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

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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.

"the non-EU queues are often shorter, so maybe things will improve after we leave" yes and taking 3x as long due to more passport / visa checks and imigration issues.

When I fetched BIL from Heathrow a few years ago, I arrived in the car park as his plane was landing, early on a Saturday morning. I stood around for three hours waiting for him to come through, because of immigration queues. Mind you that was the year when passengers were close to rioting because of the queues, and the issue was in the news.

There is no excuse for immigration queues. The time and cost per-passenger of processing is negligible and can easily be funded out of airport taxes. (Don't know if the government is refunded for immigration officer person-hours, but they could be.) The standard should be that the vast majority of people on a particular flight should never reach baggage retrieval after their baggage, which would in effect mean that immigration had imposed no delay whatsoever. (I assume baggage is always processed as fast as possible.)

Back in the 1990s Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris used to have 3 lines. One for EU and Swiss citizens, one for others and a special line for French passport holders, so its own citizens got to breeze through border checks.

The only time that I travelled through Heathrow the staff were so rude and menacing that I have never flown to it again. I will take a longer route and fly to Edinburgh or Manchester, but my favourite is Dublin. Any time I have been through it the staff have been lovely, polite and happy to have a chat while processing you, so the queue moves smoothly because nobody is getting their hackles up about being questioned after a long flight.

I've never had a bad experience at Belfast either, although there was a bit of a wait because they were short staffed and 3 planes had landed at the same time.There were only 10 non-EU (I remember because we were chatting while waiting) and once they managed to get someone down it was quick and they managed to get through the rest of the queue pretty quickly.

There is a biometric passport queue in Stansted which was a lot quicker than the regular queues when we came back from holiday. Which we couldn't use, despite all having biometric passports because dd is 6 and you are only allowed use the biometric queue if you are over 12.

Exactly, people with kids queue longer because they can't use the biometric entry system. It frustrates ne when it's 6am you have kids that gave done a ten hour night flight, everyone is tires and you queue at passport for 1-2 hours and they don't have all the booths open 👿

YANBU,the queues at British airport passport control are a bloody disgrace. Land at 5am after a 14 hour flight then queue for an hour? What a great welcome. Go to most developed countries and it's pretty much straight through.

I flew to a European capital city 2 weeks ago. Upon landing, the passport queue was manned by only one person. There was a huge queue. Then despite the queue the baggage wasnt there when we got through. Then the baggage conveyor broke down.

When I flew home to Heathrow and landed ate at night, I walked straight through passport control with no queue and my bag came out within minutes of arriving at the reclaim. Shrugs.

Ive paid 10 euros to get through the queue quicker in Arrecife airport, about 5 years ago. Id pay £5 extra.
Worst queue I've had was this year, Manchester airport, using the biometric machine things. They are slow, and mine didnt work, (5% apparently don't, an airport employee cheerfully told me), so I had to go to the normal border anyway.

I'd like to know where all these other countries are where passport control is so great. I've been in crazy queues at Charles De Gaulle, Dalaman in Turkey is a mad house and also various Spanish islands.

There are always frazzled parents and grumpy, whiny kids in the passport queue. About half the time I've witnessed strangers make uncalled for comments or just generally mutter and tut towards these families. Um, hello? Of course people don't display parenting of the year when they are stressed, fed up and tired themselves. And normal parenting doesn't work on kids who are exhausted either. Butt out! (Luckily never had a comment directed at me, but I've seen it often).

Through passport control in both JFK and Heathrow this week in under 15 minutes, so no, I wouldn't pay as this was perfectly fine. Perhaps i just got lucky!

Do the auto thing at Heathrow and no queues at all. Kids over 12 allowed in if with an adult. V quick and if photo doesn't work they fast track to an agent. I'm not paying !!

Surely if more people are paying for the privilege of saving a bit of time then it saves time for the slower queues as there are less people in it.

How stupid, you won't get through any faster, everyone will end up having to pay, and the queues will be exactly as they are now. People who try to avoid paying just won't get through at all, until they do pay.

If I pay my £5 do I get a more polite Officer than the rude one I got this year. I know they are doing a very important job but they can still be pleasant (I don't even need friendly)!

We shouldn't have to pay. The service is sub-standard and has been for years.
But I might consider paying. Just because the service is so awful. That's wrong, but they aren't going to change the original service, are they?

Not really surprising, is it - they're charging for more and more that used to be standard service. At least it's not a charge for EVERYONE yet!

I don't see the problem with queuing to be honest.

I've travelled to America a couple of times but I was stuck waiting for 3-4 hours in JFK airport

YANBU,the queues at British airport passport control are a bloody disgrace. Land at 5am after a 14 hour flight then queue for an hour? What a great welcome. Go to most developed countries and it's pretty much straight through.

Not my experience at all. Land at the 'wrong' time in Hong Kong, Singapore, Jo'burg, LA, San Fran, NY, Sydney and you'll have a monumental waiting time.

I missed a connecting flight in Geneva a few months ago because of the wait at passport control.

Everyone seems to be getting misty eyed about a non-existent time when air travel was all smile and roses. I've been a frequent flyer for most of my career and I have never known it be as easy as some people seem to be making out.

Yes, security was easier pre the liquid restrictions, and even more so pre-9/11, but the queues have always been there

Crackerdog ,, here , my first biscuit

How full of yourself are you

How will I sleep tonight

What a lot of effort and commas went into that dear. Save your energy for someone who cares.

Complain to your MP. If enough people complain, those who have these bright ideas begin to feel the pressure, and something might be done. If no-one complains, except to each other, then they judge that everyone is happy, and they move on to the next brainwave!

they're charging for more and more that used to be standard service.

When was fast track passport control ever a standard sevice?