[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

Massive Q’s in T5 right now…. imagine 90 minutes minimum for standard and 30 minutes for fast track.

Asked BA rep what the cause is….answer “I work for BA, this is a HAL issue”..

[seasonedtraveller]

HAL?

sorry for my ignorance.

[BA319131]

Heathrow Airport Limited

[PeterCoultas]

On the way out or on the way in (for poor passengers with domestic connection) – or as I expect, both!

Heathrow, a wonderful “HUB AiIRPORT” about as useless for flights as Marrakesh

[Chiantikid]

HAL/BAA who cares. They’re a total shambles. They aren’t the ones who have to pick up the delays caused by this. Both BA and especially the poor customer once again get to sort it out. Not them. They just get their money. Nearly 7 years on from the T5 opening which was 90% the airport authorities problem it’s still going on sadly. They should have their licence taken away IMO

[Andrew66]

While I fully agree that it’s a total shambles and lack of organisation , I would disagree that ” they just get their money ” if the queues have time waits of those described by Martyn they would be getting ” hits ” and that results in making penalty payments to the airline ( s ) and they are significant amounts not just a slap on the wrist , there are very clear agreements and quotas in place in maintaining queue times .
Still very frustrating for passengers though .

[fatbear]

By 16.30 it took about 15-20 minutes to get through Fast Track at the Southern end, and I guess the normal queue would have taken double that. The information board only give 3 stars out of 5 to indicate how busy the queues were !

One of the security quys did remark that it had been much worse in the morning.

[MartynSinclair]

I started this thread as I had not seen such a long and snaking Q before in T5. I was hoping that someone would explain along the lines of an equipment failure, shortage of staff or really any excuse.

BA were absolutely not interested in saying anything other than its an HAL issue and when I asked various people along the way (to the lounge) I was simply told, “we are not told”.

It really was shambolic. But once in the T5 lounge….. it was a different story…..

[JohnHarper]

There are problems again this morning, the goons appear to be in overdrive and on particularly malevolent form. Why is a mystery.

[SimonS1]

Bit like the railways Martyn. At the first sign of trouble you blame someone else.

[openfly]

If my memory serves me right…..this happened on Dec 1/2 last year! Coincidence? Staff on sickies, extra security for Xmas…we will never get an explanation!

[JordanD]

Went through myself yesterday morning (0530), and yes there were plenty queues at South Security. However in HAL’s defence, every single security screening belt was open (bar one, which opened whilst I was in the queue). Not really sure what more they could do – the south security ‘plaza’ is actually quite large now, and every single belt was being operated.

Am all for having a go at them when it is warranted, but hard pushed yesterday – and I too noted the queues were longer. (I would hazard a guess that extra trays being used for winter coats and the extra time taken to screen each one was part of the problem).

[MartynSinclair]

I guess it also depends on the length of time deemed acceptable to stand in a security line.

30 minutes in a Fast Track lane is IMHO, frustrating. Over 90 minutes in any line… is absolutely not acceptable, in a modern terminal.

[JordanD]

Agreed Martyn. Yes T5 South at 0530 was a 10-15 min wait in Fast Track. Truth be told, didn’t look much worse in the rest of South Security.

(Enjoy BKK – fast track was shorter than LHR, but I pity those having to brave normal security. Makes LHR look speedy and then some).

[Author]

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