Wierd Writing On Entry Stamp At Heathrow
Sep 16, 2006, 4:35 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Live: HVN -- Work: The World
Programs: DL - exPlat (now Gold) ; AB - Gold ; TK - Gold; BMI - exGold; US - exChairman ; UA-ex1K; NW-exGold
Posts: 1,248
Wierd Writing On Entry Stamp At Heathrow
I fly through Heathrow on a somewhat regular basis. I either fly in for work or fly through in transit.
On a number of occaisions the Immigration Officer has scribbled "In Transit" or "In Transit 1" (I am going to T1), etc and that makes sense. Tonight flying from CDG through LHR (10hr layover) the Office wrote "W" and circled it. I watched her go over it to make sure it was very dark and bold on the top of the stamp.
What the hell does a circled "W" mean on a stamp? Am I now on a watch list because I fly through LHR often? I am sure there are others who come throug here considerably more often than I do.
For my work I know I do not need a Visa , to visit I do not need a Visa (I am an American) and I certainly do not need a Visa to change flights.
Any idea what this means on the stamp?
On a number of occaisions the Immigration Officer has scribbled "In Transit" or "In Transit 1" (I am going to T1), etc and that makes sense. Tonight flying from CDG through LHR (10hr layover) the Office wrote "W" and circled it. I watched her go over it to make sure it was very dark and bold on the top of the stamp.
What the hell does a circled "W" mean on a stamp? Am I now on a watch list because I fly through LHR often? I am sure there are others who come throug here considerably more often than I do.
For my work I know I do not need a Visa , to visit I do not need a Visa (I am an American) and I certainly do not need a Visa to change flights.
Any idea what this means on the stamp?
Sep 16, 2006, 7:51 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,660
Originally Posted by sefrischling
Tonight flying from CDG through LHR (10hr layover) the Office wrote "W" and circled it.
I will check with our local ALO to see if any new coding has been introduced and post here if anything of interest is revealed.
Sep 17, 2006, 2:06 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Traveling the World
Posts: 6,075
W Means....
Lets get humorous shall we? W means that you are Waitlisted to Leave the Country. What this means is you love London so much you hate to leave and you are looking for any excuse to be denied exit from the country. Maybe it was the fish and chips you had at the take-away last night or the good larger at the Pub. Or maybe it was the infamous cabbie who called ahead to"tag you". Or maybe you are transporting some $100 dollar bottles of wine back to the US and have some Evian water.
Jan 11, 2008, 4:10 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: DCA
Posts: 126
Got the same writing today...
This evening I got the same "W" circled thought at the bottom of the stamp. I also got the usual "VIPP". My old passport has come apart and the imigration agent told me i'd need to get it replaced. Anyone lately figured out what the circled "W" means?
Jan 12, 2008, 4:46 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 11,377
Warned that you need to get a new passport/move visa to current passport for future travel.
Jan 12, 2008, 5:12 am
#8
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Romanian Riviera
Programs: Delta, Turkish Elite, American
Posts: 1,111
This summer I had a particularly nasty encounter with a particularly rude passport person at Heathrow. I got a Z with a horizontal line through the middle, and then he told me he was only going to "give me one month." I wasn't trying to visit the UK, I was passing through Heathrow on my way to Dublin from the US. So I also got the "leave to enter" stamp with one month written in and then a series of numbers and letters at the top. Is that normal? My previous experiences at Stansted for example involved just the rectangular dotted line immigration officer stamp. Needless to say, I won't ever be going to Heathrow ever again, but any thoughts on if any of that means anything special?
Jan 13, 2008, 8:33 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Glasgow, UK
Programs: BA, UA, Marriot
Posts: 2,196
??? as a British citizen, why would you enter the UK using your US passport?
Jan 14, 2008, 5:25 am
#13
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 7,605
But as CS says - why were you entering the UK on a US passport when you are a UK citizen?
Mar 28, 2008, 4:01 am
#14
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1
Another "W"
Any ideas what this W mean? The officer was very rude and I couldn't get him to explain it to me.
Thanks!
Mar 30, 2008, 5:27 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Oceanside, CA
Programs: LT AAdvantage Gold
Posts: 539
I fly through Heathrow on a somewhat regular basis. I either fly in for work or fly through in transit.
On a number of occaisions the Immigration Officer has scribbled "In Transit" or "In Transit 1" (I am going to T1), etc and that makes sense. Tonight flying from CDG through LHR (10hr layover) the Office wrote "W" and circled it. I watched her go over it to make sure it was very dark and bold on the top of the stamp.
What the hell does a circled "W" mean on a stamp? Am I now on a watch list because I fly through LHR often? I am sure there are others who come throug here considerably more often than I do.
For my work I know I do not need a Visa , to visit I do not need a Visa (I am an American) and I certainly do not need a Visa to change flights.
Any idea what this means on the stamp?
On a number of occaisions the Immigration Officer has scribbled "In Transit" or "In Transit 1" (I am going to T1), etc and that makes sense. Tonight flying from CDG through LHR (10hr layover) the Office wrote "W" and circled it. I watched her go over it to make sure it was very dark and bold on the top of the stamp.
What the hell does a circled "W" mean on a stamp? Am I now on a watch list because I fly through LHR often? I am sure there are others who come throug here considerably more often than I do.
For my work I know I do not need a Visa , to visit I do not need a Visa (I am an American) and I certainly do not need a Visa to change flights.
Any idea what this means on the stamp?