Excrable Heathrow Airport - still (and probably always)

[RooFlyer]

[/Vent warning]

Honestly, I tried to avoid Heathrow this trip. I only wanted to go to Scotland, but had to fly Star Alliance. Lufthansa - straight into Edinburgh! Yes? Alas, after working the TA hard, Thai's fares and timetable and seats available at short notice just had to be. So it was Heathrow. Oh well, post Olympics is all been upgraded, hasn't it?

I've used a lot of airports and had a number of unpleasant experiences in some of them. But nothing will counter tonight's experience at Heathrow T3. After check-in, I accepted the 'Fast Track' invitation with a bit of hesitation - last time it didn't work out fast at all.

Up the stairs and .... two very long queues. look for fast track. Unbelievable - the 'fast track' queue, to enter boarding pass check and then security was about 100+ people deep. The other queue was much longer (but also moved faster). Everyone coming up the stairs stopped and stared in disbelief. The fast trackers confidently went to where the entrance to BP check was, each to then realize in disbelief that yes, this huge queue was 'Fast Track', and they trudged back to the end of the queue.

Can readers imagine, going to MEL or SYD international departures, where the person checks the BP before letting you into security, joining a queue 100m long for 'fast track' ??? 30 minutes just to get to Security.

Of course there were 2 BP check stations available, but only one of them was attended.

After the BP check, security was relatively quick.

I simply cannot imagine the sheer incompetence, or grasping greed (or both) of airport management that would let this occur. Its not as if the airlines suddenly sprung 5 or 10 extra flights on that night. There was NO backlog reported form the previous day's ATC snafu.

Heathrow is air passengers Hell on Earth.

Next time I WILL avoid it and to hell with the cost.

Hmmmph - also, arriving into T3 this afternoon on the flight down from Scotland, bags took all of 30 minutes to arrive onto the carousel.

OK, if you will excuse me, I'm going to get partially rat-faced in frustration.

 

[Mal]

Oh you were at a LHR on a good day then

Security at LHR are the most incompetent bunch of clowns I have experienced security wise. Honestly, the TSA are generally better.

 

[RooFlyer]

Amen to that brother. The last time I went through T3, at security, they took every single item out of my carry-on toiletries bag, put them in a bag and individually put them up to the 'sniffer'.

When the majority of the bins ended up airside, EVERYONE stopped what they were doing (including the watch-the-x-ray screen person), picked up some bins and took them up the other end. I gathered that the maximum number of bins that anyone could carry was 5. About 5kg? So everyone made 2 trips (6 in all).

Geez I'm still pi**ed off. Pity the SAS lounge is the one who is gunna pay. I've just asked them to replace the gin bottle.

 

[rlarosa]

Hmmm I've been lucky then! I've been through Heathrow a few times this year and it's always been generally quite good. Departing through T3 both times it was straight up to the SQ counter and checked in within 10 minutes, generally OK security lines and no outbound immigration is great. And when arriving the immigration queue can look like a nightmare but it seems to move ok, I think last time I got through in under 30 minutes.

Also did a domestic flight through T5 which I thoroughly enjoyed but mainly because I got to try out the Heathrow transit pods!

Wasn't the weather around the UK a bit wild this weekend? That may have added to the congestion.

RL

 

[moa999]

T5 security seems much better. Was off BA16 and back in the Galleries Lounge within 15 minutes the other day.
Fast Track meant no queues at the passport check, and was only behind about 5 people at baggage rescreen.

 

[defurax]

[/Vent warning]


Next time I WILL avoid it and to hell with the cost.

OK, if you will excuse me, I'm going to get partially rat-faced in frustration.

My previous boss told his PA he would fire him on the spot if the letters LHR ever appeared on one of his itineraries! =-O:-\

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

Wasn't the weather around the UK a bit wild this weekend? That may have added to the congestion.

RL

Yes, an 'Artic blast' came down Thurs / Fri and caused some damage on the ground, and some aircraft delays, and there was the ATC thing on Saturday, but by Sunday afternoon all was reported as operating virtually as usual.

LHR is chokkers virtually all the time. I'm not sure if there is much flexibility to add extra flights at any time. But if they did - as a result of the ATC or the weather, surely, airport management would anticipate it and put on extra people (as I said, in 'Fast Track' there were 2 stations, but only 1 attended).

No, its just a case of 'Stuff the passengers / customers - no extra staff because it would cost.'

 

[OATEK]

Did T3 outbound in early October. Found exactly the same as the OP. Fastrack queue wound for miles. Tried to sneak down behind the barriers to what looked like shorter general queue. Up steps an official to quickly block off and send me back to the fastrack. 30mins would have been quick, took more like 45.

 

[drewbles]

I also agree 100% with the OP. My last departure from T3 earlier this year was identical. I was quite smug when I got up the escalators thinking 'ha! I have fast track i'll bypass this in seconds' only to have my heart sink and my smugness obliterated when I waltzed up to the fast track entrance only to see the queue back to the escalators, and looping back around.

I asked the person herding us into the right queues why the regular non-fast track queue was moving faster to be told 'oh but when they get through to security they have to loop back and forward again, fast track is definitely faster!'

I saw someone pass me in the regular queue, and he was through the security check point just as I was entering. T3 really needs to fix this (or QF needs to move ).

 

[casanovawa]

Haven't been to LHR for several years but flew into JFK in November and took about an hour to get through immigration, line snaked back about 4 times, must be 200+ people and they had 4 booths out of about 15 or so manned...

 

[Dalescott]

Let me enlighten everybody on the matter of Flights directly into Scotland. Aviation is controlled from London. With the Independence referendum this matter has become a hot topic, further complicated by BAA being made to sell some of it's airports. At the moment the only carriers flying into Scotland from the East (exclude the Americas) are EK into Glasgow. With two flights a day in and out. Edinburgh will have Qatar flying in with one flight a day from 28th of May next year. I have been told by the SNP transport spokesperson, that there are two more Asian carriers looking for landing permits to fly into Scotland. But are getting problems from London with regards to permission. He would not say who they are???
With the present Political war going on, in regards to the Independence issue, it is unlikely that London will give permission for more flight. In fact I was very surprised that Qatar got permission, to fly into Edinburgh with a Dreamliner.
So there are no cheap fares to get there with Asian carriers, except through Amsterdam or Paris, also EK's flight are alway full, and I would think they are looking for more slots into Glasgow. The sale of Prestwick to the Scottish Government (SNP), may change the situation, but with permission required from London, wouldn't think so.
So it's LHR or NOTHING, NOT HAPPY JOCK

 

[anat0l]

1) Fallacy: The airports were upgraded for the Olympics. Hardly! All that happened was that some of the more "special" processing was done in ready-made infrastructure. A bit like how LHR started in the early days - a bunch of tents.

2) For someone who appears to have a passionate dislike for Heathrow that could be likened to the dislike that war belligerents have for each other, you and/or your TA didn't do a very good job avoiding it.


LHR T3 was OK the last time I was there, certainly OK the last time my folks went through. Things seem to have gotten a hell lot worse.

 

[alieninperth]

LHR has been ****ing awful everytime I have gone through. Thankfully with the EK tie-up I dont have to do this anymore.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Haven't been to LHR for several years but flew into JFK in November and took about an hour to get through immigration, line snaked back about 4 times, must be 200+ people and they had 4 booths out of about 15 or so manned...

what time did you land?

i am arriving on the 24th from honkers on CX. Busy then?

 

[casanovawa]

I arrived from Frankfurt on LH about 2pm on a sunday....

 

[boylero]

Term 5.4 the win

 

[TonyHancock]

LHR T3 was OK the last time I was there, certainly OK the last time my folks went through. Things seem to have gotten a hell lot worse.

It has been dreadful for me when departing six times this year. The fast track experience is lamentable and security is slow, poorly organised and populated with rude staff.

In essence the experience after leaving the QF F check in area to arrival at the EK or BA F Lounge is utterly dire.

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

2) For someone who appears to have a passionate dislike for Heathrow that could be likened to the dislike that war belligerents have for each other, you and/or your TA didn't do a very good job avoiding it.

That's true, given that I didn't actually avoid it.

The booking was made at a week's notice, for very fixed dates and was limited by me to Star Alliance carriers. Turned out that available J seats flying straight into Scotland under those circumstances were priced about $2,500 more than the via LHR option using Thai. I hate LHR, but for a couple of grand I will, reluctantly, suffer it.

Plus it had the admitted advantage of allowing me to do some Christmas shopping at Covent Garden between flights on the way home.

 

[Melburnian1]

It has been dreadful for me when departing six times this year. The fast track experience is lamentable and security is slow, poorly organised and populated with rude staff.

In essence the experience after leaving the QF F check in area to arrival at the EK or BA F Lounge is utterly dire.

T5 at LHR is under six years old; T2 is under construction.

Tony, which of the LHR terminals do you believe are at or "over" their design capacity in passenger throughput? (The refrain on the Internet is that overall, LHR operates at 98 per cent capacity which may refer to both passengers and flights).

When catching a night flight earlier this year I didn't have a bad experience through security at T3: it was a bit busier than MEL is at say 0900 on a reasonably busy morning, but not dramatically so.

 

[Sprucegoose]

It has been dreadful for me when departing six times this year. The fast track experience is lamentable and security is slow, poorly organised and populated with rude staff.

In essence the experience after leaving the QF F check in area to arrival at the EK or BA F Lounge is utterly dire.

Yes we take a lot for granted don't we....