To think that proposed charge for fast track through passport control is a bloody cheek

[eternalopt]

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Travellers face £5 charge to get through passport control faster - the guardian
apple.news/AcllRgdcvRPmsiKgTktYtHA

So charges at every airport to get through passport control quickly - surely this means longer queues for everyone else who can't stump up the cash as the staff are elsewhere serving those rich enough to queue jump? Given that it's a public service that we already pay for through taxes etc, this feels really cheeky to me.

We waited 2.5 hours at Manchester at passport control. It was a joke.
Staff were running up and down yelling at people to use the scanners. They got quite grumpy and sarcastic about it.
People queuing got grumpy too and started saying to them 'if we could, we would'

It wasn't as bad a queue at gatwick but infinitely ruder. I got grilled as to where I'd been. He didn't believe I'd only been to one place, despite the stamp in my passport and my ticket...... it took 20 minutes to get my passport back.

The main advantage with the Fast Track queue at Heathrow is that 90% of people using it are frequent flyers who know the drill...

A bit like that scene in 'Up in the Air', the queue moves efficiently because people use the queuing time to take off jackets, empty pockets, get laptops out etc
The 'civilian' queues move slowly because there is always one person who wants to argue about whether they really need to remove their shoes, or have forgotten about the bottle of suncream in the bag which means their case is emptied and swapped, holding everyone up

We normally have to wait over 30 minutes at Stansted. Up to an hour if several flights arrive at once.

They do like to ask a lot of questions as well. I'm a British citizen! I'm not trying to steal your benefits, I don't even live there!

I'm an EU-er married to a non-EUer. Every fucking time - and I mean every - I get through passport control within 20 or so minutes at Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted, and then hang around another hour waiting for him, because there are 1/2 staff assigned to the non-EU queue, and 8/10 assigned to UK/EU (despite the former taking longer per person... all those pesky terrorists and fake students to weed out).

If they can offer a fast track service, how about implementing it? Like, now? As it stands, most visitors' welcome to the UK is pretty anticlimactic. Bunging another £5 on to the price won't help matters.

I think the problem is that if you are a middle class family flying once a year on a simple airline like Easyjet, it's long and horrible and not a great start or end to the holiday. If you travel all the time, are alone and work or live abroad or look vaguely Arabic, rich or pissed off, they actually go out of their way to fuck you up. If you only travel with trunkies and toddlers you haven't seen the other side of these people. I have been asked why I choose to work in a Muslim country, do I want to join any of the locals? Well no love because I work in fucking Qatar, there are more Qatari people in London than Doha! And if you wonder why I work there it's because I work in the LNG industry. Have a lot of that in fucking Hounslow do you? The thing is I am entitled to work where I want, live where I want and travel freely. It's the equivalent of a stop and search because a young black man is walking down the road in a rough area. Doing nothing wrong. In the days when the police could do what the hell they wanted.

If you travel all the time, are alone and work or live abroad or look vaguely Arabic, rich or pissed off, they actually go out of their way to fuck you up.

I really don't think that is remotely true. I've been all of those, apart from Arabic, and that isn't my experience.

The problems are long queues, caused by not enough staff to deal with the volume of passengers, plus not enough staff to deal with any problem cases so the queues back up even more.
I doubt any of them give a shiny shit that you work in the gas industry, or why you have such a monumental chip on your shoulder about Hounslow.

As with traffic wardens and council planners, it is a job that seems to attract a lot of jobsworths who have an overly-inflated opinion of their impact on the world by making sure zip lock liquids bags will do up before being put through the scanner, and whether a lip balm is a liquid or solid (yes, I've had both those arguments with them) but you learn how to play the game, and pick your battles...

sparechange you are wrong about the rich having arrivals sorted. I've queued up with celebrities (first off their flight, me last off mine) and seen CEOs being whisked away from their first class haven into the herd all must go through at Heathrow immigration upon arrival. Only those with private jets bypass them.

I have a chip on my shoulder after being leered at and asked ridiculous questions. Both complaints I have made have resulted in compensation. I'm not a nasty person and I don't hate everything. But I fucking hate those people. But it's mumsnet where you are only allowed to allowed to agree with trunkie mum or your are automatically wrong. It's a bugbear of mine after several really abusive things have happened and I am also entitled to have an opinion. Sounding a bit chippy yourself.

If you fly Qatar Airways business you go to an arrivals lounge and they do the formalities there so not always.

The queues are awful and the last thing you need after a long journey, but I do remember that on our last arrival at Gatwick the Border Force officer was polite, friendly and courteous.

That was at 1am and we are a mixed-ethnicity family group.

Another one who hates Bristol Airport here, came back last week from a city break and waited 45 minutes to go through the bloody scanners even. Some woman was clearly loving abusing her position, shouting at everyone as they entered the circle of hell that is the arrivals hall there. 45 minutes was actually rather good for them!

I've also had really pleasant encounters with the staff in Dublin several times.

Flying from and into Birmingham next month, have done twice before and don't remember it being awful. Cardiff isn't too bad either.

My sister got stuck in a toilet cubicle at Bristol years ago. We missed our flight and they had to get a fireman to get her out because she had taken her effing great suitcase into the cubicle which had walls down to the floor.

I've queued up with celebrities (first off their flight, me last off mine) and seen CEOs being whisked away from their first class haven into the herd all must go through at Heathrow immigration upon arrival. Only those with private jets bypass them

Not really true. Anyone flying first or business with a Non-EU passport will be given a fast track voucher on board, which you can use to go to the same queue as people with diplomatic passports, where there is rarely any queue. I've got colleagues who have applied for ancestral passports just for this purpose (although it needs to be somewhere without visa requirements to be much use)

Proper celebs and VIPs, or indeed anyone with the money for it can just book the VIP arrival service, which collects you at the door of the plane and takes you straight to a private lounge to process your passport etc
I don't know off the top of my head how much it is though...

The best arrival service I've had was when staying in the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong. Met at the plane door by a driver, who took my bags, walked me straight to the front of the queue for passport control and then into a waiting car. I was only travelling with hand luggage, but I presume they go with you to get your bags as well!

If you travel all the time, are alone and work or live abroad or look vaguely Arabic, rich or pissed off, they actually go out of their way to fuck you up.

DH and i travel a lot with our work. Bags pulled almost every time, searched, swabbed and generally delayed. Never anything untoward in our baggage.

When we've had the kids with us, they've been asked theirs and our dates of birth. Grilled on where we've been and for how long. I've taken to travelling with copies of birth/marriage certificates since an over officius security guard almost didn't let us journey home.

I was picked 'at random' for further questioning going to the States (European airport). When we arrived in New York we were questioned further. It took nearly an hour to convince them that we weren't trying to illegally work there.

That's my reality of being a mixed race frequent flyer so i'm with Crackerdog on this one.

Found it!
£3k for up to 3 people for the VIP arrival service, open to anyone with a business or first class ticket
www.heathrowvip.com/pdf/faqs.pdf

I'm sure not all celebs will be willing or able to pay it, which is why you probably see them queuing up with everyone else, but a lot cheaper than going pj

charleybarley I would pay anything to avoid that queue in Muscat! More of a pushing triangle than a queue, I actually had bruised ankles from trying to keep my place. That was a few weeks ago and it was boiling as well.

*Given that it's a public service that we already pay for through taxes etc
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How is this paid for through taxes? Surely the airport pays for security staff etc?
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The charge is a great idea.... the extra money can be used to pay for more immigration staff and we all get through quicker. Those who need or can afford to go through faster pay. Everyone's a winner!

Those who miserably bemoan the fact that everyone wouldn't forceably be treated the same if there was a fast-track, do you also think that we should all drive the same car, live is identical houses, be paid the same, eat the same food, wear the same clothes, all in the interests of 'fairness'. That attitude's all rather childish in my opinion.

It's actually a very progressive charge. The 'rich' pay more than the actual cost, allowing the service to benefit the 'poor'.

So if you're a socialist you should be happy with this.

And if you're a capitalist, you'll be happy with the extension of choice.

Unless you're one of life's perennial moaners, this surely is good!

Well, at risk of being labelled "childish perennial moaners" by outtaker, I still think it's a bad idea! For me, it's not a question of standard service and a better service, it's a substandard service vs a fee attracting option. Doesn't sit right with me. And, yes, if you're travelling alone through one of the cheaper airports, it's only a fiver, and perhaps not necessary if it's nice and quiet. However, if you're a bigger group/family at a more expensive £17.50 airport, it will mount up to a not insignificant sum.

But it is iinsignificant in the scheme of things.

But it really is an insignificant sum in the grand scheme of a holiday

It's an optional charge as well. Don't want to pay it? Then don't! You'll still get through the queue, but it will take a bit longer.

If this 'doesn't sit right' with you, what are your feelings on first and business class travellers being allowed to queue jump AND having nice plush lounges in to sit away from the hoi polloi?