spaceman3

Flew from EWR to LHR Tuesday morning in BF. Before we landed I asked where the fast track passes were, as did a few of us. We were told that they "forgot to give them to us" in EWR due to the delay (an hour, waiting for delayed passengers.) They said it wasn't a problem as it was a new terminal and we were the only ones landing at the time.

The wait was over an hour. The Fast Track lane went empty. W

I wrote to the 1k Voice and told them about this. I received a cut and paste letter about how TSA and Global Entry have a program for landing in the USA. They didn't even read my short letter, but quickly responded with an answer that had nothing to do with my letter. It was downright shameful.

"Sorry, we forgot."

mherdeg

On maybe two dozen flights we have not received the LHR fast-track immigration passes twice.

If this is a trip you take a lot: keep the passes somewhere with your passport, and don't bother to use them on flights where the immigration queue is short.

mmack

I have a few old ones squirreled away. Maybe I should take some along, just in case?
They didn't "forget" the landing cards, did they?

weero

The first one is the norm in my experience, not just from EWR.

But FastTrack being noticeably faster than the rest? Not my experience at all and as OneWorld Emerald, I can always use FastTrack. The agents allow anyone who limps or brings a kid to hop into the FastTrack lane and that reliably speed limits FastTrack during busy hours.

You were exceptionally unlucky!

And btw - welcome to 1/2 the US experience for us aliens when we visit your place !

IAH-OIL-TRASH

It really depends on booths manned. If you get there real early on some day, there's only one person looking at passports. That's when I've seen the general line go faster. Just about any other time, Fast Track was faster. My observations are moot now w/ move of sCO flights from T4.

bohlia123

This happens all the time in LHR - and my emails to 1kvoice have gone unanswered. They never seem to forget to load the landing cards, so you'd expect they could remember the Fast Track passes for GF and BF...but it's a consistently inconsistent experience based on my travel over the last several years.

spaceman3

They definitely remembered the landing cards. And the mediocre food.

uthornsgo

I always look and save the pass for a rainy day if the line is short in the regular section. I've always thought I was doing myself a favor in case I ride in the back on a later trip. Never considered I might be doing myself a favor for the times UA forget to give the front cabin the passes.

StingWest

I fly to LHR 8-12 times per year, always out of SFO or ORD. Generally, they will "forget" to load the Fast Track passes once or twice a year. I don't know why it happens, but anyway I always end up with 4-5 extras a year from the times they remember. As others have said, if there is only one person manning the Fast Track lane, it's generally faster in the early am to go to the regular line and save the pass.

As an aside, I recently signed up for the new Registered Traveler Scheme at LHR. To others that are interested, until they get the automatic gates working with this scheme, it's definitely not worth it to join or participate (too slow to go in the EEU lanes). Note that the automated gates once implemented will require a Biometric passport (which I don't have - yet)

CO_Nonrev_elite

They get fined for not having the landing cards. They don't get fined for the Fast Tracks.

That said, I've had a few flights where they forgot and just showed my boarding pass at fast track and told them that the crew didn't have them.

kirkwoodj

On the rare time they didn't have the Fast Track passes, I simply had to show my boarding pass (including once on iPhone!) with BusinessFirst on it and they let me in.

chiph

Source?

How could this possibly be accomplished? Is someone secretly watching me pick up a landing card and fill it out, then sending UA a bill?

CO_Nonrev_elite

I'm your source. I just told you. While I agree it isn't often enforced, it is something that comes up in training.

dayone

That also is my experience.

millburnmike

Me too. Happens a lot.