Raffles

Not sure about LGW, but at LHR T4 you would walk past about five signs before you get to the desk which say "Please remove your passport from its cover before you get to the desk". If you ignored this many signs at LGW, I'm not surprised they get annoyed.

I've also seen immigration officers get angry with people in the queue who ignore the 'no mobiles' signs - especially since those signs are there for their own protection, to stop pax photographing immigration staff for possible nefarious purposes. Again, you can't blame them for getting angry with people who ignore the signs.

grouse

Actually, last time I went through STN they had clarified the "no mobiles" rule such that it was no mobiles while being processed. I understood that using a mobile in the queue was fine, because it was saving time.

You can blame them for letting their anger show though. The OP should take his passport out of his cover, though. It's just polite.

Danger Man

No mobiles in the Immigration Lobby at all in the USA. Confiscation or fine or even arrest are the consequences.

Punki

I don't have a passport cover..... I feel so left out.

Once when we were processing through Canadian cutoms at YVR, the customs agent started carefully persuing my passport and then said, "Wow, you have really been some neat places".

That was surprising to me. I had always thought that our travel was pretty tame compared to a lot of FlyerTalkers I have met.

tjl

Perhaps a sign in the immigration check line recommending people to remove passports from holders and to remove non-attached items from it might help?

kahuna613

I have encountered actual RUDE immigration officers in Heathrow, which is why I never fly through Heathrow anymore. One on hand, you have not overly friendly, perhaps somber, maybe unwelcoming immigrations officers in certain countries. The people I have encountered in Heathrow have been downright, actively rude and combative with no provocation on my part. I don't need a visa to enter the UK and in the past have just been passing through (to Ireland from the US, which YES, you must submit to British passport check).

I can understand their annoyance with people not removing their passport cover tho, especially if there are signs indicating that passengers do so. I first saw such a sign at Charles de Gaulle and since I bought a passport cover have always removed it. The vast majority of countries I have visited use electronic devices to read the information on the front of the passport.

On that note....who can explain to me what information can immigration agents see when they pull me up on their computer? Is there a worldwide network that shares entry and exit information? Or just on the level of regional alliances, like within the EU for example?

ddarko

The original poster did not say, nor did I read her to imply, that she should have been allowed to keep her passport in the cover so I'm not sure why so many replies have been along the lines of "you should remove the passport..." And what relevance is it if the officer has had to repeatedly ask travelers to remove their passports? Accepting for argument's sake that was true, it would merely explain why an officer would be frustrated; it does not justify or excuse in any way the officer taking out his frustration on a completely innocent party who is utterly unaware of whether she's the first or 10th or 100th person that morning with a passport in a cover.

I think the original poster was rightly complaining about the needless and unjustified hostility on the part of the immigration official, who also subjected the traveler to additional questioning out of pure spite. Are we so resigned to petty immigration officers abusing their authority that we excuse or shrug off their abuses? Granted, this is not something to start a war over but what he did was out of pure malice. I certainly am not "with the officer on this one."

trupper999

My sentiments exactly

AJLondon

Spot on. ^


And indifference/callousness like this towards regulations further delays everybody else waiting in the queue as well.

skywalkerLAX

Nothing to add ^

Business as usual

Sign, sign everywhere a sign,
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind,
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?...

HomeAgain

I've often wondered the same thing. Does it say something like "American, right handed, prefers Sweet Tarts over Sprees"?

Sjoerd

I believe there is no world-wide exchange of information for travellers without problems, I mean only data on criminals and terrorists are exchanged between (many, not all) countries.
I also believe the Canadians and US Americans can see the information about previous visits to their country, as in both countries I have been asked "when was your last visit to Canada/USA" and when I gave them the date they looked at the screen and nodded.
And in Schengen when they enter my passport data all that shows up is "pass" if there are no problems.