My local airport seems to be having a service meltdown. What used to be a breeze - 10 minutes from curb to gate - is now perhaps the worse airport security to encounter. It routinely takes 45 minutes - minimum. Sometimes more.
They say this is due to the DLR bringing large groups all at one time with self printed boarding passes, which is having a knock on effect. This wont be resolved until the Autumn when new security capacity is added.
As I live so close, I dont really have an airport choice, as its still quicker than getting to LHR, Just.
It seems the best thing to do is continue to arrive late and rely on the 'last call' principle, when you can by-pass the queue completely. Not exactly public spirited, but I dont see how the airport management can have allowed the situation to deteriorate so badly.
BAA gets a lot of criticism, but I've never seen a shambles like this at LHR.
gmartin - 04/02/2010 13:59 GMT
Yes, LCY is a nightmare. Nearly two hours to clear security these days. Far longer than my other recent experiences at STN and LHR.
Not sure what the problem is... it has been getting increasingly worse since mid-November. I have my weekly flights booked from LCY until Easter. I am considering walking away from these and rebooking via LHR.
LCY has gone from being a great airport to the greatest nightmare - all in a few weeks.
It does depend on what time of day you fly. Early morning and evening are the worst, with the queue frequently stretching from security right along the upper level concourse and then back along the railing.
The thing that frustrates me the most though (and this is not unique to LCY) is despite waiting in line for ages, people arrive at the boarding pass / id check and then first have to go through their pockets/bag to locate their documents, wasting about 30secs.
Then they arrive at the conveyor belt and its empty pockets, belt off, watch off, coins out, computer out, mobile out, shoes off etc. This can take as much as a full minute - and still people buzz because they forgot the pen in their breast pocket!!!
With several hundred people you can see why the delays.
So here is the LuganoPirate solution to hassle free security: All documents in back pocket and whipped out as the person in front of me reaches the ID check. During the last 3 minutes in line I have transferred everything mentioned above to my blazer or the front pocket of my carry on bag (I no longer travel with a computer, just my iPhone). Then its bag and / or blazer onto conveyor, walk through, pick them up and transfer everything back to pockets etc.
Next, clothing. My flying attire for meetings are: Blazer, tailored chinos, shirt and tie. I wear Timberland shoes (no metal in those so I do not have to remove them) and instead of a belt I use braces which do not ring bells, and no-one asks me to remove them.
That's it, I have not been stopped once by security in well over 50 flights and from reaching the mouth of the bag scanner to exiting the body scanner takes about 10 - 15 seconds and I'm on my way.
We are sorry for the temporary disruption that you are currently experiencing at London City Airport. We want to explain the measures we are taking to resolve the situation as quickly as possible:
Security levels have significantly increased due to three main reasons:
-All London airports have had to intensify their processing at this period of heightened security.
-The increase of passenger volumes arriving by Docklands Light Railway.
-Increased use of online check-in.
These have resulted in volumes of passengers arriving at the same time, with a knock-on effect at passenger search.
We are responding to these new trends with the addition of two extra security lanes which will be in use by the end of February. This will increase capacity for security by 50%.
In addition and in order to accommodate an increase in passenger flow, we are expanding the departure lounge over the coming months, to provide more space and comfort which will enhance the customer experience at London City Airport.
In the meantime, please allow extra processing time for your journey. Staff are on hand to help and will assist passengers whose flights are on final call.
We apologise for the inconvenience these problems are causing our passengers, but please be assured that we are responding as quickly as possible.
London City Airport
gmartin - 05/02/2010 09:37 GMT
Dear LondonCityAirport,
Thank you for the reply. However I find your reply to be of little comfort given that I use LCY every week, pay a premium to do so (over LHR) and have had to deal with 1.5+ waiting in a chaotic Q system to clear security.
This is not a general UK airport problem as you suggest. I can assure you from experience this and last week that screening at LHR and STN is moving far faster than at LCY.
Given that the Q can now be in excess of an hour, will a 50 percent increase in capacity reduce processing time to just 30min? Is 30 min the new 2 minutes?
Also, can I say that the current two-track system is wrong: turn-up in good time and queue for over an hour, partly because people coming at the 15 min stage cut ahead of idiots like me who don't want the stress of being pre security at 'final-call.
Thank you.
I have to agree with you gmartin. Though not a user of LHR or STN the one time I used LHR last November I was through in 5 minutes. Having said that my flight was delayed 1 hour on the ground and I missed my connection home meaning a 3 hour train journey to Lugano. LHR - never again!
I appreciate the confimes in which LCY has to work, especially with regard to security.
However, LCY, you must have known more people would use the DLR, that's why it was built and especially with the Woolwich extension it would automatically mean many more passengers arriving this way.
Then online check in. I think this is a lame excuse. This has been around for sometime now and the only difference is not having to stop at a desk.
I love LCY and will continue using it, especially as I can use "off peak" flights most of the time, but I think the real reason is you have become a victim of your own success and perhaps did not anticipate properly the effect the DLR would have on arriving passengers.
Why not have someone going down the line suggesting people have to hand their documents and pre-preparing for security as I mentioned in my previous post - this alone would speed things up.
Another proposal which could help, why not let people with no hand-baggage at all go straight to the metal detectors. They could grab a small container for their bits and pieces such as mobiles, coins, wallets and watches and out. On day trips I frequently travel like this to avoid long queues. And why not a dedicated lane for business and gold card holders? I hope these suggestions will be helpful?
rupert_s - 05/02/2010 21:37 GMT
@LondonCityAirport
After reading your response I have to say two of your answers are complete nonsense..
"The increase of passenger volumes arriving by Docklands Light Railway."
What difference does it make how people arrive - if you had one A380 arrive once a day - sure I can see your problem - but a DLR arrives every 8 minutes, and I can assure that the queue doesn't die down in 8 minutes
-"Increased use of online check-in."
Honestly how can this impact going through a security scanner - This should be good news, less people need less check-in desks.
Real Problem?
Poor planning combined with greed and now we're suffering. Too many flights without the security screening capacity to handle the passengers.
What I think LCY needs to do is advertise more widely than a banner on their website that due to heightened security, check-in times will now close well ahead of departure. And, passengers arriving late will NOT be accommodated by being brought to the front of a security queue - it isn't fair for those of us that plan, allow extra time and then have to wait whist "don't you know I'm important" types are escorted thru quickly. It puts people off using LCY. Also, with greater security queues of late, I have not had any time to spend my hard-earned cash in the LCY shops, no doubt takings are down. Lastly, during peak hours, you may just have to cancel some flights, London City, as you are just not able to handle the volume. It is a shame as normally the airport has such a great reputation for speed and efficiency. To use the DLR and pre-printed boarding passes as an excuse is getting dangerously close to the old "wrong kind of snow" excuses on the railways...
gmartin - 06/02/2010 22:20 GMT
StephenLondon - well said. My feelings exactly. Too late for me - I was able to cancell all my flight ex LCY today. Agent said they were getting significant cancellations so maybe the invisible hand of the free market will work.
VintageKrug - 07/02/2010 08:20 GMT
It's good to see LCY management posting on the BT Board, welcome.
LCY has very good management, especially when compared to BAA, and it is good to see the modest changes they are applying at Gatwick. Please keep up the impetus to improve there, as change is still needed!
It is good to hear that there will be a doubling of security capacity at LCY; airports need to plan now for increased traffic.
2009 was one of the worst reduced passenger volume years in recent history and this has given impression that capacity is adequate; a modest increase in business travellers in the New Year has exposed this.
I am disappointed by LCY's reasoning for the delays.
It is quite clearly a failure to plan effectively; especially at LCY your frequent travellers see through poor excuses. A more straightforward "we goofed" would have been a better approach; a little honesty goes a long way!!
It's easy for us as travellers to demand changes are made immediately, but airports are not regular environment, layout changes have to be approved for security and H&S reasons, screeners themselves must be security cleared and properly trained, in what is a high turnover role anyway.
The excellent points made about managing customers' expectations properly is key to all this, and I would hope LCY would be in the vanguard of being honest with passengers, and helping them get the most out of this great little airport.
It is good to see LCY management acknowledge there is an issue, and are proactively taking steps to address them.
Apollona - 07/02/2010 08:46 GMT
Anyone who considers LHR or STN more efficient at security screening passengers or as having a faster check in service than LCY is misguided or lying.
LCY is the fastest airport in Greater London for checking in and just as important for disembarking. Where else can you clear customs and be in your train or car going home in less than 10 minutes? Look guys, LCY is being proactive because they are addressing the time required to clear security.
gmartin - 07/02/2010 08:55 GMT
"Anyone who considers LHR or STN more efficient at security screening passengers or as having a faster check in service than LCY is misguided or lying."
Apollona, I am a little offended by this. My recent experience of security at LHR, STN AND LCY is that
STN is fastest - 7 min (with No 1 Lounge priority security line - can't comment on regular line).
LHR Terminal 3 - 15 minutes (regular lanes)
LCY - 90 minutes.
LCY is no longer the fastest airport for going through security. Pure fact.
VintageKrug - 07/02/2010 09:54 GMT
Hopefully the additional two security lanes will return LCY back to its former reputation as the fast track businessperson's airport.
MarcusUK - 07/02/2010 10:03 GMT
Indeed it is good to see an Airport management replying, something BAA rarely feels it needs to do.
LCY is a treasure of an Airport for London. It really holds a very different experience in all aspects of travel, & is rightly valued & appreciated. Even looking at the staff teams employed there in every service, the attitudes & atmosphere as well as quality, far outweighs LHR. It is a pleasure to travel through.
I tend to try to travel a little more in the off peak via LCY, so can't say i have seen it so congested for security, but certainly the lounge & take off congestion has been a problem.
I am using it to start to Australia next week, & deliberately routed myself back via Amsterdam on the return, so i can land & have that 10 minute stress free exit from a long haul That only LCY seems to facilitate so well in London.
As VK and Mark have said (yes they can agree sometimes!) it's good to see a response from LCY, something which BAA and the airlines would do well to follow - bmi's website as a topical issue for a start. BT did once say that the magazine is read by management of the airlines etc, hopefully same goes for the forum especially on topics like the recent decline in service at LCY discussed in this thread.
There are references on this and the other current thread about hand luggage to passengers preparing (or not) for security. At T5 security south recently the queue at the regular line was only a handful of people, but it still took a significant time to clear due to a group of 3 male passengers in front who between them had more jackets than my wardrobe. One by one they came off, then the belts, then the laptops out, etc etc as others have experienced. Then the reverse at the bag return area - T5 annoyingly has no obvious "dressing room" area at the end of security so they don't move away.
Despite the plethora of signs and information screens about preparing for security, few seem to bother, especially at airports like LGW south with the higher proportion of leisure / infrequent travellers. As others have suggested, the only way forward I can see is to have a floor walker on each line - I think this could be achieved by transferring one security officer from the search area so no extra resource required. The improvement in efficiency, time to progress through and resultant reduction in the number of passengers / bags requiring manual search would easily offset the reduction in personnel assigned to the search function, without any compromise in safety. And has anyone else noticed that often they seem to be just blethering to each other anyway, including during busy periods?
In the days when you had to queue up at the desk to check in with hand luggage (or none at all) as well, at T1 both BA and BD (think they were still British Midland then, don't want to resurrect that debate!!) had a floor walker on the queue, checking that you had a ticket for the correct flight, luggage within weight etc - anyone wanting to change flights / tickets etc got hived off to the sales desk. This worked well and meant the agent on the desk could concentrate on check in, to everyone's liking.
On the other hand, what we definitely don't want is the army of youths in yellow sweatshirts at LGW south shouting out the 100ml rule at the entrance to security as if they were in a fish market. T5 has about the right compromise at the entrance, one or two agents (and not shouting either) with the necessary freezer bags and advice. Suppose it reflects the passenger mix, but these guys would be much better deployed between boarding pass check and the scanners.
Apollona - 07/02/2010 12:46 GMT
Mr. gmartin, I don't beleive what you are writing. I have travelled through each of LHR, STN and LCY in the last 6 weeks and I speak from experience when I say LCY is the fastest for processing passengers.
VintageKrug - 07/02/2010 12:50 GMT
Colleagues have reported significant issues with LCY security in recent weeks, especially during peak hours. MUCH worse than is usually the case.
Even LCY management, to their credit, acknowledges there is a problem.
ON the other points raised, to be fair to BAA, which owns LHR, their security set up at Edinburgh is excellent, so it's not that they lack the right management to get things done correctly within the organisation.
Manchester has an excellent fast track security facility and (shock, horror!) that is run by the council. I have never used the regular line there, but it always looks quite lengthy.
I rather feel if BAA management came on here, it would be like a lamb to the slaughter...!
gmartin - 08/02/2010 09:14 GMT
I did not come on here to be called a lier, so this will be my last post.
ironically, greetings from LCY (my last flight, from next week it will be STN for me). i will miss the free airport wifi, although the no 1 at STN more than compensates.
Things were better this morning - just over an hour in security. But don't take it from me. taker it from my fellow passengers who were equally angry and upset at the situation. I really think if the security staff stopped chatting and concentrated the whole problem would not be as bad.
For me, on this. THE END
Shocking arrogance Apollona - you cant just accuse people of lying just because your experience differs, I started this post because of a number of genuine delays at LCY similar to the magnitude experienced by gmartin. I have no agenda to make this stuff up - merely to share my experience with fellow passengers, and to make sure LCY understands this is unacceptable. My experience is that T5 is now much faster than LCY (based of course on using status to fast track).
The fact is that the LCY proposition is based on speed and small size - there is no fast track or business lounges because pax are not expected to check in early and wait about. Everyone is 'business class'.
But this security fiasco turns the proposition on its head. Turning up an hour early to queue up like I was going on holiday, no fast track option, overcrowded waiting areas, no lounges, tension and stress of flight on ‘last call’ and still being land-side - its turned into a bad day at Luton. Everyone is distinctly 'Economy class'.
My point to LCY is simple - this isn’t a minor inconvenience, but goes to the heart of what LCY stands for. Everything the airport does must drive speed of experience. If that is lost, then you will be getting people to check in much earlier, setting up fast track, business lounges etc to mitigate the delays - in other words the thin end of the wedge of just becoming a smaller LHR/LGW/STN etc.
No one wants that!
Gmartin, is this to be your last post on this subject or in the forums in general? I think that would be a great shame! It is very interesting to hear other peoples thought, problems and advice. We Road (or should I say Air) Warriors all benefit from such exchanges and that anyone who takes the time out to contribute to these forums needs every encouragement even if we don't see eye to eye on every topic.
I find it wrong of Apollona to accuse anyone of lying. I hope you will take the comment back so gmartin can continue to contribute to this valuable forum. Equally, if you do not, I hope gmartin you will put this aside and just ignore the adverse comment.
I think everyone has different experiences. Just recently I moaned to a friend I bumped into at MXP at the age (20mins) it took me to clear security. He laughed and said he was through in less than 2 minutes! It can happen, depends when and at what time, and after waiting an hour the queue can suddenly clear. The point is what goes for you does not necessarily go for others.
Final point. My mother, 83, recently flew to GVA for a family wedding. She is not a Frequent Flyer, just very unsteady, but was escorted through security and then 2 hours later (they had not forgotten her, she likes to check in VERY early!) to the gate. She was treated like a VIP and I think compared to other airports where they show no care, LCY is to be praised.
