Time to get through immigration T5
May 14, 21, 1:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2014
Location: London
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Time to get through immigration T5
Hi all, Am picking up an arrival from Mexico (BA 242) on Saturday pm. The papers have reported up to 6 hour long queues to get through immigration - is this the case? Should I be taking 'War and Peace' and three rounds of sandwich for the wait ? Or is it a media exaggeration and they will be through in an hour (or so)?
May 14, 21, 2:01 am
#2
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It genuinely could be anything from no queue to 6 hours for non-EEA passengers - its all dependent on other passenger volumes, profile of passengers, how compliant passengers are, and how (un)resourced Border Force is.
An average for non-EEA at the moment would be 1-2 hours.
An average for non-EEA at the moment would be 1-2 hours.
May 14, 21, 3:19 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: North Yorkshire, UK / Pasadena CA
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How are such unpredictable delay times affecting connections? Is there any provision to help pax catch their onward flight (I remember occasions in the past when a member of BA ground staff was on hand to fast-track pax with domestic connections through border control) or do they just have to suck it up?
May 14, 21, 3:23 am
#4
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How are such unpredictable delay times affecting connections? Is there any provision to help pax catch their onward flight (I remember occasions in the past when a member of BA ground staff was on hand to fast-track pax with domestic connections through border control) or do they just have to suck it up?
May 14, 21, 4:52 am
#6
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The maths on this is very scary and I don't understand why no-one is talking about it.
By Border Force's own admission it takes 12-14 minutes per person to process them. A full A380 - admittedly not common at the moment - is almost 500 people. 500 people x 12 minutes = 100 man-hours of Border Force time to process. With 10 desks open, this means 10 hours to process everyone. This assumes that no other aircraft had landed in the previous few hours so there was no queue in the first place and that no other aircraft land in the 10 hours after this A380 has dumped 500 people.
Whilst a full A380 is unlikely, 3 NEO's from Portugal which are totally full have the same number of passengers.
By Border Force's own admission it takes 12-14 minutes per person to process them. A full A380 - admittedly not common at the moment - is almost 500 people. 500 people x 12 minutes = 100 man-hours of Border Force time to process. With 10 desks open, this means 10 hours to process everyone. This assumes that no other aircraft had landed in the previous few hours so there was no queue in the first place and that no other aircraft land in the 10 hours after this A380 has dumped 500 people.
Whilst a full A380 is unlikely, 3 NEO's from Portugal which are totally full have the same number of passengers.
May 14, 21, 5:11 am
#7
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How are such unpredictable delay times affecting connections? Is there any provision to help pax catch their onward flight (I remember occasions in the past when a member of BA ground staff was on hand to fast-track pax with domestic connections through border control) or do they just have to suck it up?
May 14, 21, 5:21 am
#8
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Join Date: Aug 2020
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The maths on this is very scary and I don't understand why no-one is talking about it.
By Border Force's own admission it takes 12-14 minutes per person to process them. A full A380 - admittedly not common at the moment - is almost 500 people. 500 people x 12 minutes = 100 man-hours of Border Force time to process. With 10 desks open, this means 10 hours to process everyone. This assumes that no other aircraft had landed in the previous few hours so there was no queue in the first place and that no other aircraft land in the 10 hours after this A380 has dumped 500 people.
Whilst a full A380 is unlikely, 3 NEO's from Portugal which are totally full have the same number of passengers.
By Border Force's own admission it takes 12-14 minutes per person to process them. A full A380 - admittedly not common at the moment - is almost 500 people. 500 people x 12 minutes = 100 man-hours of Border Force time to process. With 10 desks open, this means 10 hours to process everyone. This assumes that no other aircraft had landed in the previous few hours so there was no queue in the first place and that no other aircraft land in the 10 hours after this A380 has dumped 500 people.
Whilst a full A380 is unlikely, 3 NEO's from Portugal which are totally full have the same number of passengers.
May 14, 21, 5:48 am
#9
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,956
Its 12-14 mins per family group, not per individual, so this will reduce the total somewhat. And the government knows a policy of strong border control is enormously popular right now (especially if it allows domestic easing to continue), so long queues as a deterrent is actually seen as a good thing. But yes, its going to get interesting.
May 14, 21, 5:52 am
#10
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Upon arrival at T5 on May 4 around 9:30AM, our immigration queue was very short and we were through in about five minutes. Then again, our flight was very empty with only 40 or so people on board.
May 14, 21, 5:55 am
#11
Join Date: Jul 2014
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But I suspect public opinion will change rapidly if and when the Sun and the Mail start reporting how honest, law-abiding holidaymakers are having to queue for 6 hours after their week in the Algarve (though youd hope the egates will help).
May 14, 21, 6:13 am
#12
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
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At the moment, yes - given that the general perception is that anyone flying now must be doing so illegally and deserves everything they get.
But I suspect public opinion will change rapidly if and when the Sun and the Mail start reporting how honest, law-abiding holidaymakers are having to queue for 6 hours after their week in the Algarve (though youd hope the egates will help).
But I suspect public opinion will change rapidly if and when the Sun and the Mail start reporting how honest, law-abiding holidaymakers are having to queue for 6 hours after their week in the Algarve (though youd hope the egates will help).
May 14, 21, 6:24 am
#13
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i think 12-14 minutes is very much on the high side from what I observed in March. Yes some people get stuck. Those of us with stuff printed and everything in order can be through in 60-90 seconds. Otherwise I think 5 minutes covers most people. The math is still scary and I dont think that the situation of everyone being checked will last more than a couple weeks post May 17.
The UK PLF is being modified so that it can operate the egates in the next few months.
I thought I read yesterday contingency was to divert aircraft to alternate airports if UK border is that backlogged.
May 14, 21, 6:32 am
#14
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Its 12-14 mins per family group, not per individual, so this will reduce the total somewhat. And the government knows a policy of strong border control is enormously popular right now (especially if it allows domestic easing to continue), so long queues as a deterrent is actually seen as a good thing. But yes, its going to get interesting.
May 14, 21, 6:52 am
#15
Join Date: Dec 2011
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The current government policy is "To Be Seen Doing Something", and the queues at LHR are part of that. It will only change when either some MPs, Government Ministers, or someone paying for Boris's curtains, nanny etc get caught up in the queues, and sends Boris a message
As for changes to the PLF and integration with the egates, that is dependant on government IT, which IMHO is exceedingly dreadful
As for changes to the PLF and integration with the egates, that is dependant on government IT, which IMHO is exceedingly dreadful
