CarolynUK

Ok I'm just curious here

I did a trip the other week, DUB-LHR-IAH-LHR--DUB, and on arrival in LHR on both legs, I had to go through security in T5A, even though I was a connecting passenger, and had cleared security in DUB before boarding my first flight, and again in IAH before the first leg of my return.

Had my onward flight been from 5Bor C, I could have gone straight to the gate, but as it was A, I had to go through what they said was a fast track (but wasn't) and lost my bottle of water on the outward journey

Why can they not just bring connecting passengers up airside in 5A and save them the hassle......

(The real hassle is that I had been asked to get some duty free bourbon (a brand only available in the US) in IAH, and I had to disappoint the recipient as I wasn't prepared to lose an expensive bottle of booze to the screeners, or put up a fight with them after a sleepless night to keep it (and would probably lose anyway!)

FlightDetective

You always have to do security at LHR when connecting from DUB. It's something that irritates the hell out of me because it's so incredibly unnecessary.

However, that's the way it is done at Heathrow when arriving from Europe. Only UK domestic flights avoid this. It's a shame because Ireland and the UK have been harmonising everything to do with immigration and Visas and of course there is the Common Travel Area, but Ireland is still treated like the rest of Europe in this case.

I really should start my trips from Belfast

erifax

For what it's worth, you'd have had to go through security again in T5B/C again if you were connecting.

I'm not quite sure why LHR is setup as it is, but I suspect it has to do with logistical simplicity. The only scenario I'm aware of that you skip security in transit in Heathrow is if you're connecting from a Domestic flight.

seaskybound

overall you clear security again as 'another layer of security'. Flights to LHR arrive from many places not all might be under UK accepted security levels.

UK trusts its own domestic security (and has recourse to make changes if it is not happy/temporarily raises security level), I guess it does not have control over Ireland levels and as such includes Ireland in ROW level

corporate-wage-slave

It's a combination of the layout (so UK domestic passengers have to be screened going from T5 to T3 but not for intra T5 connections, due to mixing with people from other locations) and, in your case, the Department for Transport rules, guidelines and policies on passenger screening. The writ of the DfT doesn't extend to the Irish Republic or anywhere else outside the UK and hence all passengers need to be screened to DfT standards if starting a flight in the UK. And yes had you been taken to T5B/C you would have gone around security too.

If it's any consolation, there were a working party set up not that long ago to see if this could be added to the Common Travel Area framework, thereby potentially treating Irish passengers the same as UK. Ireland also does this check too for UK passengers passing through Ireland, though for different reasons and with some exceptions.

I suppose the one thing that can be said for Emerald status passengers, the process landside from DUB via the First Wing will be both quick and will deposit them straight into Flounge.

stifle

The UK chooses not to trust any other countries to carry out security screening to the desired standard.

In Ireland, rescreening, except at DUB, is a function of airport structure, as there are very few connecting passengers.

flyerkit

The idea that all arriving passengers have passed through security would mean that LHR security would be as weak as the weakest of all airports (and all cabin crew, catering etc.) that could send passengers to LHR.

That's why arriving airside passengers are generally separated from departing passengers in modern airports.

In Airports like Changi, where the mix of arriving and departing is integral to the shopping experience, additional security is needed at each departing gate. Fundamentally Changi (SIN) is a less secure design than for example HKG or LHR.

I remember once getting off a plane that was PDX to SEA, and being allowed to collect checked luggage at the (small) aircraft and then being allowed to enter the SEA airside terminal. Perfect chance to for example check in some Assault Weapons and then take them on to any flight departing SEA as handluggage. Thankfully that loophole (at SEA) appears to have been closed ... but there are others!

KARFA

Even more so than AMS or HEL which both do exactly this? (apart from a few dodgy country arrivals which do get sent for re-screening.

Let's not pretend operating mixed arrivals/departures for at least some non-UK arrivals would make LHR the weakest of all airports please. Fine, the UK has decided not to trust anyone else's security - and I am not complaining about that, but other major airports do so and are not security black holes.

Upupintheair

In AMS it is mixed as well however it is structured in a way that passengers arriving from a unsecure airport (i.e. Less secure than AMS) need to pass through additional security. All other passengers can connect without having to go through security again. I wish LHR would do this to, saves so much hassle..

stifle

And let's also not pretend that the structure of LHR or the other airports precludes doing this if there were the will to do so. It would be as trivial as decanting arriving passengers along the reverse of the route used by those boarding, just like how it happens all over the USA on domestic flights, and indeed in some UK airports such as EDI.

corporate-wage-slave

In fact Changi/SIN is the same: if you arrive from a non secure location they will screen you at the gate on arrival even if about to go landside! KUL is I think the only large hub airport that doesn't do this, airports like CDG, FRA, FCO, HEL, AMS will screen incoming transfer passengers if they come from the "wrong place", and CDG and SIN have have the chance of you being screened twice in the same terminal building, depending on your transfer route. That said, at some hub airports (I'm thinking of the Middle East here) the transfer security check is clearly inadequate.

Having seen the poor standards of security inside Schengen (admittedly at a handful of small outlying locations) then I can't see it changing, and I don't blame the decision makers for sticking to this approach. AMS and CDG clearly screen to the same standards as the UK, perhaps even stricter in some respects, but they don't rescreen passengers transferring from those locations to which I've referred. And that's the weakest link.

skipness1E

The UK is a terrorist target and we have to take security seriously. I have travelled through a number of major airports where the screeners don't even look at the xray machines. It's theatre, just a different style from UK. NO UK Home Sec could in conscience allow those passengers, i.e. Me, to connect out of the UK without rescreening, be honest. Remember even Rome and Athens used to be famously poor for security? Even in the 1990s!
The Schengen security structure is also under scrutiny so AMS may need to review what they do (again). Too many opportunities for loopholes exist if the rules were to be relaxed.

Btw EDI has strict segregation of arriving non UK originating passengers, as does GLA. MAN T3 segregates everyone but that's because they need biometrics to get into the departure lounge now for identifying connecting passengers with no UK destination.

UncleDude

Ireland and UK are separate countries. All Countries of the World [Except Members of Schengen Agreement and USA Border Pre-Clear] Require Re-Screening for International Connections.

Also Remember Heathrow is the only Airport in the World where a known Baggage Bomb was loaded and killed all the Passengers.

Finally ask anyone from Diageo Plc why AMS and SIN have a major known flaw, that they know about but choose to Ignore.

FliesWay2Much

Welcome to the Terminal 3 --> "Heathrow Shuffle." Unfortunately, a large percentage of U.S. Government European "city pair" contracts this year were awarded to AA, which means connecting at LHR going & coming. Also, an 8-hour NS flight is now 13-14 hours because of the connection.

CarolynUK

Thanks, but they did it to me on both outgoing and incoming connections, I had to do the same shuffle when I came in from Houston.....

haveing seen the set set up on the way out - I was reluctant to buy an expensive bottle of booze at Houston duty free, only to watch it being chucked at LHR.....

lesson learnt for the future as now i'm living in N.Ireland, I will be doing most of my international flying ex Dublin rather than Belfast!