/JFK/etc.

If the TSA was able to stop me from bringing anything onboard to blow up my JFK-LHR flight, I think I'm pretty good for not blowing up the piddly European connection.

And I'd welcome the reduction in wasted resources (and costs on my ticket) that this would bring about.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 5:55 am
  #935  
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Originally Posted by Calchas
I think it's more airport size than anything.
Larger airports should be more efficient, so your argument goes against what we're being subjected to.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 7:15 am
  #936  
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Originally Posted by hillrider
+1

I found it absolutely and totally moronic to be re-subjected to "security" (especially of the LHR T-5 kind) when transiting at LHR after originating in SFO/LAX/JFK/etc.

If the TSA was able to stop me from bringing anything onboard to blow up my JFK-LHR flight, I think I'm pretty good for not blowing up the piddly European connection.

And I'd welcome the reduction in wasted resources (and costs on my ticket) that this would bring about.
So when did SFO/LAX/JFK/etc trust LHR security?
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 7:46 am
  #937  
 
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Originally Posted by hillrider
+1

I found it absolutely and totally moronic to be re-subjected to "security" (especially of the LHR T-5 kind) when transiting at LHR after originating in SFO/LAX/JFK/etc.
I agree. Same when I fly into JFK/LAX etc from Heathrow. Or doesn't it work that way round?

More realistically, I'd like to skip security when I arrive from an ex-man flight and head off to Gibraltar. Next step would be allowing Schengen passengers in without a security pass, then trusted countries.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 7:51 am
  #938  
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Originally Posted by layz
So when did SFO/LAX/JFK/etc trust LHR security?
The point is about reciprocity (or lack of such being implemented), right?

The EU Schengen country of Germany is fine allowing UK-screened flight passengers to transit Germany without being rescreened in Germany. The Germans are also fine with not rescreening US-screened flight passengers transiting in Germany. But neither the UK nor the US reciprocate in practice with Germany because of a combination of factors -- factors which include but are not limited to differences in airport layouts and in how arriving passengers (may or may not) mingle and are processed for passport control and customs control purposes.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 8:42 am
  #939  
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To separate terminals to allow for 'safe' countries not to have to be re-screened would be virtually impossible given the current setup and disruption it would create.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 10:27 am
  #940  
 
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Originally Posted by Genius1
To separate terminals to allow for 'safe' countries not to have to be re-screened would be virtually impossible given the current setup and disruption it would create.
Why not disgorge passengers straight into the main terminal, rather than an arrivals flow - at least for "A" gate arrivals, perhaps with a boarding pass check. Just reverse the escalators.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 11:24 am
  #941  
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Originally Posted by hillrider
Larger airports should be more efficient, so your argument goes against what we're being subjected to.
What's your basis for that suggestion?

My empirical but uncontrolled observations suggest to me that smaller airports are "more efficient", at least in the sense they have more friendly and helpful staff members available per passenger. In particular it is rarer to wait more than a few minutes in any kind of queue.

Probably that is the opposite of efficiency from a management perspective, so perhaps you are right!
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 12:01 pm
  #942  
 
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Originally Posted by layz
So when did SFO/LAX/JFK/etc trust LHR security?
They trust London City security when coming off the LCY-JFK flights - you could technically connect to a UA flight to SFO, say, in T7 and you would not have to re-screen. The US challenge - which is equally asinine to be sure - has to do with the desire to have pax clear customs at the point of entry into the US. When you pre-clear, out of City, Dublin/Shannon on some flights, or Canada, you do not have to go through security screening again.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 12:46 pm
  #943  
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Originally Posted by MarkedMan
They trust London City security when coming off the LCY-JFK flights - you could technically connect to a UA flight to SFO, say, in T7 and you would not have to re-screen. .
That's not quite the case: there is another re-screening done at SNN, to cover the bits that LCY won't get right, namely the shoes off routine.
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 1:21 pm
  #944  
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Deleted

Last edited by Calchas; Dec 25, 2014 at 2:15 pm
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Old Dec 25, 2014, 1:50 pm
  #945  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
That's not quite the case: there is another re-screening done at SNN, to cover the bits that LCY won't get right, namely the shoes off routine.
That isn't a security screening: it is a customs scan for things like organic materials, alcohol, etc.

Would be a fairly pointless security screen given there is no metal detector, body scanner or requirement to empty your pockets. You could walk through with a glock strapped to your back and they wouldn't be any the wiser.
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