Who are all these people queuing at Heathrow?

[beckypv]

Just that really. I’m not being funny, but who are all these people stuck in the queues at Heathrow? They just showed images of it on the 6 o clock news..... and it looked awful.... where are all these people coming from? I have no problem with people queuing for as long as it takes to do it properly ...... but I just can’t fathom the number of people there!

We could never have done a New Zealand here for this very reason. Never.

I thought the same thing @beckypv

Where the hell are they all going and WILL THEY BE COMING BACK??

@ssd I think they were coming into the country! Government have said queues were caused by many having not done the correct tests / paper work before they set off to the uk. I honestly can’t believe people have the balls to travel without the right documents (well actually I can). It’s such a tricky system if you are relying on carriers and ground staff across the whole globe.

@lunapeace

We could never have done a New Zealand here for this very reason. Never.

Sure we could.

Just say to the world "hub's closed soz, go via somewhere else" and "repatriation by quarantine hotel appointment only".

Done.

FWIW, NZ still has Pacific transit flights going though, albeit less than Heathrow. But it's possible to run transit and still control covid.

Or, seeing as we're not doing any of it properly, fuck it, open everything tomorrow. What's the point if we half-arse it? This is one giant exercise in self harm.

I think this story was just on radio.... a load of people arrived without the right paperwork so huge delay in processing them.

I gather 23k ppl/day are still coming thru Heathrow? I bet OP isn't describing a video shot of 23k people at once.

You ask where people are going or coming from... they are:
Moving to be closer to family or for work.
Travelling for work.
Travelling to see family, probably for emergencies.

God knows as soon as UK restrictions are lifted I am going to say goodbye to my friends and my kid’s seeing his dad!

I fly for work, and pass through Heathrow regularly. It is a ghost town compared to how it would normally be, and I suspect in order to get a photo of it looking busy a journalist would have to sit there for quite some time until several flights that actually have passengers on them arrive at the same time. I would normally fly 4-6 long haul sectors a month, but in recent months have flown a maximum of 2-3 sectors, sometimes travelling in one direction as a passenger in order to bring a freight (ie no passengers) flight back. Most of the flights I do these days have only a handful of passengers on them, mostly travelling for work or compassionate reasons. However this is only second hand knowledge for me as I no longer go into the cabin to speak with passengers, so this information comes from the cabin crew who are working out there. For example, although I flew to Antigua last month (and people yell "Antigua? Surely people going to Antigua are twats going on holiday!) our small number of passengers included a couple of maritime engineers, some scientists, and a family travelling for a funeral. No holiday makers that I was aware of. Among my own family, the only people who have travelled during international lockdowns apart from myself have been travelling either for attend a parent's deathbed and a one way trip emigrating for work. Both of those family members quarantined for 2 weeks and paid the full cost of it. As someone in the travel trade, I would say you would be hard pushed to find many of those people in the photos who do not have a very good reason for travel atm.

My BIL is flying out to the Caribbean soon for his father's memorial. Does that pass your judgementometer?

Loads of people travel for work. I know at least 3 people who work on the oil rigs and fly regularly.

I think they were coming into the country!

I am amazed by how many people have no bloody idea AT ALL how the world works.

How food gets to their supermarket.
How their water gets into their taps.

How their piss and shit get taken away and dealt with.
How the fuel that heats their homes and cooks their food gets to them.
Where the fuel that their delivery drivers use comes from.
Where the materials that make their very roof and walls comes from.
How the stuff on their Netflix gets made.
Where their internet comes from.
Where their mobile signal comes from and where their mobiles come from.
How their doctors and nurses are trained and where they are trained.
Just - how ANYTHING outside their fucking front door actually works.

'Cos yeah sure, let's just close the Country.

Why don't you toddle on down there and ask them.

Demand they all tell you what exactly they are doing. Insist on document proof.

At a guess, people moving about for essential travel, I mean the UK isn't exactly a tourist attraction at the moment is it?

Do the maths.

Six people processing those without documents (and everyone else).

Each takes 5 minutes, so say 70 of those could be processed per hour. Normally one minute, so c350 per hour.
Essential travel no more than 50 people on a plane, six planes per hour (was that number from Terminal 5 in September, other terminals at Heathrow, so perhaps that total in total now).
So 300 people to process per hour, if all have documents, OK,
If 10% have not, then c325 can be processed.
If 30% then only 280 or so, so backlog of 20 in the first hour, 40 in the second, by early evening (12 hours in), 280 etc.

Some of them will have their permanent home here in the UK but have been visiting family abroad. I'm an immigrant here and the FB groups for people in the UK from my native country have had lots of posts from people stuck in the wrong country... Some flew there before lockdown started, others have had to go back due to family emergencies etc. (personally I can't think of any reason I would travel during a pandemic but understand others take a different view). Then a lot of EU flights were stopped when the Kent variant hit and no one wanted arrivals from the UK so there's been a backlog of people needing to return after flights resumed, too.

There's also going to be a problem soon for some EU nationals in particular - if you have pre-settled status, you can only be away from the UK for 6 months without losing your status. I know many students in particular went to stay with their parents "back home" due to the pandemic and now the 6 months is coming up and they'll have to return.

They are not tourists, though.

Best to just go and ask them

My DP just returned from EU and flew from Heathrow, he is classed as a safety critical worker and has self isolation exemption evidenced by letter from gov’t. He said it was a joke, airport clearly down on staff numbers due to virus and 6 flights all arrived at border control at the same time. 2 hr queuing no distancing, families with kids. Holiday makers without relevant docs needing to be told to quarantine in nearest hotel, chaos.
Border control officers didn’t believe DP when he said he was exempt until he produced letter, the officers were shocked it was true! They said to DP bloody hell you’re not blagging it are you mate, every Tom dick and Harry claimed the same thing.

DH is travelling out tonight from Heathrow, for work. I swear some people think the only reason people sit their arses down on a plane seat is for their two weeks all inclusive in Benidorm.

We're not in New Zealand. Get over it. If it's so great, go and move there.

LOTS of people travel for work in the UK, many people are dual nationals and have had to travel for those reasons, but again, everyone always assumes it a fucking holiday.

We would literally starve with closed borders.

I'm kind of curious, if whole families are off on jollies to Benidorm right now... Or returning from same.

Which hotels are actually open in Benidorm?

I wonder what they budgeted to pay the school absence fines.

There's a lot of people who went away for Christmas now returning home. I know of around 30 people who decided they wanted to spend Christmas in their home countries (but immediate family are in the UK, so it was non essential) who have returned last week and will be this week. They've attended weddings with over a hundred people and lots of other gatherings, this is across Africa.

Unless a family member is dying, it isn't essential.

"We would literally starve with closed borders."

People aren't flying in with food supplies business can be done online. Most of the travel will have been non essential.

@Ponoka7

There's a lot of people who went away for Christmas now returning home. I know of around 30 people who decided they wanted to spend Christmas in their home countries (but immediate family are in the UK, so it was non essential) who have returned last week and will be this week. They've attended weddings with over a hundred people and lots of other gatherings, this is across Africa.

Unless a family member is dying, it isn't essential.

"We would literally starve with closed borders."

People aren't flying in with food supplies business can be done online. Most of the travel will have been non essential.

Get a clue! A LOT of business cannot be done online. Much of travel is essential. What next for the 'Close the Borders!' brigade, no more haulage without jail quarantine - and then see who's going to be willing to traffic essential goods into the country, bad enough with Brexit.

@bigheaded

You ask where people are going or coming from... they are: Moving to be closer to family or for work. Travelling for work. Travelling to see family, probably for emergencies.

God knows as soon as UK restrictions are lifted I am going to say goodbye to my friends and my kid’s seeing his dad!

Or, like my BIL, returning from 3rd holiday during covid

I know someone who accompanied a bag of stem cells from mainland Europe on a flight this week.

My aunt had a stem cell transplant early in 2020. Her donor lived about 6000 miles away. She's doing well. Apparently covid controls have played havoc with international organ transplants, by making international travel so difficult.

I know a family who went away on an extended holiday (after the start of this lockdown) who are due back in a few weeks. Definitely a holiday as I'm being treated to all their FB pictures and a daily vlog but the rules in general don't apply to them

My bf is a construction worker currently working abroad. A little tricky to do that line of work over zoom. He flew out in lockdown and will be returning before the end of lockdown.