[Anonymous]

[Binman62]

I listened to Damien Green and Willie Walsh on Radio 4 this morning and would like to congratulate Willie Walsh for wiping the floor with the dissembling minister who used statistics to try and justify the shamble that is LHR. Apparently the sample size used is just 0.02% over the last 4 months and covers every airport in the UK. He refused to comment on the scenes of carnage from last Friday in T5 and all the statistics provided related to the first 2 weeks of April and did not include the period when the system disintegrated into chaos. The minister continued to deny that anyone had waited longer the 90 minutes
Willie Walsh pointed out that they have accurate CCTV images of the area and that people waited 2hrs and 31 minutes. The minister claimed this included the time the aircraft took to find a stand and for people to recover their baggage! WW also pointed out that this was not a new phenomenon and that at Heathrow at least the problem had been on-going for some time and that offers by BA and other carriers to pay more in landing fees to increase staff been flatly rejected by the government.
The minister blamed bunching of arrivals, diversions!!!!, the weather then the airlines for not providing accurate data…what!!!…..the idea that BA manifests are not accurate if laughable. They provide details of the numbers of passengers split my male, female and children, revenue and non-revenue and also details by name and flight number for all transfer passengers. As do all carriers. For trim purposes they have this data by seat number.
It was a pathetic performance by a minister who may have been able to convince the once a year brigade to Torremolinos but it was simply further evidence of a minister out of touch with reality, with no real grip on his department and even less understanding of how any airport, and particularly LHR, works.

WW pointed out that security has a target of just 5 minutes and in this time far more stringent and complex checks must be carried out.

He was very good and in my view came out some way ahead of the bungling minister

[Binman62]

Don’t mind if thread deleted but what was said this morning by the minister was not accurate and needs highlighting.

[travelworld]

All the Minister needs to do is say “Whilst the statistics show that the border force are hitting their targets overall, it is quite plain that the scenes in recent weeks are wholly unacceptable. I am taking the necessary steps to ensure that these are not repeated by ensuring the rosters are changed so that they are not. I am sorry to all those passengers who have had to put up with intolerable delays and I am working as hard as I can to ensure that these do not happen again” Then he needs to do so. Why is that so difficult?

[RichHI1]

Mr Walsh did well as he had real facts at his fingers.

It is to be praised if something meaningful is going to be done to fix it. I now have colleagues who are refusing to attend meetings in the UK for this reason.

What I do not understand is the cover up going on in many places to hide the facts. It is good to see that not all the media continue to be co-operating.

Just seen another interview with Mr Walsh who is doing a superb job expossing the statsitical manipulation and misleading information coming from the Immigration Minister and the Border Force to Parliament and others.

It bothers me not if certain manipulative posters on this site want this deleted but Mr Walsh is bringing some daylight to this murky affair and I say well done Mr Walsh. He is acting here firmly in the interests oif Business Travellers unlike Mr Green.

[StephenLondon]

Indeed, RichHI1 – like you, I have had meetings switched to Europe, the US and Asia and clients and colleagues just can be arsed to come to the UK and endure the chaos! With that, the UK loses:
-cab fares
-rail fares
-hotel and restaurant bills
-souvenir or other shopping
-perhaps theatre tickets or paid admission to an art exhibit

and the list goes on and on.

If human beings are so challenged by working at the UK Border Force, why aren’t systems like ePassport Readers and IRIS expanded, offering technological replacement 24/7 in lieu of part-time human employment.

Well done Willie Walsh for fighting his corner so well!

[Binman62]

Well done indeed to Willie Walsh……….finally an admission of culpability.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17905611

[TerryMcManus24]

Read somewhere that the UK Border Patrol people are to be issued with new uniforms….so looks like all the problems at Heathrow will now be solved…???

[RichHI1]

Yep 2.5 million GBP including Dress Uniform for military insignia, VIP visitors and TV appearances. Don’t worry they have their fingers on the pulse….

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Interesting to hear Cameron telling everyone to stop denying there is a problem with border control at LHR and deal with it as the delays are not acceptable!

I hope some of the apologists on this board who never have a problem are listening!

[RichHI1]

Amazing I have found a thread that has not been bumped by the usual offender.
Observed failures of Dave before but this time he has shown leadership, thanks Mr Cameron. Let’s hope the May and Green are listening.

[Binman62]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17937880

do hope BAA continue to publish this data.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

It leaves you wondering how someone who claims to travel frequently and on BA managed to miss out given the figures for terminal five.

[Tete_de_cuvee]

It is because IMO he/she doesn’t. Well not in reality, just virtually which doesn’t have a queue option pack yet, just a pause button, alowing forum posts and adverts to be posted.

[CXDiamond]

Given the news about services to Seoul, VK might find this useful:

http://tinyurl.com/coehqbu

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