Security LHR Terminal 4

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    SimonS1
    Participant

    Flew out lady Friday on Qatar.

    Less than half the X-rays working. On my lane at least half the bags were stopped for hand checking. The attendant was ‘being meticulous’ (translated as going as slowly as possible) and people were standing around for 15 mins or more to the point where I thought some industrial action must be in process.

    In the end I complained to the manager on duty who was wandering around in suit with mobile phone. In the end my bag was removed to another lane where the guy removed piece by piece every item of contents, did the customary drugs screen and then left my stuff in a heap.

    Honestly these miserable cretins really are a disgrace to their jobs, even more disgraceful that the airport does nothing to improve things.

    Sadly in my current job I have to use LHR more often but it really is the pits.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    must be from the same stable as the T2 guys in Frankfurt.. Put the two teams head to head to find who are the biggest cretins…. I don’t use T4 at LHR, but I do use T2 at FFM and they make pigs look polite…(if I am allowed to say that)…if not, sorry to the 4 legged friends…

    Very strangely though T1 in FFM is totally different….

    Not sure why BT don’t try to find the most obnoxious security agents for a wonderful article….


    esselle
    Participant

    SimonS1

    Methinks you brought it on yourself.

    In situations like the one you describe, and form of dissent is only going to make things worse.

    Do you really think the guy in the suit is going to feel sorry for you because you decide to have a moan?


    CXDiamond
    Participant

    Someone posted here a while ago that LHR security staff were on a job creation programme for morons. I’ve laughed about it since then and it does help you get through the awful experience.

    Seriously though, security at LHR is a black cloud on the horizon of any trip from there along of course with T1, T3 and T4.

    I’m going to try EK from LGW next month to see if it’s any better, you can only hope.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Sometimes we have to take a hit for the common good Esselle. If nobody complains then it will never change.

    I regularly speak with the senior on duty at Passport control at T5 to show him how his queuing system is failing and how to put it right with the same resources. Sometimes they see me coming and scarper, so in that case I ask the desk jockey for political asylum (keeping passport in pocket) …… that brings him back out, and irritates the hell out of them. Things are getting better, perhaps partly to my putting my awkward head on from time to time.


    esselle
    Participant

    I agree Mr Michael but having a go at the guy in the suit with a mobile is a slightly Canutian gesture.

    What power at all does he have to get things changed? He is happy to have a bit of power of his own to push people around; his mum probably told him he looked very smart when he left home that morning

    I had a nice calves massage this afternoon after arriving at T1 from Cairo and going back through security.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    By complaining to the suit he might just pass it on to a chap in a better suit, and the more that happens the more chance something will happen. If we meekly accept what might be inevitable then it will never change. On top of that, for me, a good old moan makes me feel better, so it reduces the stress of it all and makes me feel better. Plus, if I am having a bad day, I will goddam make sure someone else does too, preferaby someone that put me in bloody mood in the first place. Sod’em!

    Used to be a programme on TV called grumpy old men or similar, I would have been great on it.

    Edit, Alexpo, Cairo immigration really is something worth moaning about, is it as bad as it has always been?


    SimonS1
    Participant

    @esselle – of course it makes no difference in the overall scheme of things. Nor does the machine where you press a button on the ‘how did I do today’ scale. However you can’t say anything to the operatives, even good morning, as they are all programmed to trot out the ‘we don’t have to put up with abuse from you’ line.

    @CXDiamond – I do that wherever possible. However the difficulty is so many people have cottoned on that the 3 flights a day are frequently full even with 1 now upgraded to A380. Amazing to think that EK may soon have to put on a 4th daily from LGW to cope. However the refurbished lounge is great – I had an excellent fillet steak there last trip.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I have complained once about what I consider to be an intrusive hand search…. I was asked very directly, whether I wished to make an official complaint about the way the security staff were going about their day to day business.

    If Diana Ross is arrested for complaining…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtDPF8XFfdU

    … there really is no chance for Joe Public to raise concerns…..and catch his/her flight…


    esselle
    Participant

    Simon S1

    Read the post on T5 and join up the dots………mediocrity/inconsistency on BA, rubbish “premium” service provided by HAL,, often massive fare differences compared to M/E based carriers, overall good lounges, often a car thrown in to/from the airport……..making the stop in the M/E an obvious choice. I’ve got gazillions of Avios from too many years of scooting around the world on BA, but would avoid LHR like the plague given the choice.


    MrDarwin
    Participant

    I came through the Fast Track this morning in T4 and it could only be described as the perfect security experience. No queue, smiling and chatty security personnel who couldn’t have been more helpful. Straight through in less than a minute. Sometimes they do it it right and it is a stark difference from T5 Fast Track on a good day.


    DNAdams
    Participant

    I agree with Mr Darwin. I went through T4 fast track last week and was through in less than a minute or two even after a bag swab. Staff seemed pleasant enough. However, when it is busy the worst thing one can do is give then any kind of attitude – it will just make it worse for yourself.


    BrotherJim
    Participant

    Old post I know, But OP, security don’t screen for drugs. When they do the swab of your bags they are screening for traces of explosives and chemicals usually found in home made bombs.

    But with you, if the service is crap and taking for ever, your are well within your rights to complain and for that complaint to be taken seriously, but no surprise they then went though you like a dose of the salts.

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