Nightmares at LHR

[levelnine]

What are they doing at MEL that requires such a long queue for customs? Recently at SYD the queues are no more than 5-10 minutes typically. It's supposed to be the same Border Force. (Passport control queues at Sydney are another story.)

Nothing out of the ordinary. I think they are simply unable to process people at volume. The way the arrivals hall has been designed suggests they only ever expected about 100 people to queue at once. This week there would have been well over 1,500 in the morning all trying to leave at the same time.

 

[docjames]

Yep, it’s a major design issue.

One example, there is a barrier near customs exit to “protect you” from one of the carousels (?#4) which is about 1.5m in width to the tape barricade protecting the customs entry point. Meaning pax from the middle who’ve collected their bags cant easily get TO the customs queue without either going through this choke point (and clash with pax going other way for whatever reason), cant get past slow moving pax in same direction, or going around behind oversized baggage (and past the hoarde of 500 pax waiting for baggage from carousel 2…..). It also means there’s a significant part of the carousel that cant be used to access luggage collection. As i say, just one example in that space.

Basically the whole areas needs double the floor space in the baggage collection area and better “marshalling” towards customs queue(s). And smarter carousel allocation. In this instance, i think less carousels and more open floor space would actually be better.

Once you hit the customs person, if you have nothing to declare (and they agree you appear low risk eg. profiling, travel location etc) then it moves ok. In this instance, i think it was slow as the Bali flight pax were being additionally screened (due to livestock disease in Bali to avoid importing to Australia) whereas the DXB flight appeared more straightforward (presumably most connecting ex-EU, ME, Africa) and the queue picked up speed once less Bali pax and more ex-DXB pax.

Also of note, NIL covid instructions / assessment / discussion. Just a sign saying if you feel unwell to advise them.

 

[justinbrett]

I guess this is the downside of having a compact international terminal adjacent to the domestic terminals; as opposed to SYD/BNE with dedicated sprawling terminals.

I noticed when I passed through MEL Departures in May how I felt like I was in an Ikea store - trying to pack the maximum length of retail pathway in a tight space.

 

[SYD]

I guess this is the downside of having a compact international terminal adjacent to the domestic terminals; as opposed to SYD/BNE with dedicated sprawling terminals.

I noticed when I passed through MEL Departures in May how I felt like I was in an Ikea store - trying to pack the maximum length of retail pathway in a tight space.

Are there arrows pointing you to the longest route through the store? and do you feel like a spawning salmon if you try and go back? That generally summarises my rare IKEA visits…

 

[justinbrett]

Are there arrows pointing you to the longest route through the store? and do you feel like a spawning salmon if you try and go back? That generally summarises my rare IKEA visits…

Yup!

 

[SYD]

Are there arrows pointing you to the longest route through the store? and do you feel like a spawning salmon if you try and go back? That generally summarises my rare IKEA visits…

OT, but it was verging on criminal (to coin a phrase) when SYD was realigned and closed down the ‘odds and sods‘ departure immigration and security and funnelled *all* departing PAX through the QF side of T1 (that’s not a gripe at QF). So anyone departing on NZ, SQ, UA, MH, EK etc etc had to run the gauntlet of the main DF only to be confronted by more post Maccas and the moving foot way.

Those in the know, quickly discovered the short cut behind the revolving bookcase….

 

[Stealthflyer]

Yep, it’s a major design issue.

One example, there is a barrier near customs exit to “protect you” from one of the carousels (?#4) which is about 1.5m in width to the tape barricade protecting the customs entry point. Meaning pax from the middle who’ve collected their bags cant easily get TO the customs queue without either going through this choke point (and clash with pax going other way for whatever reason), cant get past slow moving pax in same direction, or going around behind oversized baggage (and past the hoarde of 500 pax waiting for baggage from carousel 2…..). It also means there’s a significant part of the carousel that cant be used to access luggage collection. As i say, just one example in that space.

Basically the whole areas needs double the floor space in the baggage collection area and better “marshalling” towards customs queue(s). And smarter carousel allocation. In this instance, i think less carousels and more open floor space would actually be better.

Once you hit the customs person, if you have nothing to declare (and they agree you appear low risk eg. profiling, travel location etc) then it moves ok. In this instance, i think it was slow as the Bali flight pax were being additionally screened (due to livestock disease in Bali to avoid importing to Australia) whereas the DXB flight appeared more straightforward (presumably most connecting ex-EU, ME, Africa) and the queue picked up speed once less Bali pax and more ex-DXB pax.

Also of note, NIL covid instructions / assessment / discussion. Just a sign saying if you feel unwell to advise them.

Yep, it’s a major design issue that created problems pre-Covid. At times it’s been difficult to identify exactly where the end of the queue is because it bleeds into people waiting for bags.

I’m not looking forward to passing through MEL in a couple of days. I’m glad I have a 3.5 hour wait for my domestic connection after reading some of these waiting times. Is it too much to hope that the JQ flight from DPS less than an hour beforehand won’t create a horror queue?

 

[Stealthflyer]

95 minutes to get through LHR T2 security tonight. They must have taken inspiration from SYD because the queue started outside the terminal. The only thing worse than a long security queue is a queuing system where luck dictates queuing time.

They’re trialling a new scanner that means you don’t need to take laptops out but it doesn’t seem to have resulted in efficiency. My external Bluetooth keyboard raised alarm and ended up in the very slow manual bag check lane.

 

[Tejas]

i'm starting to stress about my trip to LHR in September - if i don't get bumped by SQ, there's the bag issues, the length of queues to get on the damn plane and on top of that train strikes as well. all i bloody want to do is go to Chelsea v West Ham

 

[jpp42]

There's no point in queuing to actually board the plane, for widebodies with plenty of overhead locker space. If I don't have priority boarding, I sit calmly in the boarding area until the queue is short.

 

[Tejas]

There's no point in queuing to actually board the plane, for widebodies with plenty of overhead locker space. If I don't have priority boarding, I sit calmly in the boarding area until the queue is short.

when i say queues to get on the plane, i include security and check in

 

[Quickstatus]

There's no point in queuing to actually board the plane

Additionally, a lot of people don’t realise that there is actually also a queue in the aerobridge and then in the aircraft aisle.

 

[ellen10]

Not related to LHR, but my son has a domestic flight from Sydney on sunday morning to Melbourne before boarding a Jetstar flight to Singapore. Is there signage when he gets off the Sydney flight for where he accesses the international part of Melbourne airport?

Does he go outside and does he have to do security again for the flight to Singapore? Not having transmitted through Melbourne we are unsure.

 

[AIRwin]

Is there signage when he gets off the Sydney flight for where he accesses the international part of Melbourne airport?

Does he go outside and does he have to do security again for the flight to Singapore? Not having transmitted through Melbourne we are unsure.

Yes, there is signage. Once he has reached the T1 domestic baggage reclaim, just go up a floor by escalator/travellator/lift towards T2 (International Departure) for security and immigration. Terminal maps:

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[ellen10]

Thank you @AIRwin I have forwarded this on to him. A little pre knowledge helps along the way, especially if connecting flights run late. He is not doing checked baggage

 

[StevoQFtraveller]

Well, now in Berlin, having flown Finnair ARN to BER via HEL. Once again, no bags! However, Finnair is keeping me well informed as to where they are, unlike the poor situation with lost bags at LHR with BA. Actually, BA is still saying on the tracking that my bags are still reroute, despite having received them 9 days ago!

 

[Lynda2475]

So I have 3 upcomming BA flight from/to LHR over the next few weeks, the first being next Wed, received the below email from BA last night. My flight appears to stil be operating, no cancellation sent even though people flying later than me on this thread have had theirs canned. I guess asking for people to give up seats is one way to reduce numbers.

 

[drron]

We are travelling BA LHR-BCN the day after your first flight but being BA gold and flying J has it's benefits as our email was much politer and assured us there is no current plan to change our flight.

 

[Lynda2475]

Im QF Gold and also flying J. All my flights appear to still be running, I expect to fly.

The email was fishing, and I do not expect they would get any takers from J cabin giving up their seats on flights that are operating. Perhaps some locals may delay their business travel, but people connecting to long haul international unlikely to not travel at a moments notice.

The email irrelevant to me as all my flights are part of a OWA, so I would never get a BA credit anyway.

 

[AIRwin]

Im QF Gold and also flying J.

Same here and the system allowed me to change my return flight without any fees or fare difference even though it's after 7 August... Looks like @Lynda2475, @drron and I are departing LHR on consecutive days just like we're contestants on the Amazing Race!