The next time I’m in line for security, or customs, or passport control, or heck, the supermarket, I’ll try to remember this video. Taken in February 2007 at London’s Heathrow Airport, the video shows people lined up to pass through customs.
The line just. keeps. going.
via The Gate
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May 31st, 2007 at 7:42 pm
One more reason (taxes being the other one) not to fly through (or to) Heathrow!
May 31st, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Actually, I have been through Heathrow several times this year, and I am pretty sure thats the line to get through security !! Not that it makes it any better …..
May 31st, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I’ve stood in the first part of that line before; fortunately it only stretched to the Southall Travel sign.
I’m not 100%, but pretty sure that there’s a quick line switch we don’t realize. Think of a capital “Y” with the stem being the security line and the fork is customs/arriving passengers. The initial long hallway (the stem of the Y) is a terminal security line, but at 1:35 left, they get to the fork and follow the right branch which is people exiting another terminal, and heading towards customs. I think they come from the right branch, and make a sharp cut/u-turn back up the “left branch of the Y.”
Again, not entirely sure, but at the 1:35 mark, it looks like several people from the line cut back to their right, and don’t follow the line straight ahead.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:08 am
With the increasing profits BAA is getting from Heathrow, how come we’re still stuck with a third-world class airport?
Yeah, I’ve been in those lines, not to mention the ones around Christmas this year!
June 1st, 2007 at 8:30 am
This is pretty old news I’m afraid. The hyper-security caused by the liquids-plot did cause HUGE lines – we were caught in a 2.5 hour line land-side just to get to the boarding pass check. I’ve also been through LHR several times since with no lines at that stage – and sometimes even no lines AT security. However LHR’s mantra as the only building site in the world with its own international airport seems set to last for a while yet…
June 1st, 2007 at 10:51 am
Only JFK is worse, at the moment. We travelled from Amsterdam to London in December and had to wait in line for over 1,5 hour to just change planes. We arrived at the gate panting and nervous because of the “last call” sign flickering.
And then we arrived at JFK, where we had to stand in line for a little over 2 hours, to have our picture and fingerprints taken. There were grandparents, small babies, people in wheelchairs and on crotches, business people in a hurry: just waiting stupidly in a snake like line. There was no opportunity to get out of the waiting line to use the bathroom.
There was NO way to get a drink somewhere. Of course no one cared that there were hundreds of people waiting without any water. Water that we weren’t allowed to bring on board in the first place. We felt very welcome. Not. Shame that we love to visit our NY family so much (and, to be honest: to spend our holidays in the US), or we’d never return!
This March we flew from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, and finally to Sydney. Back through Singapore and Frankfurt We paid an extra 150 euro’s so we wouldn’t have to fly through either London or the US.
I can’t believe why anyone would want to fly through Heathrow: it’s filthy and very dark brown & orange 1970’s. If you have to actually be in London, you’d better go to Stansted, Luton or City. Much cheaper also. For long distance flight: Paris, Frankfurt or Amsterdam.
*End of rant*
June 1st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
This is a great reason, also, to use airports like Bristol and Manchester which now have non-stop US flights. Of course, the security lines at Manchester were also incredibly long, but they seemed to move pretty quickly.
If you’re flying business class, be sure to inquire about how to find the “Fast Track” entrance to the security lines.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I went through Heathrow twice in the last ten days. Inbound, I had to change planes. Will someone tell me the logic to coming off a plane where I had to go through the US’s TSA security theater and hike over straight to the line for the Brit’s version of same? Of the fourteen security people hanging around, only two seemed to be doing anything remotely constructive.
On the way back, I encountered the mess shown in the video. To make it worse, one agent tells me I have to go to the far end of the building, where I am told to go back where I started from, where I am again told to go back to the far end. At which point I screamed for a supervisor. When I finally got to the counter, took the agent 20 minutes to figure out how to issue a boarding card!
Worst managed circus I’ve seen in any first world airline.
OTOH, the cabin crew on the airplane was pretty good, except they were not checked out on the new movie system, so it kept crashing.
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:09 am
That line is for LHR T3 security not customs. Ask me how I know this
A recent London Heathrow transit through Flight Connection Centre took me 100 minutes to clear security, on a normal day (no weather or other disruptions, no holidays or major events). There was a pre-queue for the pre-queue for the main queue! The really annoying this is it is so easy to fix. I don’t recall ever seeing every screening station opened, and often only 2 or 3 are open. If they took some staff off the “shouting at the queues” duty and on to manning the screeners, the queues and angst would be much less.
June 2nd, 2007 at 6:36 am
WOW! I have flown out of Heathrow countless times and I’ve NEVER seen a line that long. What was going on that day? Are you sure this was February? Maybe it was August after the transatlantic bomb plot?
June 9th, 2007 at 11:20 am
[...] The longest line you’ll ever see. Check out this video of the customs line at Heathrow Airport (Hat tip: Upgrade: Travel Better): [...]
June 20th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Even as a transit passenger you will be forced to get off the plane in London and go through security. London security will go through all your personal belongings, and can potentially confiscate your belongings, including extra baggage, duty-free items, jewellery and cash.
For a few extra dollars, it would be better to find another airline that does not go through London.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
[...] I applaud your strategizing, Mara, and I think you’re well on your way, simply knowing that Heathrow is a place to avoid. (Don’t believe me? Watch the video.) [...]