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.

There are times at Heathrow when it's quiet and you get through passport control faster. The difficulty is that staff are either super busy or it's quiet.

What might be better would be to have a restaurant before passport control. If some people had a coffee or even a meal it would stagger passport queues. Maybe people could even be given an appointment time to join the queue.

I have no issue with some people paying to be fast track. Disabled people who need to be fast tracked are fast tracked for free. Two years ago we got fast tracked as my elderly FIL was travelling with us. He is profoundly deaf and needs a wheel chair. He gets very scared in airports and needs his family close by.

I don't get it. It's not a tax imposed on all. If you conscientiously object or can't afford it don't pay it. Isn't this a bit like whining that it's not fair champagne is more.expensive than cava?
I hate flying, hate airports and hate British officialdom. So I choose to spend more money to make it bearable. I chose my overseas contracts with a lot of thought to the flight package because that is what is important to me. If I wanted to fly economy once a year from Stanstead I would have stayed in Salisbury and worked in a flower shop. You choose your life and cut your cloth accordingly.

My view on first class and business class is that they are paying more to a private company to get a much better service. If you can afford it, crack on. Wish I could! What differs to my view on this is that this is a government service that has been rubbish for years, and the government admits that, but rather than fix it, they instead say that if you want a good service, you have to pay more. They don't seem to be doing anything to fix the problems that are create the need for a fast track queue.

But isnt Heathrow a business? I thought Qatar owned a chunk of it. They don't generally invest in chappy state funded stuff.or they would have bought the NHS by now.

Crappy

We paid £10 each (Dh and I ) in an Egyptian airport which was sweltering. We was at the back of about 300 people.

I probably would have paid double

I'm(a) a very frequent flyer and (b) holder of a non-EU passport.

Those saying that business class passengers skip the queue: only before midday at Heathrow. Any later than that and you line up with everyone else. The fast track desk shuts at midday.

Qatar Airways also doesn't sort out immigration in a little room, unless I was dreaming the 90 minute wait I had to clear immigration in Oslo last week alongside a plane load of Turks with a very limited understanding of queue etiquette.

There are very few European airports who do fast track for business class passengers.

Heathrow immigration isn't that bad. I genuinely think Copenhagen and Oslo airports are far worse.

EssentialHummus you know you can take your partner with you through the EU lane? If I'm travelling with my husband, I go through with him, the staff are more than happy to process partners/families at the same time.

What utter bullshit. Heathrow fast track is open 24 hours. I have used it at 8pm, 10pm at 1.30am in the last 3 months.
Qatar Airways do have a meet and greet lounge for first and business although I have been meeting investors when I have been unfortunate to use that airline to fly in.

You may fly frequently but I don't think you have ever flown business or first through London or you would know that.

To be absolutely fair to Qatar Airways, the first lounge at Heathrow is sublime. Out of this world and better than any 7* hotel.

No, it shuts at midday in T5.

Well if you fly BA it's hardly the same

Gosh you're rude. Yes, I flew Qatar last week as it turns out. You're not the only special snowflake who gets to travel to a shithole in business class :)

I'm not generally, I just don't like people who think they are the bees knees and get things wrong, showing themselves up. Nighty Night.

Heathrow is a business yes, but the border agency is a government agency inside the airport, not part of its commercial arm, and the border agency staff will be civil servants, not airport staff.

I guess that explains why they are so awful. In that case I agree with you. Fine if people.want to fly business and have the perks that presumably the airline foots the bill for but to tier the service which they have a monopoly on is not reasonable. Is it any different to saying if you pay a fee the police will attend a burglary or you can get an ambulance quicker? No, I'm with you on this.

I've never had a problem at Bristol airport, despite once being the irritating person who managed to inadvertently pack an oversized bottle in my hand luggage (ds almost disowned me)

Having spent nearly 2 hours at bloody Gatwick last year queuing I am happy to oay

Is it any different to saying if you pay a fee the police will attend a burglary or you can get an ambulance quicker?

Yes of course it is different! It's a bit like how you can pay extra to get your passport renewed or issues on an express service
Or how you can pay extra to get a private side room after having a baby.
End result is the same. You just a slightly easier route there by paying extra.

Well I don't think people should have to pay extra for something they have no choice in. If they are going to.spend the revenue raised on training for their staff it would be a start. Or perhaps they could get slightly less bitter people if they paid better. Who knows? My mind has been changed by this thread. I started off thinking it was just people whinging, a bit like the pay extra to sit together folk, now I think it's exploiting people who are going on family holidays and might have had to save all year and this is just another pressure, as is not paying and being left to rot in a queue for 2 hours for not paying.

I hate British airports. When I worked in Saudi we used to cadge a lift on a private plane occasionally but still got barked at in London. They hate us all, at least theyou don't discriminate

Wow cracker your posts have been awful!
You've made assumptions on a whole airport staff because of some bad staff.
Only people with no qualifications must want a job there?
I've had bad experiences in a few places, but i don't assume the everyone who works there are horrible or uneducated.

It isn't a few. It's arrival and departure at least once a month, sometimes 3 times a month over a period of 8 years. It's not based on a family holiday once a year.

It's a zero sum game. Those who stump up £5 will get a slightly better service than now, those who don't will get slightly worse. And this is good news how?

And as for the "only £5" crowd, the airport knows that travellers will grin and bear it, and thus increase the airport's revenues. It's arrogant, it's manipulative, and it's insulting.

I often travel through NZ airports. Never any problem. Heathrow staff, by contrast, rarely helpful, frequently rude and surly, not to say menacing. I expect the reason is the crap pay they are allowed by the same folk who want to increase their dividends by getting you and I to pay this extra £5.

Cracker, I Fly in and out of heathrow at least 1ce a month- used to be more like once a week. Usually alone, usually on business, always in fast track. I have never been treated rudely or unfairly by security staff or any other staff. In fact one time, trying to bring a jar of my beloved peanut butter through (without even thinking about it being a "liquid"), instead of shouting at me or binning it, they had a good laugh about it with me, and called someone over to take me to the post-security bag check so I wouldn't have to throw it away.

But then- I'm always friendly, pleasant and non-confrontational at check in and security, as I understand they're doing an important and necessary job. Perhaps your terrible attitude towards them is evident and results in the attitude you perceive to receive in return?

Having recently spent the best part of 2 hours queuing at Atlanta airport - I would gladly pay.