BA fury at ‘dreadful’ airport queues
BRITISH Airways launched a scathing attack on the Home Office yesterday over “dreadful” queues at airport immigration control gates.
The company claimed Britons returning home and visitors from overseas were having to wait more than an hour for entry clearance after some international flights.
But the Home Office hit back by accusing BA of misrepresenting the passengers’ experiences.
The stinging criticism of Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s Whitehall department came in a formal submission to the Government from the airline to a consultation on proposals for scrapping landing cards.
It urged the UK Border Force to tackle “serious inefficiencies” that the airline blamed for “long queues and frustrating delays”.
The airline said: “With Brexit just round the corner, more than ever, the UK needs to show that it’s an easy place to travel to.”
It noted that the Home Office had promised the Border Force would be able to “process a higher number of low-risk passengers more quickly and using less resource” after electronic control gates were introduced at London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 two years ago.
Efficient
BA added: “Yet, routinely at Terminal 5 only one third of the 29 state-of-the-art eGates are open.
“In addition, they are usually shut prematurely at 11pm while customers are still making their way off flights causing massive queues and frustrating delays.”
Raghbir Pattar, BA’s director of Heathrow, said: “More focus must be put on operating in the most efficient and flexible way.
“It is a dreadful welcome for visitors to be faced with a packed immigration hall and the prospect of a frustrating delay to the start of their holiday or business trip.
“It adds insult to injury when you’re stuck in a queue but can see numerous gates which just aren’t being used.”
The Home Office responded by claiming that more than 99 per cent of British and European passengers arriving at Heathrow were dealt with within 25 minutes.
There has never been a queue of more than an hour for European Union arrivals at Terminal 5, it said, adding that some 87 per cent of passengers from outside the European Economic Area are processed within 45 minutes.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The security of our border is paramount, which is why 100 per cent of scheduled passengers are checked when arriving in the UK.”
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “Governments are great at passing regulations and then not putting in place the staffing at airports to manage their implementation, both here in the UK and in Europe.”