[Anonymous]

[TheMidasGold]

Arrived about 1 hour ago into T5 and there are scenes of complete chaos like I have never seen before.

We were first held on the plane without explanation and upon disembarking at terminal 5B, there was a huge queue for the transit. Upon arrival to terminal 5 proper – utter chaos! All the escalators have been turned off due to safety reasons and there are literally thousands of people waiting to clear immigration.

There are at least 1,000 people waiting to clear non EU and over 500 awaiting to clear EU. I counted 12 immigration officers on duty.

In baggage arrivals hall, 3 flights arriving on one belt! How on earth will they cope with the Olympics?

Anyone any insight into what’s going on?

[Bucksnet]

Sounds like a normal day: –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17701212

Until we solve the problem of Common Purpose penetration of UK Border Force, and the Home Office itself, then nothing much will change for the better!

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Sounds a bit like T3 was yesterday morning, fortunately I was a little earlier but it’s getting more like a day by day occurence at LHR.

I have to got to Berlin for a meeting tomorrow afternoon, I have a feeling I could wait longer to get back in to the country than it takes to fly TXL-LHR, I’m really not looking forward to it as between the outbound procedures and the crazy situation on return I will probably spend more of my day dealing with LHR than any other single thing.

[TheMidasGold]

To be fair I travel through T5 several times a month and have never. Seen anything quite like this. Truly horrendous!

[VintageKrug]

I think it right that these sorts of incidents are the exception, rather than the rule.

Though it’s also fair to say that UK Border Agency needs a rocket up its bottom; somehow I suspect the unions will be mollycoddling its members and UKBA is well protected from any serious reform until at least after the Olympics.

[RichHI1]

What a good job the Titanic hitting an iceberg as an exception rather than the rule. Means we can ignore the absence of lifeboats.

With respect To the last post we need action not apologist spin.

If the Govt and BA wants to attract people to UK for An enjoyable olympics they need to fix these issues now otherwise travel to Uk will suffer. This will lead to less passengers in future, which will lead to less flights which will lead to less congestion… Ah now I understand. Economic stagnation is after all a small price to pay for a functional Travel policy.

[Binman62]

TheMidasGold……. Surely it cannot be true………………. you cannot possibly have been in T5 …….or indeed T3, ………….it just does not happen……….. It must have been an aberration……… it was somewhere else wasn’t it?……….. LHR is perfect……………….
I am sorry for anyone who gets caught up in the mayhem of LHR which is the great national embarrassment of this country………..Part of me however is just a little pleased you experienced the real LHR rather than the virtual LHR as it means the rest of us are not going mad.

Of course all the extras shipped in to cover the Home Offices embarrassment over Easter have now returned to their normal jobs and consequently normal service has been resumed.

[flier74]

RichH1: you can blame BA for a lot of things Iagree, but you can not blame them for the shambles of the UK Agency and their poor performance in LHr.

[VintageKrug]

…and similarly it would be bonkers to start taking tough action at UKBA and antagonising its surprisingly miltant union just prior to the Olympics.

[janrotterdam]

Gentlemen …unrelated question: How do I open a new discussion topic?

[openfly]

Easy answer…..AVOID LHR if possible. Especially if flying from the regions.

I passed through LHR in transit a couple of weeks ago at 0700. It took an hour just to get through security. They had closed one escalator from Flight Connex and diverted everybody onto the other one. They had closed Fasttrack…because they were so busy!! And that did not even involve passports, as I was in transit. Great pleasure to pass through AMS unimpeded!!

BAA shoot themsleves in the foot. With this sort of situation there is no time for shopping, and definitely no enthusiasm for it!

[BusinessTraveller]

janrotterdam – to start a new topic, go to:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion

Then choose the relevant forum section (Airports, Frequent Flyer Programmes, etc – if you wish to open a topic on a particular airline who can choose from the drop down list).

Then click on Add Topic to start a new thread.

[openfly]

@ janrotterdam

Click on Forum at the top of this page. Let the page load then move down to the genre section. If you want to add a topic on ”Airlines” just click on Airlines and start a thread. Of course you have to sign in to do it.

Hope that helps. I had the same prob in the early days!

[RichHI1]

I Do not blame BA for the current debacle. They will however suffer financially if visitor numbers to the UK go down as a result of third world experiences at LHR. Fkrgive me if I gave that impression.

BA can lobby the UK Government but I think that until personnel changes in HMG are made this will have little effect.

My suggestion for BA is this. A new campaign for 2012. Are you planning to Visit UK for the Olympics or the Jubilee? Do you know how horrible your welcome at the airport will be and how little the UK government intends to do about it? Purchase any Business or First ticket to UK after September when the place will be empty again and we will give you a nice 22″ HDTV to watch the Olympics from your office or home in Comfort without stress. (promotional considerations from “keep Theresa May in a Job 2012”).

[Author]

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