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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 Nov 4, 2014, 1:59 pm
  #121  
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Originally Posted by T8191
In which case, agreeing with you completely, the only credible leverage is through the bloody Media ... who will tell HAL they run possibly the worst major airport in Europe. Whether they care, when the Shopping Mall generates money, is a different question, but they should be shamed in public for running [or not] a shambles of the UK's flagship airport.
Am I wrong?
Do they have shareholders too?
I see BA entwined here in a diabolical pact with HAL. VS pay HAL to operate an efficient and pleasant fast track service at T3. BA could negotiate this too. HAL might be a pseudo monopoly but it is also a normal business they will be keen to maximise profit. BA could work with HAL and pay more for more effective VS Style fast track. BA could conduct research to show that happy customers spend more at airports, BA could push directly for regulator intervention.

BA doesn't do any of this quite possibly because most solutions involve paying HAL more to improve matters and BA can avoid increased costs and hide behind the smokescreen that HAL are responsible for everything, like weather is always responsible for delays, like EU261 never applies because circumstances are beyond BA's control.

Easier to blame any other scapegoat than take responsibility and work through a solution that might add a few pennies to cost per passenger.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 2:00 pm
  #122  
 
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Friends of mine are going YYC-ABZ and chose to fly KLM and connect in AMS specifically because of T5. They did BA once through T5 and swore never again. They have small children (18 months and 4 years) and said it was far too much hassle to go through LHR with the children.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 2:22 pm
  #123  
 
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Originally Posted by paulwuk
The invisible hand fixes all.
.....apart from putting the trays back on the conveyer....
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 2:26 pm
  #124  
 
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Never mind the BA vs HAL debate, we are paying for this. These are the charges we are paying to Heathrow airport (and there may be other, specific, 'security' charges on top);

2.1 The charge per departing Passenger (other than Transfer Passengers or Transit Passengers) is:
European Destinations £31.63
Other Destinations £44.41

2.2 The charge per departing Transfer Passenger or Transit Passenger is:
European Destinations £23.72
Other Destinations £33.31
So, *every* passenger is paying somewhere between £20 and £45 and I'm guessing the staff cost about £15 an hour each. As they say on TV, "you do the math".
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 2:43 pm
  #125  
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Originally Posted by NeverFirst
So, *every* passenger is paying somewhere between £20 and £45 and I'm guessing the staff cost about £15 an hour each. As they say on TV, "you do the math".
The cost is £6.50 an hour plus national insurance.


Originally Posted by Jagboi
Friends of mine are going YYC-ABZ and chose to fly KLM and connect in AMS specifically because of T5. They did BA once through T5 and swore never again. They have small children (18 months and 4 years) and said it was far too much hassle to go through LHR with the children.
Don't they allow families with small children to jump the queue?
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 2:46 pm
  #126  
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I don't care who sorts out this security mess but ANYONE (let alone people flying F etc) deserves better than this and has to be sorted out. HAL, BA, government, aliens, whatever.

It is clearly unacceptable. The only time it has any justification to be like this is when there is a major unexpected system failure. As far as I know, there was none, and it was just a 'busy day' which of course could have been foreseen very easily.

This display at one of their major airports (especially sort of a 'premium' airport) should be deemed a national embarrassment for the UK.


Originally Posted by Petrus
So is the consensus that connecting Premium Pax should use FCC after all? Fast track up the escalators and the battle the zoo to get to the X-ray machines.
I would not use the FCC when it is busy. It is actually dangerous at the top of the escalators due to lack of space. I refuse to risk being injured, although it might actually be a good idea if I did get injured and sue HAL for it - it might encourage them to deal with things better if it costs them money.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 3:31 pm
  #127  
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Originally Posted by Andriyko
I support the decision to close North security to originating pax as clearing security for connecting passengers was becoming worse and worse, but now originating pax are inconvenienced. Whoever designed the terminal should be fined...
That's a shame as I have switched checkpoints on more than one occasion to avoid being harassed by overzealous carry-on baggage enforcement drones.

That being said transfer security is maddening and completely dependent on luck of the draw. I've had UA -> BA connections (old T1 -> T5) that took little time except for the Immigration queue, and I've had BA -> *A connections that were 30m in line at some underground checkpoint that was understaffed.

Apparently your UK civil servants are doing as much as possible to make LHR unpleasant - those lines remind me of the 2012 immigration queues for arrivals.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 4:24 pm
  #128  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
And who is going to commute out of The Big City to LHR to do the job for a low wage? The problem, having lived near LHR for far too many years, is that the local demographic is [a] limited, in term of job-seekers, [b] ethically diverse, and [c] generally CBA.

Sorry if that's seen as playing hardball, but the realistic recruitment pool is Slough, Uxbridge, West Drayton, Hayes etc.
I have to agree having grown up near LHR. I still have friends who work at LHR who commute from outside that catchment area but they are managers with a few different companies within the airport with decent wages.

I guess I have been a long time gone with regards to the wages in the area but £6.50 an hour shocks me a bit even for unskilled workers.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 6:08 pm
  #129  
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Originally Posted by MNManInKen
Well, I would hope some of the expensive lawyers BA has would make sure there are contract provisions to claw back money from HAL over bad performance, sue them or undertake whatever other form of harassing HAL to keep the pressure on. I suspect it's in the short term easier to be meek about it instead which is why HAL gets away with it.
The sad part is I suspect HAL pays their lawyers more than BA pays theirs.

Originally Posted by HIDDY
I believe the owners are fined if they fail to meet certain targets regarding wait times at security.
HAL have weaselled their way out of that on the basis that it puts profit ahead of security.

Originally Posted by paulwuk
The invisible hand fixes all.
So the communist parody goes...

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles
VS pay HAL to operate an efficient and pleasant fast track service at T3. BA could negotiate this too. HAL might be a pseudo monopoly but it is also a normal business they will be keen to maximise profit. BA could work with HAL and pay more for more effective VS Style fast track. BA could conduct research to show that happy customers spend more at airports, BA could push directly for regulator intervention.

BA doesn't do any of this quite possibly because most solutions involve paying HAL more to improve matters and BA can avoid increased costs and hide behind the smokescreen that HAL are responsible for everything, like weather is always responsible for delays, like EU261 never applies because circumstances are beyond BA's control.

Easier to blame any other scapegoat than take responsibility and work through a solution that might add a few pennies to cost per passenger.
BA has zero negotiating power since they aren't going to move terminals tomorrow. Okay, they could pay HAL more, but as you rightly point out, they have little incentive to do so.

Originally Posted by Jagboi
Friends of mine are going YYC-ABZ and chose to fly KLM and connect in AMS specifically because of T5. They did BA once through T5 and swore never again. They have small children (18 months and 4 years) and said it was far too much hassle to go through LHR with the children.
If you have no interest in frequent flier schemes, KLM is very nice. Similarly, if you aren't interested in punctuality or reliability, the other side of their operation, AF, is also quite pleasant.

Originally Posted by Gold77
The cost is £6.50 an hour plus national insurance.
That might buy you a burger a couple of times an hour in/near London but it doesn't buy you a sophisticated security screening operation. You may have to raise your offer by a factor of two or three.

Indeed, Gold77, perhaps you are right. Pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Last edited by Calchas; Nov 4, 2014 at 6:14 pm
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 6:08 pm
  #130  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
Agree completely - sadly overall situational awareness in't a characteristic that comes to the fore when pax just want to grab their stuff and get away.

T5 is setting new standards for TSA to aspire to.
Give me TSA over T5 security anyday. Hopeless and embarassing. Sort it out BA.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 6:49 pm
  #131  
 
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Originally Posted by Gold77
Don't they allow families with small children to jump the queue?
Nope. They also subjected our 9 year old to extra screening all 3 times we passed through T5 security this summer.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 7:30 pm
  #132  
 
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Originally Posted by T8191
And who is going to commute out of The Big City to LHR to do the job for a low wage? The problem, having lived near LHR for far too many years, is that the local demographic is [a] limited, in term of job-seekers, [b] ethically diverse, and [c] generally CBA.

Sorry if that's seen as playing hardball, but the realistic recruitment pool is Slough, Uxbridge, West Drayton, Hayes etc.
LHR is in the big city and having not only lived there for 12 years, but also been involved in loads of recruitment for staff at all levels, I've never had any difficulty finding staff, quite the opposite. While it's a pain to go through all the applications that every job posting attracts, it also provides a lot of choice...

As for SL1 and other postcodes, that is surely just making the point that the pool is even larger?

The idea that you could not find the right staff to carry out the security functions at LHR is IMHO quite silly.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 9:42 pm
  #133  
 
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Originally Posted by Southlondonbonviveur
Give me TSA over T5 security anyday. Hopeless and embarassing. Sort it out BA.
From my dealings, I dislike TSA with a passion.
But after taking over 45minutes to get thru T5 'fast track' on Sunday afternoon, it makes going thru ORD a pleasure.
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Old Nov 4, 2014, 11:49 pm
  #134  
 
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.....

Last edited by angatol; Mar 1, 2015 at 12:22 am
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Old Nov 5, 2014, 12:53 am
  #135  
 
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The security staff in T1 used to work as if they were all on Mogadon. Things have improved a bit recently but I guess anyone who works fast shows the others up and somebody will 'have a quiet word' with them about it.
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