[iflytoomuch]

I believe one rapid way to bring things to a ‘head’ so to speak … and force even the politicians to take action, is to remove any special VIP or other entry to the UK.
Everyone … ( maybe not HRH and other members of the family) … but everyone else , has to line up and go through the standard process… I think changes would happen within a week… problem is .. the pollies are too gutless to do this … and the fact that they are removed from the reality of life … means these things can be ignored / denied…

[FrequentPR]

As I am not a local resident and only an occasional visitor to UK, I can’t add a great volume of comment, but maybe some hoping for ‘total breakdown’ during teh Olympics need to be slightly careful as to what they wish for.

Sydney, Australia received many tourists before and during its 2000 Olympics, but after the event went into a very poor period of declining foreign tourism arrivals.

So, if the UK needs or wants the fpreign exchange generated by incresing numbers of foreign tourists, any total breakdown during the Olympics or prior to or just after it might not be helpful to attracting tourists.

Then again, now that the APD is so high, I suppose more than a few are flying into CDG and using Eurostar to get to London or elsewhere in the UK more effciiently than by air.

[RichHI1]

It will all be the fault of the unions that no one comes to Britain. The problem is that Theresa May and her cronies think they are teflon but the fact is they are not that good. This is not about the Coallition or even the Conservative Party. There are good ministers and bad. The good are running their departments professionally the bad are spinning and trying to blame everyone else for their incompetence. With the unemployment rate in the UK how you can justify a Home Secretary who did not know what was happening in her department and does not know what day of the week it is? This needs a high performing minister who has experience of political delivery. The sooner the local elections are over, the Givernment reacts with a Cabinet reshuffle And we get a competent Home Secretary the better. Ken Clarke, William Hague, there are a number just not Mrs May.

[VintageKrug]

Not a change of tune whatsoever.

While others were stating, based on a single bad experience, that the UK border was continually logjammed (and they emphasised the “continually” bit), I evidenced my own experience (about two weeks ago) that very same evening, which was that there were no queues whatsoever.

I experienced no queues the following evening, and have had one ten minute wait and a longer half hour wait on the two occasions I have passed through T5 Border Control since that time.

There is no questions that the situation is worsening, interestingly not in consequence of any recent staff reductions, but simply as the PCS Union seeks to highlight its cause in the run up to a strike on the first day of the new Parliamentary year, May 10.

Now, while I give the benefit of the doubt that the others commenting were actually there, I accept that their experience may have differed from my own, probably as they arrived at a different time to me. It only takes three or four longhaul arrivals to clog up the waiting hall. As ever, they haven’t afforded me that same courtesy, and have cast doubt on my first hand report.

So it’s simply not true to state that I have changed my tune; I simply offered measured and first hand experience, without using an extreme and limited example to determine that chaos reigns permanently, which it does not.

Even BT’s Scott Carey reports minimal disruption at T5 as recently as 23 April:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/airlines/british-airways/british-airways-b767-300-club-world

“ARRIVAL We landed at 1045 and were transferred by bus to the terminal building. We reached immigration by 1100 and there was no sign of the immigration chaos that has been mentioned on our forum recently (see forum here). I made my way to the e-passport gates which had no queue, but could not get it to work. I was directed to a single officer who quickly checked my passport and let me through.”

…so it’s clear that the disruption is sporadic, further suggesting it’s being artificially engineered.

There really isn’t a need to start a new thread on this every day; it loses the thread of the commentary and clogs up the forum.

This problem is entirely Union-related and it is for the UK Border Force to assert itself or bring things to a head and redeploy those union members in management who are engineering this action.

There have been savings required across nearly every public sector department in recent months; it’s never pleasant, and very tough on some. Nonetheless, there’s no point in the PCS being intransigent and refusing to adapt to the new reality.

Thankfully there are not too many Border Force employees at LHR (hundreds, rather than thousands) and all of these are easily redeployed; I would suggest that the seeming inactivity we are seeing right now is providing breathing space for the training of alternate agents, who will be in a position to take over the operation of the UK Border in advance of the Olympics.

There were already plans in place to bring in additional resources in advance of the Olympics, but these will not start until July. I would imagine the present situation will require the bringing forward of these plans, and also bring forward the plans to automate the UK Border for UK Nationals as soon as possible after the Olympics, further reducing the long term job prospects of PCS Border Force members.

We should also put these waiting times into context; while the UK Border Force has to date largely provided and excellent service (hence we notice when it falls below par) we should remember that it’s not uncommon for foreign nationals to wait a considerable time to enter places like the US (through instantly last month, an hour on the previous occasion and nearly 1h30m in January) so a 45m wait, while nothing to shout about, isn’t as bad as some make out.

Let’s hope the Union adopts a pragmatic approach and starts working towards a solution to this issue, if indeed that’s what they’re after.

This latest action affecting waiting times is in direct response to changes which were decided upon in March this year, to which the Union objects, and to which it has reponded by:

– initiating a new roster which doesn’t adapt staffing to passenger numbers
– encouraging staff to take training courses
– encouraging staff to take sick leave
– encouraging staff to take vacation (many have had leave cancelled over the Olympics, so will be taking time off now incorporating the recent Easter and May Bank Holidays)
– rigidly enforcing break times
– taking time to examine passports VERY carefully (otherwise known as a “go-slow”)
– not reporting faulty automated border gates (IRIS/e-gates)
– purposely turning off IRIS/e-gates when it gets busy

[Binman62]

I used t5 in February…does not mean there has not been chaos since. To use a post from march 23rd to claim the chaos is sporadic is ludicrous.

The first posting about UKBF chaos was 6/4/12 following news reports that carriers had raised concerns about the ability of UKBF to cope at Easter.

I used T3 at 7 am on April 11th and it disorganised mayhem. Others followed and on April 15th the same thing in T5 arriving from NCE.

Since then not a day has past without reports of delays at the UK border in all terminals culminating in utter chaos in T5 on Friday with thousand queuing for up to 3 hours and in queues stretching up to a kilometre long.

The sunday times reports today on civil disobedience at BHX with passengers”storming” the border and anti terrorist police being used to control UK citizens and prevent them entering their own country…..we should think about that……

Posts denying these events and pointing to deserted terminals staffed with smiling officials, immaculately attired and all the technology functioning perfectly have appeared. There are as phoney as the attempts by the head of the border force to justify the queues.

With the evidence of the chaos now being screened on a global basis there is a volte face. The queues now do exist but it is all a huge organised employee conspiracy by unions determined to ruin the country and bring about a communist state. Such arguments are just as phoney as the claims about a lack of queues.

Some posters like the government officials they support live in a virtual world detached from reality of normal life. They might know the price of first class ticket but they know the value of nothing.

[VintageKrug]

The BT report evidencing no problems at Border Control when they visited was dated 23 April, just six days ago.

All the serious disruption has occurred within the past four weeks, exactly the same four weeks after a new rostering plan and compulsory redundancies were announced. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the disruption and the announcement of changes are linked. Or maybe it does take a genius……

This is an intermittent problem, which is getting worse, but is being artificially engineered by the PCS Union. It is they who should be setting out what steps they are taking to alleviate the situation, in co-operation with management. Instead they are delighting in the publicity this ios garnering. Fiddling while Rome burns.

That’s the reality of the situation.

[RichHI1]

Poster who cannot be named, I can understand one person saying he glass is half full and another saying it is half empty, I can understand a person flying fortunately at non peak periods experiencing a better level of service tjan those who fly at busy times, i can even understand people following their political views and wanting to attach all blame to one party or another to an absolute level. What Inreally cannot understand and I have tried is the complete absence of the doctrine of responsibility and Accountability both in your posts and in the behaviour of the relevant Ministers. Those who seek responsibility and the trappings of power that go with it cannot avoid those responsibilities when they find them inconvenient or beyond their competence. Maybe I am too old but Inwas brought up in an era when people were urged to take responsibility for themselves and their actions not ask for hand outs or blame someone else for all their mistakes. I find this irresponsibility deeply troubling.

[FormerlyDoS]

The facts ma’am, just the facts.

Thursday 5 April, LTN, 1430, 50 mins to clear immigration

Wednesday 18 April, LHR T1, 0845, 60 mins to clear immigration

Sunday 22 April, LGW S, 1045, 30 seconds to clear immigration

I have to clear LHR T4 at 0630 and take a coach to LGW next Thursday at (and am concerned about how long it will take to clear immigration.)

This shambles destroys BAs LGW/LHR and LHR/LGW flight connections as a credible operation, IMHO.

I’ve just booked my next trip to KSA and I am going via FRA, instead of LHR.

[SimonS1]

The difficulty many people have VK is that you are very inconsistent.

A few months ago I recall you making a jibe about Binman62 and how he was “among BAs most unlucky customers, blighted at very turn” following a succession of things that didn’t go in his favour.

Yet when people remark on your apparent run of good luck in consistently arriving at Heathow in quiter times, you appear to get quite worked up, first apparently denying the problem, then complaining about the number of threads etc, then apportioning the blame.

Sometimes one needs to wind one’s neck in a bit and accept that others may also have a valid view on the subject.

[Bucksnet]

With Lufthansa’s new flights to Gatwick, it may be a useful option connecting at FRA if the immigration queues are short.

I wonder what does happen to people who just walk past the empty desks? One person could be stopped, but not much could be done if it was dozens or hundreds. I suppose it’s not a good idea if you’re a foreign national as if you get stopped then you might be denied entry.

[HarryMonk]

Bucksnet

According to a press report today, people have already “stormed the border” earlier this month at BHX. Unfortunately unless the situation is improved I don’t forsee this being an isolated incident.

[VintageKrug]

Really? That’s extraordinary.

[Tete_de_cuvee]

Virtual Krug’s default position, when there is a problem blame the employees, blame the unions.

Personally I find most employees take pride in their job and wish to do it as well and successfully as possibly, especially when well motivated with high morale.

Could it possibly be the sporadic performance is down to leadership and management? In them having to cut costs and improve efficiency by increasing their capacity utilisation they have removed the slack from the scheduling.
In most processes one tries to closely match the resource to the requirement with the resource being fully utilised. Given the requirement varies with peaks and troughs the resource needs vary. When there are delays which upsets the predicted peaks and troughs there needs to be spare capacity to handle this. If the tolerance has been removed, to save money, then sporadic performance ensues.

The bad weather today caused the predicted arrivals to vary from the norm fairly considerably, I benefited as they were clearly overstaffed and breezed through, the e-reader (with its facial recognition) working well. Other very late arrivals are likely to be short staffed.

Methinks the Sporadic performace is down to cutting too much of the necessary slack out of the process.

VirtualKrug – how about an apology to all the employees you have accused of nefarious activities on this site? Time and again your assertions have proven to be totally baseless.
Qantas employees sabotaging aircraft.
BA cabin crew bullying – whereas in actuality they were being bullied.
PCS deliberately causing delays to pax
etc….

[AMcWhirter]

Leaked memos indicate that LHR is at breaking point.

Update on the situation along with Fast Track delays:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9234991/Heathrow-at-breaking-point-as-Border-Force-struggles-to-cope-leaked-memos-warn.html

[RichHI1]

When reading above post, I saw this. 2.5 m GBP on new unforms to reinforce new UKBF Branding from Theresa May. People may not get in any quicker but they will be able to marvel at the smart new uniforms. And this si coming from the Daily Telegraph which is not exactly known as a lefty newspaper. I really do think the inmates are running the asylum.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9227017/Immigration-officers-to-get-new-uniform.html

[Author]

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