NWIFlyer

Many will be amazed anyone would attempt theft in this situation with the number of CCTV cameras which are in an airport. The risk of being identifiable must be enormous. That some still do would suggest the pickings are probably easy - it's not hard to imagine a scenario where a distracted passenger simply didn't remember what they put in the myriad of trays they'd been forced to use, and by the time the missing item was identified the prime chance of catching the thief was gone because they might even have left the country.

Mind you, this is nothing compared to the security before boarding the Hong Kong-China (Shenzhen) train, where the locals who were hosting me told me that under no circumstances should I let my laptop out of sight whilst it was visible on the conveyor because it was almost certain to be stolen. This involved seeing it disappear into the scanner at the very last moment, half running through the metal detector arch, and then grabbing it again the moment it appeared out the other end, hoping you didn't set the detector off. The one thing you certainly didn't see was a queue caused by dithering!

IAMORGAN

I agree.

Some people are infrequent travellers and the whole thing is an ordeal, some people have reduced mobility or perhaps an unseen disability, some people may have been told to use a number of trays, and so on. I do agree with the thrust of your post (i.e. don't hold up the line by stopping your tray the moment it pops out(!)) but it's not your place to tell other people what to do.

catandmouse

Also what OP seems to have forgotten is that protocols vary significantly from one airport to another (even from one terminal to another at LHR). Some airports want the liquids bag in a tray on their own, some want Kindles others don't, and someone even mentioned taking shoes off, which I haven't done at T5 for many years. It's all very good having loads of signs, but most of us are too busy coping with looking after our goods and chattles and the particular protocol applicable to lane 4 at T5 North at 08.30 on a Saturday morning to read all the signs.

smokie36

Methinks the OP needs to try meditation or up his alcohol intake.

Fitch

If only this were true

IME the sort of people who selfishly leave their mess for others to clear up are precisely those deaf to subtle social queues like tutting, eye-rolling and tray banging ...

My natural inclination is to grumble, but I usually have enough self-awareness to remember that a middle-aged man moaning out loud to himself comes across a bit "nutter on the bus" . So I button it down and head for the lounge...

EuropeToAsia

(1) I'm going to loudly shame everyone for this thread causing me to repeatedly spill my morning tea while reading this thread

​​​​​​​(2) I'm usually politely invited by security staff to pass through the arch when my trays haven't even started moving, and equally politely I inform the staff that I'd prefer to wait for my trays moving to the point where phone, wallet & co. are unlikely to 'fly' to someone else's tray while I'm not watching. Never been an issue.

DeanB

Top Tip: Wear a belt from Elliot Rhodes, so you can detach the metal buckle, put it in the tray & leave the leather in place around your waist, while you go through the arch. Valuable re-belting seconds saved!

Concerto

Didn't some American airports introduce a system where there are 3 security lines, one for experienced frequent travelers, another for families and children and the third for infrequent travelers? You were supposed to determine yourself which profile you fitted into. It seemed a good idea at the time, but I haven't seen it recently.

bd95

I've seen this before. I think it has been superseded by Pre-check, where the uninitiated inadvertently dither by not realising liquids etc stay in the bags!

dougzz

But the access to fast track is determined as much by class of travel as by frequent flying. Of course there's a link, but it's not absolute. Inexperienced travellers can buy CE and CW tickets too.

corporate-wage-slave

LGW South has that, kind of: there is main security on the right, Premium Security (which is faster than PreCheck) in the middle and a Families and Assistance passengers entrance. It comes into the same hall, and they then manage how these 3 channels feed through to the security lines, so off peak there is some sharing. T5 also has experimented a bit with a Family channel (where they decorate the WTMD arch) during school holidays but it hasn't worked terribly well, there are just too many people that need to be processed.

I well recall a severely hassled Dad, solo flying with 2 young kids, clearly normally on the corporate side of travel, in front of me at T5 one day. I wasn't in a hurry, and kept reassuring him to take his time, but it wasn't helped that his partner had clearly done the packing. As ever more bottles of liquids, tubs of yoghurt and toy guns were extracted from the most obscure corners of the bags he couldn't stop abruptly apologising to me for holding me up. I said his kids were adorable and well behaved (which was almost true) but it was interesting to see how things sometimes go wrong. Still, it only took a few minutes if we were being honest.

tnmlyger

With respect to the OP: While English may not be your first language, the entitlement and aggressiveness permeating your post is astonishing. This sort of attitude would not get the desired result if used against me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Heathrow T5, to me, has one of the worst security screening processes of major hubs. If you insist on guests putting everything in trays, train your staff better. In my last four screening experiences there in the past two weeks, I have had:
- One agent insisting the iPad stay in the laptop bag.
- One agent insisting the iPad needs to come out of the laptop bag but can stay in its neoprene sleeve.
- One agent insisting the iPad needed to come out of the neoprene sleeve into the same bin as the laptop.
- One agent insisting the iPad needed to be out of its neoprene sleeve and in a bin of its own.
- One agent insisting I put all my personal effects from my pockets, my passport and toiletries into one bin.
- Two agents insisting the toiletries had to go in their own bin.
- One agent insisting that my belt be separated from my keys, wallet and put in its own bin.
- Two agents insisting I take off my shoes (Skechers) when I left them on.
- Two agents insisting I leave my shoes on when I had taken them off.

I also don't understand why BAA staff don't place empty bins back in the receptacle. My home airport is MUC and bins are cleared away by staff as soon as they are emptied. It's not exactly rocket science.

Everybody has their own way of organizing their security dance. I usually end up with four to five bins at LHR, and the way the timing usually works out is I will have cleared bins one and two as three (computer bag) arrives. By the time four (rollaboard) comes down the conveyor belt, the computer bag is fully repacked. No time would be saved by throwing everything on a table, nor would this help any other travellers. People who hold up lines drive me crazy - but not as crazy as stuck-up DYKWIAs who loudly and obnoxiously mind everyone else's business but their own.

rapidex

I see the OP has already modified his OP.

I hope he feels shamed by his boorish and ungentlemanly suggestions.

BA4EVER

1.) What do you mean by prepare?

2.) Nope. I've now been delayed by security theater and will take whatever time I need to comfortably move toward a less crowded area and finish getting dressed.

3.) Never. The ridiculous taxes imposed on travelers in the U.K. can be used to pay for more staff to handle this if they like. I am not an airport employee nor a tray stacker. I'm trying to reassemble after having been subject to an invasive and unreasonable search procedure. Not my job or problem.

4.) Class warfare much?

5.) Signs are not laws.

6.) That's a good way to find yourself in a confrontation you may not want.

simons1

There are two major irritants in travel these days.

One is the endless security processes created by the world we now live in. There is no alternative to that really when the threat level is so high.

The second is having to deal with the likes of the OP who think it is their job to mind everyone else's business. That is something you can deal with, such people are best blanked and treated with the contempt they deserve.

If I need assistance at security I am quite capable of asking.

It seems in the meantime the OP has decided to wind his/her neck in a bit. Probably wise tactics.