[SimonS1]

I don’t follow you there BigDog.

UK Border and Security are two different things and I don’t see how much baggage you take affects the time you wait at the border on return?

[Uncledude]

If you are only travelling to London, readers here to not appreciate the lack of organisation that Connecting Passengrs to UK Domestic flights have to endure.

1] Conformance

2]Border Control, all manual despite the simple task of Installing 2 or 3 E-Gates

3] Biographic Photograph Point

4]Security

Finally having to fly an all Economy Aircraft even if you have just paid $11,000 for a First Class Flight.

And then BA Wonder why they are losing Regional Premium Passenger to The Gulf Airlines.

[Tony-UK]

MartynSinclair , there is a fast track and I asked about it but apparently not for passengers transferring regionally! This reiterates previous posting by UncleDude, as a regional passenger (live near Manchester) interest in me as a BA customer stops at Heathrow…

Another example of how BA have no interest (disdain even) in regional customers was the cancellation of regional flights to Gatwick. We have a flight from Gatwick later this year and are going to have to drive to Gatwick as there are no air or viable train links to Manchester…

I am flying to Mauritius next week and am going with Emirates, am looking forward to a chauffeur pickup, a great lounge experience at Manchester, Dubai and Mauritius, and a seamless transfer at Dubai airport. I used to use BA exclusively but is now a no brainer…

[esselle]

Be careful not to conflate BA and HAL.

It is the latter that runs T5, their staff who run security there, and UKBF who deal with the immigration system.

I suppose, though, if BA really wanted to provide better service for its premium pax, they could arrange it, but their view is probably that it would simply cost too much.

[Tony-UK]

Agreed, if BA wanted to provide better service for its premium pax, they could arrange it… I suspect that they work on the premise that the majority of customers will end their journeys at LHR. BA are handing over business to gulf airlines in the regions, if you travel business/first, why should you want to fly through Heathrow (and economy shuttle) when you can get door to door premium service from a local airport?? Personally I feel it is a short-sighted approach and is damaging to BA…

[FDOS_UK]

Uncle Dude, Tony UK

As a MAN user, I completely agree with your posts.

London Airways is what BA really is.

[alainboy56]

To all of you out there, actually too many of you to mention, who support the poor public servant – I accept that I am a grumpy old man and i should not be rude to public servants …. to a degree, but as we cannnot get to their highly trained and professional managers (the ‘suits’ as I call them), and the politicians/civil servants are also completely inaccessible, to a certain extent, I am sorry but to who else are we supposed to vent our frustrations. This magazine forum is in Business Traveller, we are all experienced guys and gals who have been around a bit, but there does not seem to be the disgust that I have to LHR/UK and its complete ineptness. Come on guys we all travel, all over the world, some of us like me to ‘out of line’ stations that some of you can only perhaps ‘gulp’ and wonder what it is like, try Shymkent in Kazakhstan, what about Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan try other better known airports in Pakistan such as Multan, Sukkur, even Karachi and Lahore. What about Hangzhou and Yiwu in China even Chengdu and Guangzhou. As you can gather, I do travel all over the place to ‘let’s call them’ abnormal destinations, and I am very used to the hassles and aggravations of immigration/security but it is expected in can i say politely 3rd world regions, but why oh why, as various people have pointed out, is LHR one of the worse, (ok I admit plus US Cities), but we should be one of the best not one of the worst! It is so disorganised, messy and inefficient and I am (apart from being a grumpy old man) embarrassed by all of this. Its a debacle (as Arthur Daly used to say).

[SimonS1]

@Tony-UK

The ME airlines are feeding traffic into their hubs and onwards. BA are doing the same at Heathrow.

I doubt very much there is enough point to point traffic for BA from regional airports to long haul destinations. As for short haul I can’t see how they could compete with the locos.

Best to stick to what they are doing now which seems a good profitable model.

[Edski777]

The key issue for this thread is “quality”.
The general definition of quality is “To deliver a product or service in line with the customer’s expectation”.

If we accept that as a baseline in genral the UK airports are not doing a good enough job. Delivering a quality service should be at the top of their To do list every single day.
That is the way forward and the only way to make and keep LHR and other airports attractive and profitable.
In case the airport management has no idea what quality at an airport means they can easily take a top 10 list of airports worldwide that stand out.
I’m sure many contributors at this forum are willing to subsititute their list of favorite airports.

After all: “quality” doesn’t cost money, it generates revenue!

[AnthonyDunn]

Alain,

As one of your bleeding heart liberals who you are attempting to dig out, I don’t believe that I am suffering from cerebral atrophy either. I just care to have some grasp of a few facts rather than shooting from the lip. Let me remind you that the UK border control regime has been instigated by a distinctly unliberal Home Secretary – so I think that your whingeing is directed towards the wrong end of the spectrum. You might perhaps care to rephrase your comments to “unthinking knee-jerk conservatives….” Or would that involve a discomforting look in the mirror?

As I have pointed out to you once already (and it appears not to have penetrated), the UK is in the midst of an EU in or out referendum in which immigration, border controls, security and sovereignty are critical issues. Which is why, after a series of cock-ups by the predecessor organisation to the current Border Force, the then Home Secretary (oh, it was the Tory Theresa May then too…) decided to increase the number of checks on ALL inward-bound passengers, irrespective of their passport and point of departure. It was stated at the time that this would lead to longer queues and delays at passport control and Ms. May decided, on all our behaves, that that was a price worth paying to ensure her future credentials in the next Tory leadership contest. “A cynic…” I hear you say. Qui, moi?!

It is interesting that the places I have been to where there are lengthy passport control queues are each places that are utterly paranoid about their border security: Burma, the USA and the U.K. Might this just be (in the latter two cases) of politicians responding to popular demands – and being a demonstration of (perish the thought) democracy in action…? Maybe, there is nothing Third World at all about those queues?

[richardofFrancepp]

Stop the diatribes. Unmanned border control desks and scan channels closed. Even in CDG those long queues are not there.

[Simon01]

Manners

[WillieWelsh]

Dealing with UK border staff I find a curt matter of fact approach best. They are not polite and while I have no wish to be rude to them I just mirror their own behaviour.

If I’m challenged about where I’ve been which is none of their business my response tends to be ‘you need to know that because?’

I’ve never had a reply to that and never given the information.

One of the best things about avoiding BA and taking advantage of the excellent services now available from EDI, GLA and NCL is that I avoid LHR and life is better because of that.

[AnthonyDunn]

Whose diatribes?

The U.K. Home Secretary has staked her political prospects on there being no further border control botch-ups and I dare say that she will say that what she is doing is reflecting popular demand for effective border controls. That may be an unpalatable truth for you to swallow.

In an era when Home Office spending has been cut severely across most areas, presumably the Tories amongst us will argue that passport controls via the Border Agency should not be exempt from such economies. I would say to the complainers either be prepared to pay more tax, suggest a viable alternative spending cut or get used to ii.

It’s really not that difficult to make a comment based upon the real world when you think about it.

[alainboy56]

Thank you to ‘edski777’ and ‘richardof Francepp’ – you grasp what I am griping about exactly.
“AnthonyDunn’ –
I don’t care about politics – i don’t even vote – whilst I lean toward BREXIT, I prefer a ‘middle way’ which is to ‘stay in’ and cut out/cancel all the bullshit rules/regs created by unelected eurocrat, but that is not on the table. (I have a home in Italy and am married to a Finn, so I am a true European).
Anyway, I still say, whoever is responsible for this debacle at LHR – get it sorted out!

[Author]

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