PUCCI GALORE

Is the a clue Dad? My husband aka Him Indoors does so as he has an artificial hip and thus triggers off the detectors each time that he goes throught the scanner.

All in all this is a disgrace. I do not know what BA can do about this as it is not down to them. They can and should have a good and strong go about this situation. Lines like these are not acceptable. Clearly i have been lucky and not had any of this - but I am far from impressed by the general calibre of the staff. I am even less impressed that they are Laws Unto Themselves and do as they please. No Supervisor will stand up to them and they are, frankly, a perfect example of what happens when you give some people a bit of power.

We are all in too much of a rush. It wants more of us to stand up to some of this behaviour and ask for Manager to explain why the situation is as bad as it is.

NeverFirst

I had a quick scan through and didn't see this question/answer;

Will they still offload you if you don't get through the scanner at T-35? Will you lose your non-changeable ticket?

in the old days, if there was an accident on the M4 they would make allowances. Do they still make allowances for this kind of delay?

NeverFirst

WHAT???

You leave my beloved MUC T2 out of it. Higher passenger numbers than LHR T5, and never(*) a queue.

(*) Touch wood

matthandy

Never a queue? Every time you go through you must have consumed too much Weiß Bier and haven't noticed the people in front of you .

I always go through in the afternoon, around 5-6pm. There's always a queue.

shorthauldad

Are you sure you mean MUC T2? <whisper>The terminal Lufthansa flies from? </whisper>

shorthauldad

I heard on the grapevine the randomness is set at 1 in 5 at the moment, mentioned this in passing to the screening staff at T2 last week and got nods and rolled eyes in response.

I know we all hate (other people's) kids, but moving the terror threat to high and screening twice as many pax as normal just because it's half-term seems like a bit of an over-reaction

hugolover

My perception of the problems of T5 Security come down to the staff and the fact they move like snails. Are they working to rule?

Most of the time glancing across the security lanes things are NOT moving. I often see the scanning chair is vacant, where have they gone? The handover takes far too long. They need to get moving, get a rocket up their asses. There is NO common sense among the staff and management. If one lane has 5 bags for rescan and another lane has 0 the staff member (even from the adjacent lane) does not come and help this colleague. I waited 50 minutes for a random rescan of my bag two weeks ago, that is ridiculous. And the woman moved so slow I wish I could have done it myself. I told her to get a bloody move on.

Who cares that pax don't put the trays back? They are probably all too peeved off after waiting ages, get the staff to do it, pay for more staff. Set up a HMO with workers from the North/Overseas who will happily accept the relatively high wages. There needs to be some kind of national regulation on how quick pax should go through security and fines for failing to comply. It's a national disgrace T5 is so bad.

The smiley-face satisfaction machine to the far right of Security South is not working and hasn't been for weeks.

matthandy

Yep. Unfortunately LH have a habit of being cheaper than BA on occasion. I try to book my flights well in advance now so that I can stick with BA and the older but much quieter T1.

NeverFirst

I was thinking the same ... mutter, mutter ... typical ... *tut* ... etc.

Edit: I've just seen the reply above, I'm confused. I always have longer lines at T1 than T2 (but nothing extraordinary in either case, whatever time of day).

At least in T1 it is a very short walk to the lounge. I don't have status with M&M but the airside space in T2 is airy and unhurried, certainly better than T5's melee.

shorthauldad

The conformance scan is before security, so if you've made conformance but failed to get to the gate in time purely because of queues at security, I'd suggest BA would choose to rebook FOC.

The alternative might start to look like the first recorded airside riot

shorthauldad

Time to try for a cheeky status match with TK? *G would have you sailing through F check-in (far right-hand side) with its integrated security lane - and friendly staff - in next to no time...

NeverFirst

Absolutely true. The government has an interest in making the airport work well, bot for transfers and O&D traffic. If I was coming to open an office in the EU, then the stress of having to travel to/from LHR would put me right off.

It's like the Blackwall Tunnel. The fact that it's busy doesn't make it popular.

matthandy

Err, hello, I am here. Was that the Internet equivalent of talking about me like I'm not in the room whilst I'm standing right next to you?

Now that's a great idea ^^

shorthauldad

MUC looks like an airport, with some fairly well-hidden shops.

LHR looks like a shopping mall, with some fairly well-hidden runways.

paulwuk

Proving that you'd rather save a few pennies on the flight cost than have a nice terminal experience

This is why BA don't give a stuff about T5 -- if they magically get everyone through in a few minutes, it won't change buying habits.