[Anonymous]

[Binman62]

Meeting friends in T3 this morning who report that the immigration queue stretches outside the T3 immigration hall to the top of the ski slope alley that leads to the pens. Delays for UK passport holders around 60- 90 minutes with same or longer for non EU passports. All this at 0730am.

Posting to highlight the mess and kill off the idea that this is a blip…it is not,it it is now typical of how passengers will be treated on arrival into the UK.

BAA not offering any allowance for car park so they must be raking it in financially. Pretty shocking that people profiteer from this debacle and no one is accountable.

[VintageKrug]

Are we to have a thread on every terminal, every morning?

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Complete-chaos-at-T5-arrivals-this-morning

[FormerlyDoS]

“Are we to have a thread on every terminal, every morning?”

Why not?

This is important and it needs flagging up.

[Binman62]

I hope so too…..this is a nation embarrassment and with 100 days to the Olympics it is shameful that it now takes 100 minutes to enter the country.

anyone else at LHR this morning?

[HBHLondon]

What are you playing at VK? This is an important matter for a forum like this and it is fair to raise it. Of course in your world of working for BA Heathrow is perfect.

[FormerlyDoS]

BInman

Shall we have a whip round and buy the ‘disruption’ add on pack for VK’s ‘Virtual Traveller’ application?

Might help him relate to the real world 🙂

[SimonS1]

I would have thought it works in your favour to have a thread every day, VK. Gives you a chance to deliver your daily sermon from on high.

[Bucksnet]

And try to ram home to the non-believers the message that the CP menace needs to be dealt with.

[travelsforfun]

I was arriving at Terminal 4 this morning, 8am, and scene was also fairly horrendous. I got through the EU queue in ‘a mere’ 15 minutes (though bizarrely, the staff had been instructued to close the e-gates).

But the non-EU queue was just a mass of people filling every inch of available space – most of whom could have expected well over an hour’s wait. Needless to say, there were plenty of desks unstaffed.

It really is a disgrace – a queue of length that length is wholly unacceptable – and paints a truly awful picture of the UK and the welcome we think visitors deserve.

[RichHI1]

To welcome visitors to UK I think music should be piped through the waiting area. We could start with a dedication to the Home Secretary and Home Office… Britney Spears, “Oops I did it again”.

Please comtinue these threads every time. Would be helpful if posters could indicate the status of IRIS and EU-PASS gates as well as how many agents were working. Thanks for good work.

[VintageKrug]

I do think it’s important that the role of the PCS Union in exacerbating this situation is highlighted:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/F20389D9-079A-4D56-87A10D8408C2A425

They will all be on strike on May 10; should be plain sailing that day!

[RichHI1]

Undoubtedly there are many players responsible in varying parts for the current state of affairs. To be honest, I do not care. I want it fixed and I hold the Home Office and ultimately the Home Secretary responsible. Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book. Some are convinced the Unions are totally ag fault, some think the management are totally at fault and others believe it is all about direction and resources and hold Govt to blame. This is a pointless distraction with no benefit to the system.
Whilst the Government, the management and the Unions all have issues to address it is not that hard to sit down and work out a set of comprehensive metrics for service level, construct and action and resourcing plan to implement it and appoint a Parliamentary suckmmittee to manage delivery. Take out the factionalism and fix it.

[StephenLondon]

Just one immigration officer on duty at LCY this morning. There were queues down the hallway!

[Bucksnet]

VK, are you sure there are no links between CP and the PCS union?

I wonder if it would be possible for BA to pay for extra staff in T5 or even run the service themselves? Or for BAA to pay extra for the whole of LHR to increase its attractiveness against rival airports?

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