Chaos at the check-in
Frustration for air passengers as border staff shortage stalls the Easter getaway
AIR passengers face long delays at passport control this Easter because of ‘gridlock’ caused by a shortage of border staff, major airlines have warned.
Their grim predictions were borne out last night when passengers at Heathrow complained of two and a half hour delays.
One Terminal 5 passenger, Erica North, who had flown in from San Francisco, said only three of the 25 immigration desks were manned.
The 29-year-old psychologist said: ‘It’s horrendous. I’ve been waiting two and a half hours. The whole waiting area is full and no one is explaining what’s going on.’
The chaotic scenes follow a broadside at the Government by the UK’S 11 leading airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, bmi British Midland and easyjet. They said staff shortages at immigration, bottlenecks and inefficiencies mean millions of passengers are facing ‘unacceptable’ queues getting back into the country.
The predictions of Easter air chaos were made in leaked letters to Home Secretary Theresa May from the British Air Transport Association representing the 11 major UK airlines, and in a back-up one from Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin said: ‘At peak travel periods such as the Easter holidays, there is the very real chance of gridlock at UK airports.’
The airlines said the problem has been exacerbated by a return to ‘100 per cent passport checks’ – following a row last year over lax checks – at a time when UK Border Force staff numbers have been cut.
The letter from BATA chief executive Simon Buck said: ‘The UK Border Force will almost certainly struggle to manage the volume of passengers and queue times at major airports will lengthen.
‘The subsequent impact on airline operations, passenger experience and satisfaction could be significant, especially at peak travel times such as Easter or during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.’
The aim was to shame the Government into abandoning further cuts to Border Force staff. British Airways is expecting today to be its busiest day over the Easter holiday with up to 86,000 passengers travelling through Heathrow. More than a million passengers are due to arrive at the airport between now and the end of the Easter school break.
Sunday, April 15 is expected to be the busiest day with 123,350 arriving home ahead of the new school term.
Airport officials say ‘ unacceptable’ peak time queues can already exceed two hours, but the Immigration Service Union says that at the worst times they can exceed four and half hours, leaving thousands crammed into arrivals halls.
Unions say ministers will have to draft in ‘contingency’ border staff who have recently retired and with a maximum of two-days’ refresher training because current staffing rosters ‘are not flexible.’
Labour immigration spokesman Chris Bryant said cuts to UK Border Force staff were ‘ leaving the security of the UK exposed’.
He added: ‘With a cut of over 5,000 staff promised by the next election, the Home Secretary is leaving our borders dangerously understaffed, just when the UK is expecting record numbers of arrivals for London 2012.’
The Home Office said it was putting more Border Force staff on passport control duty over the Easter holiday – but declined to say how many.
Brian Moore, head of the 7,400strong UK Border Force, insisted: ‘There’s not a problem. My job is to make sure our borders are secure. This speculation is unhelpful, unnecessary and alarmist.’
A Border Force spokesman said: ‘The Border Force is prepared for the busy Easter period and has ensured extra staff will be working to carry out vital security checks.’