[High_Cadence_Travels]

Update: received this from Heathrow customer service after highlighting the situation:

Unfortunately when travelling through North Security in Terminal 5 there is a no exit policy in place due to North mixing with transferring and direct passengers, once you have scanned your boarding pass and entered pass the automated gates there will be no exit.

However if travelling through South Security you are allowed to exit through South.

Any passengers that have had their bags searched in south and need to return back outside to check in a bag for any items which are not allowed will be able to do so and if the passengers have not yet passed through security but have passed through the automated gates will be allowed to exit.

If a passenger approached a Security Officer in South and asked to exit this would not be allowed, as the passenger could have come from North wanting to exit South.

On passing ticket presentation/ automated ticket gates this is classed as airside already.

[LuganoPirate]

That last bit seems confusing to me. You can exit South but if you ask a security officer you can’t???

I don’t know the layout of T5, but have you passed emigration before the security check? If so I can see the problems that could cause.

[goalie11]

I think the point about Edinburgh and the OP’s query is that there is no UK law with regard to this. You can easily walk out, and more often than not there is no policeman at the bottom as there is no real need.

Anyone who may be transiting and who would not have entitlement to be in the UK wouldn’t get into the main terminal, they would be refused entry to the UK.

You can do exactly the same at Manchester Airport, which is a truer transit airport. Having passed security I can mingle in T3 with domestic and international passengers and then if I decide I want to leave I can simply follow the same exit route as arriving passengers.

I must admit to being a little confused with the response High_Cadence_Travels received from Heathrow. I might be wrong but is it not the case that whether you pass through north or south security you enter the same departure area albeit from different points and you mix with the same people regardless

[RichardB]

I think people are mixing up two things in this thread

1) Exiting from the airside of the departures area instead of taking a flight
2) Exiting before you go through security but after scanning your boarding pass

The original post is about type#2. And the explanation about T5 being different in the north and south security checks makes sense because at the one end the people about to be scanned are a mix of departing UK passengers and those on transfer flights. At the other end of the terminal the security check is only for those who have just walked in from the main check in area.

Many of the other posts are about type #1. You are in the departures area and want to exit.
T3 has this (via arrivals door, immigration and baggage hall). I think T5 has it but you are escorted out.

I’ve not seen this #1 problem in many european airports. They mix arriving and departing passengers (in the same way that somewhere like Aberdeen does with domestic passengers) and the only thing the airport has to do is make sure the exit from airside -> landside is one way and people can’t travel that route in reverse and avoid security. The UK has stricter security controls and so far more transit passengers must be re-screened than in europe, so they normally keep arriving and departing passengers separate.

[canucklad]

Hi Simon
So in my time using EDI I’ve done the following ……

As above, been left twiddling my thumbs as my travelling companions left to go back and get a smoke after delays were encountered.

I’ve arrived from London, with a pre-printed boarding pass and connected onto a flight to Madrid without going through security. First time my BP was scanned, was at the gate.

And I’ve also went through immigration (not customs) at LHR and picked up my bags in EDI without going through customs. What should happen is retrieving your luggage from a adjacent carousel to the domestic, on a few occasions I’ve had to head back to the domestic carousel.
Although, a mate who worked for HMRC told me that , the officers know exactly who and where everybody from international connecting flights is ! As a passenger, they already track your behaviour and asses the risk accordingly!

EDIT to add……On numerous occasions I’ve seen people an the scanner queue sent back, normally to do with luggage issues not liquids right enough.

[SimonS1]

Sounds to be semi shambolic and that the person in charge of security at the airport needs to be moved on.

Oh hang on, too late…..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33773708

@goalie11 – I don’t really see the issue with Manchester. If you are taking the same exit as arriving passengers doesn’t that take you through UK Border?

[goalie11]

Hi SimonS1 – the point was more that you are free to leave. The arriving passengers would in this sense be domestic.

I’ve come off Etihad flights transferring to domestic EDI connections so I would pass through the UK Border and security at the transit section before entering the terminal and join all other passengers, including those arriving domestics.

[SimonS1]

But if you are going from an international flight to an international flight at Manchester you do not go through the border, you go through the Flight Transfer Centre. Security, yes, border, no, as the passenger may not have a permit to enter the UK.

Presumably you are not saying that once through flight transfers and back airside these people are not free to wander out of the airport unchecked?

[goalie11]

Not sure on that example of international to international, there must be something in place to not allow transit passengers in this instance freedom to wander without a Border check. I can only speak on international to domestic but an interesting point.

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