plunet

UKBF staff have been pulled from pillar to post over the past couple of days dealing with the arrival of individuals from Afghanistan, many of whom are not simple immigration cases. Add that to the end of the school holiday period for England and Wales and a crescendo of travellers returning and it's probably understandable that that are some delays at the moment, albeit frustrating for those involved.

13901

How is it possible that a few thousand arrivals from Afghanistan can trigger a meltdown at T5? My OH has been stuck on Euro there-and-backs lately, out 6AM and back at 10, 11PM. She’s done a few since a week and a half ago and the one thing she consistently repeated was how packed the immigration hall is. Like out the hall and into the corridor at 10:30PM. Yesterday they were abused by some because they jumped the queue to get to the staff channel.

When did the UK become so broke that they had to decide between vetting some refugees and keeping the airports open and the eGates functioning? Mind you? LHR is still at 60% capacity vs normal time. I remember flying to Turkey very often in the days when they welcomed four million Syrians. The lines at Atatürk were never this long. Perhaps we ought to send Priti down to Istanbul to learn a few tricks. High time we stopped condoning mediocrity.

VSLover

combined with today being the end of bank hols.

not like the date was a surprise! friends stuck in interminable queues this evening.

ahmetdouas

They don't even let you use the other passports queue or even the UK/EU non E-gates queue, if you tell them UK passport they force you to go to the E-Gates, even if the other border force agents are empty! I was telling them it doesn't matter which queue I use, I am a UK citizen its not like they won't let me into my own country! I said the other lines are completely empty, and they were saying the usual bs 'different process, different questions'. When I said the UKBF has to let me in with a UK passport and the tests/vaccination certificates and they can ask me any question they want to since I am legit with all the paperwork, they got moody and said it doesn't matter I am not letting you use that line. She said she was the 'manager' and it was her decision.

So had to join the queue yesterday at T2 and wait for 30 mins, and guess what, my passport didn't work in the E-Gates this time so I had to go and see a border force agent in any case!

Wasted 30 mins in the queue because of moody LHR staff telling me to join the queue or else! Pure dictatorship, if you tell them anything else they get really aggressive and tell you I refuse to give you permission to use the other line. Since when did these LHR staff get so much power? Which line you use should not be their decision, they have no official authority to decide on anything related to me entering my own country.

After all this hassle, the UKBF agent was very friendly, she didn't ask for any paperwork except my passport and just asked which countries I was in before, if I was vaccinated, and reminded me to only do the Day 2 test then.

Kgmm77

I get your frustration, but is there any country in the world where telling border guards how to do their job is likely to result in a good outcome?

ahmetdouas

That's the problem though, they are not border guards. They were LHR staff, the famous 'marshalls' with the vests on a powertrip!
The Border Guard Conversation was fine, why would they care which line you use, they just check your docs are in order.

VickiSoCal

My daughter said T3 to T5 security and immigration went very quickly today, however the wait for the bus was much longer than normal. They only asked for her PLF which she had printed out and her BRP card.

sof_lance

Re: the marshalls. I concur. They were already like that even pre-pandemic.

ahmetdouas

usually I would ignore them completely but even that doesn’t work anymore they actively police who goes to which line!

bluemoon68

If the queue at T5 looks terrible, is it possible to transfer airside to a different terminal?

KARFA

yes, just take the airside connecting buses - although they reduce in frequency beyond 8/9pm. Obviously assumed you don’t have checked bags as well. the queue may be no better in T2 or T3.

bluemoon68

doh! Completely forgot the bags issue. If the wait is hours I may be tempted to leave them behind and retrieve them the next day.

13901

It might be even more hassle because, if a bag isn’t claimed, after a while it’s going to be taken back by the airline and treated as a mishandled bag. They’ll open a file, try to send it to the owner and so on.

I’d rather wait in the immigration queue and think warm thoughts of those who are doing such a brilliant job of running this country.

DrinkSlinger

… and the bag may get a very thorough search by UK customs.

13901

This is T2 arrivals right now. The comment from an American I overheard summarises it pretty neatly: “Makes JFK actually look good”.

I’m sure there will be some who’ll try and defend the indefensible, but if this is still happening a year and a half after Covid began it means the Home Office is either complicit or incompetent, or both.