[Anonymous]

[Matinée-Allstars]

Just discovered this on ba.com

I am guessing that travellers with EEA identity cards may need to go to desk ? Can anyone advise ?

It will slow down the T5 experience if the airport is busy….

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Travelling from LHR Terminal 5 on a short-haul flight with hand baggage only?

8 Sep 2013
If you are travelling from London Heathrow Terminal 5 on a short haul flight with hand baggage only, there will be some change to process that is being rolled out over the next few months. This is part of our ongoing commitment to making the customer journey easier, to help to speed things up at the boarding gates and improve punctuality. If you have checked in online, we now need to verify your passport / travel document before you go through security.Your travel document can be verified at any Self service Check-in kiosk by selecting ” reprint boarding pass” or alternatively, you may go to any one of our passport and visa desks and we will verify your documents before you proceed through to security.The changes will take effect as follows:

Austria 12 December 2013
Belgium 14 November 2013
Bulgaria 5 December 2013
Croatia 5 December 2013
Cyprus 19 September 2013
Czech Republic 14 November 2013
Denmark 28 November 2013
Finland 19 September 2013
France 31 October 2013
Germany 3 October 2013
Gibraltar 25 September 2013
Gothenburg 11 September 2013
Greece 5 December 2013
Hungary 5 December 2013
Italy 7 November 2013
Luxembourg 25 September 2013
Netherlands 17 October 2013
Norway 5 December 2013
Poland 25 September 2013
Portugal 28 November 2013
Romania 25 September 2013
Spain 10 October 2013
Sweden 12 December 2013
Switzerland 21 November 2013
Turkey 11 September 2013

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Its at: https://www.britishairways.com/travel/executive-club-news/execclub/_gf/en_gb?source=MNVEXC1executive_club_news&link=main_nav

[FormerlyDoS]

Since when was Gothenburg a country? And why is the implementation date three months earlier than Sweden?

These people are incompetent to allow such a coarse error.

Get a grip, BA.

As for your question, I cannot confirm it, but IIRC the check in machines can read passports and cards with magnetic data – I guess it depends whether they can read the data on your ID card – so a call to BA may be in order.

Don’t forget conformance, you will have to allow a suitable buffer time to allow for your ID to be checked (including queueing) so that you enter the security gates no less than 35 minutes before flight departure, thus reducing one of th main benefits of hand baggage only travel, time saving.

[Edski777]

The weirdest to me is that this information would probably apply to all travellers, but can only be accessed by those able to login to the BA website.

I also haven’t heard (yet?) from any of the EU airlines from the countries listed that their customers will have to adhere to the same rules.

Has anyone additional information? I agree with FDOS that this will make travel a bit more time consuming and possibly complicated.

[fatbear]

Any ideas if this applies to those whose passport details are already recorded within their Executive Club details ?

Also, it just mentions T5, yet some destinations eg Czech Republic are only served from T3. So presumably it should be all Heathrow terminals, not just T5 ?

[cityprofessional]

Doesn’t this negate the entire point of online (and presumably, although it doesn’t state, mobile) check in?

And what’s the betting that many regular flyers will be caught out, turned back at security for not having had their passports checked, and then subsequently miss the 35 minute conformance deadline? Looking forward to the chaos, uproar and indignation that will inevitably be caused (and no doubt reported here and on Flyertalk)

[Cedric_Statherby]

The really weird thing is that BA can claim with a straight face that this is “part of our ongoing commitment to making the customer journey easier”.

Does anyone know if this is a requirement BA have designed for themselves or one they have had forced on them by the UK Border Agency (who of course, unlike their opposite numbers in most other countries in Europe, do not check passports on leaving – if you leave Schengen to come back to the UK your passport will most certainly be checked).

[FormerlyDoS]

I don’t know, Cedric. I might take a punt that it is to try to streamline the boarding process at the gate.

Been thinking about this and I think BA might regret this and alter the process toute de suite.

Why?

Because of EU261/2004.

BA states that the minimum check in time is 45 minutes and this aligns with the regulations default value.

Let’s assume using the pax uses the machine at -45 and is referred to a desk for a visa check – the machine only confirms passport, not whether a valid visa is stamped in it. The visa desk is busy and there is a queue, so it takes 10 mins to get processed and everything is in order, so the pax is approved to travel.

Then the pax walks for a minute and swipes their BP at the security gates, to receive a red light for non conformance at -35.

However, EU261 doesn’t care about this, as the pax met the minimum check in time, so it’s a case of denied boarding, pass Go and collect 250-450€, as well as a free re-routing or refund.

I don’t see this as happening hundreds of times per week, but it doesn’t need to, to be a financial burden.

[Travellator]

We went through T5 a couple of weeks ago on a fight to Asia, our baggage was checked through from the regional airport we started from, we were red carded at fast track and had to go to a BA desk to get passport verified. Having waited in queue for Fast Track then going to BA desk and waiting again in Fast Track took about 20mins, we were not under any time pressure – BUT !

[Author]

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