tide

Several times, arriving at around 7-8am in morning, I've encountered long lines at T3 which back-up up way before the immigration hall (all the way to the escalators going up to immigration area). In all these instances, it looked passengers arriving from TG and CI (China Airlines).

Through observation, most of the pax seem to end up in the Non-EU, Non-UK immigration lines. Given that I have/use IRIS, would it be possible, as it were, to cut in line and squeeze by these passengers and make my way to the main immigration hall?

Or should I just stay in line until the single line inches forward until it can separate into different lines (EU, FastTrack, UK etc) once it empties into the immigration hall.

I have no problems queuing but I wonder what others do.

Markie

I think you can slip pass, if you keep to the left and look like you own the place, you probably won't get in to trouble.

Wingnut

I agree with Markie. Would using the trolley route (which runs parallel to the stairs down to immigration, but to the right of them) give you an edge?

ajax

Of course this would be okay. If you use IRIS, there's a dedicated queue for you. You can and should walk right past if you have another queue to get in.

If any passenger says anything (which of course they won't), you can just ignore them.

If any attendant says anything (very unlikely), you can just say you're looking for the IRIS queue.

(There are numerous threads about this, but) If the IRIS machine is shut down for whatever reason, 99% of the time they'll move you to the front of the regular queue.

When it comes to immigration queues, my motto is "get through as quickly as you can". I certainly wouldn't wait in a queue for 45-60 minutes just because it might be impolite to go to a different queue further up. Would you?

GalleyGal

tide, If tyou are bypassing the queues to access the IRIS machine, no one would comment on your skirting the crowd. Most would assume you are a member of staff as the exit point for staff/crew and medical clearance area is to the left of the IRIS machine.

row1A

if you have pinky fast passes, wouldn't they get you thru the lines faster, I thought there were fast pass lines on arrival, as I will be going thru there in a couple weeks ourselves.

Markie

Yes, but oft times IRIS is faster, and as we all want to keep IRIS, frequent use will help keep it long term.

GadgetFreak

Way faster. My last two times though with Iris have had wait times of 0 and 90 seconds. I have made it from the entry to immigration to cleared and in the main LHR arrivals lobby in like 3-5 minutes total. I havent seen that speed in Fastlane for years. The last time through (last Saturday night) I stopped to go to the bathroom before immigration and when I got through Iris the people next to me in business, who hadnt stopped, were about 10 people back in Fastlane.

row1A

what is the criteria for setting up IRIS, I've been thru lhr 3 times this year and this will be my 4th, do you need so many trips thru to qualify? It just takes the time to set up the paperwork and do the first scan and get you into the system? Is it used anywhere else in the world? we do have a couple places here in the US that use eye scans but they are not named IRIS

thanks

RichardInSF

There is no co-operation between countries, the British IRIS registration gets you nothing anywhere else.

They would probably sign you up for IRIS if you asked. In T3 at LHR, where I did it, the office is just after you clear outbound security. Took about 10 minutes to sign up and fill out the forms, no charge.

Incidentally, if you use IRIS, you don't even have to fill out the inbound immigration form.

GadgetFreak

Right, the no forms thing is nice also. However, it is down enough that on my last flight the FA recommended I take a blank form and Fastlane envelope in case it wasnt working. You have to enter the UK a certain number of times in a certain time period. I signed up at Gatwick last year and they checked my passport for the requisite number of entries. I seem to recall that I had done the number of visits required in the previous 2 years in the previous 3 months or something. It isnt a lot of visits. And it does just take a few minutes for the forms and the initial scan. Then they give you some instructions and you're on your way.

WHBM

Have to advise that CI - China Air - don't even come to London. And Eva, the other Taiwanese airline, who do, arrive in the evening.

I wonder just what is wrong with these systems. the equivalent US system suffered from exactly the same issues, being reported broken down the majority of the time.

As comparable systems in use elsewhere in airports, eg the one at Manchester which reconciles departing passengers, never seem to be out of service, it cannot be a technology fundamental.

They would of course reduce the number of Immigration Service staff required if they caught on to any extent; the very same people who supervise the trial equipment. I wonder if there is any connection ?

GadgetFreak

Wirelessly posted (TMobile DASH: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12) T-Mobile Dash)

Im not sure how often it is down. i was passing along a tip from an FA. Both times i have tried at LHR it was working fine and was fast and trouble-free.

GalleyGal

row1A, Three times through the UK is enough to qualify for IRIS. It is being installed at many airports in the UK and is a great timesaver, for immigration officials and us. It takes about 10 minutes for presumably a poilce check to be run on you, be photographed , you receive a receipt and the next time you enter the UK it should work.