Chaos at Heathrow

Reports are circulating of a plan to open up the currently closed Terminal 4 at Heathrow for red route flights only from 17 May when the Government is expected to lift its ban on foreign travel.

A problem will be with connecting travellers, usually 30% of Heathrow business, who will have to transit to the other terminals.  They will be airside the whole time alleviating any checking problems except at the boarding gate.  However, the transfer time would add at least one hour to the link with consequences!

At the present time the simple Border Control e-gates are not open in either T2 or T5 causing long waits with the Home Office insisting that a manual check is required for all passengers.  These have been as much as six hours with limited toilet facilities and seating for less mobile travellers.  For those with children the situation is particularly serious.

New plans are emerging for travellers to have their coronavirus paperwork digitally linked to their passports and officials are said to be working on “top-priority” plans to reopen the gates.  As things stand industry chiefs have predicted that traffic into the UK will increase fivefold when the ban on international travel is lifted with an estimated 100,000 passengers arriving at the border on the first day.

www.heathrow.com

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

michael imeson,

Do we know what the queueing times are at, say, Schipol or Frankfurt. I think Julie Brown is dead right. I shudder to think what the already hugely incompetent lLuton border process will be when traffic begins to build

Catherine Chetwynd, London

Good thinking, Ian Hamer; I'm with you. And why aren't they using the e-gates? They're low-touch and people can always use gel before and soap afterwards

Ian Hamer, UK

Perhaps if Border Control was passed to the responsibility of the NHS then this chaos would be resolved with the resolve, speedy out of the box thinking and real dedication, the NHS produced results. Border Control can hardly claim the same and on the face of it are creating a dangerous crowd situation, which if in a city park would be broken up by the Police.

Ian Hamer, UK

Perhaps if Border Control was passed to the responsibility of the NHS then this chaos would be resolved with the resolve, speedy out of the box thinking and real dedication, the NHS produced results. Border Control can hardly claim the same and on the face of it are creating a dangerous crowd situation, which if in a city park would be broken up by the Police.

Julie Brown, New York

Unless there is some sort of guarantee of getting through Border Control quickly at Heathrow, or any other British airport, I am going to tell my clients to give the UK a miss.