Chaos at Heathrow continues: Man FAINTS in massive queue as passengers rage over ‘incompetent’ Border Force staff and ‘insane’ Covid-friendly cramming of travellers, while airport workers admit they have no idea how long families must wait
- Queueing chaos at Heathrow continued overnight, with holidaymakers complaining of risk of Covid
- Images on Twitter show huge lines of people packed together tightly for immigration Terminal 5
- Heathrow yesterday admitted they have no idea how long it will take passengers to pass through immigration
- E-gates can’t be used by under-12s, so families with young children were corralled to the few staffed desks
- Travel experts slammed ‘incompetence’ and urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to ‘frankly get a grip’
- ***Have YOU been waiting hours to get through immigration? Send photos to [email protected]***
The queueing chaos at Heathrow airport continued overnight, with incensed British holidaymakers complaining of the risk of spreading Covid as hundreds of passengers were rammed into small hallways and forced to queue for up to five hours.
Images on Twitter show huge lines of people packed together tightly – apparently without access to water, ventilation or toilets – while they queued for several hours to pass through immigration on yet another day of mayhem at Terminal 5.
It has been claimed that a male traveller fainted while standing in line for passport control as pregnant women, pensioners and young children were made to walk long distances with apparently no shuttles available and no social distancing.
Astonishingly, Heathrow yesterday admitted that they have no idea how long it will take passengers to pass through immigration. The border chaos has been compounded by the fact families with children aged under 12 can’t use the e-gates.
Responding to criticism, the airport tweeted: ‘Whilst we do not have exact figures out how long queues can take our teams in the terminals are on hand to support where possible and we are working with Border Force to reduce delays as soon as possible.’
In a statement, Heathrow blamed ‘unacceptable queueing times in immigration’ on ‘too few Border Force officers on duty’. A spokeswoman said the Home Office ‘were aware of the extra demand’ and are ‘disappointed’ they didn’t provide ‘sufficient resource’.
‘We have additional Heathrow colleagues to support in managing queues and to hand out passenger welfare including water, but we need every immigration desk to be staffed at peak times. We have escalated this with Border Force and expect them to provide a better service over the remainder of the weekend,’ the spokeswoman added.
The Home Office, which has so far taken an unapologetic stance and have blamed understaffing for the travel mayhem, has been approached for further comment.
Tory MPs have joined a growing backlash against the border chaos overseen by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, while industry experts warn the huge queues are damaging Britain’s reputation as a hub for global travel.
Paul Charles, CEO of the PC Agency travel firm, told MailOnline that Border Force should have known this is one of the busiest weekends for travel back into Britain after the summer period and August bank holiday week, and urged Miss Patel to ‘get a grip’.
He accused the Government of ‘incompetence’ and ‘making life so hard for those airlines who have experienced months of shutdown and are now trying to make travel as Covid-safe and seamless as possible for holidaymakers who frankly just want a break’.
Travel experts fear images of mismanagement at Heathrow risks putting off future visitors to the country, whose economy lies in tatters after months of brutal Covid restrictions including the shutdown of hospitality and the work from home diktat.
The queueing chaos at Heathrow airport continued overnight, with incensed British holidaymakers complained of the risk of spreading Covid as hundreds of passengers were rammed into small hallways and forced to queue for up to five hours
Images on Twitter show huge lines of people packed together tightly – apparently without access to water, ventilation or toilets – while they queued for several hours to pass through immigration on yet another day of mayhem at Terminal 5
It has been claimed that a male holidaymaker fainted while standing in line for passport control while pregnant women, pensioners and young children were made to walk long distances with no shuttles available and no social distancing possible
A busy Heathrow Airport this morning as passengers experience long delays on arrival
Astonishingly, Heathrow yesterday admitted that they have no idea how long it will take passengers to pass through immigration. The chaos has been compounded by the fact families with children aged under 12 can’t use the e-gates
Taking to Twitter, one passenger said: ‘@UKBorder why aren’t the passport check desks fully staffed at Heathrow airport today? @HeathrowAirport why aren’t you ensuring the well-being of passengers arriving by providing drinking water for those in the nearly 2 hour long queue?’
Under pressure: Home Secretary Priti Patel – who oversees border force – and Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary
May 17 – Passengers flying into the UK faced ‘bedlam’ at the border with some facing a three hour wait at the Heathrow passport gates. Travellers told MailOnline how they were ‘terrified of catching Covid’ while being crammed into the airport’s border hall this morning.
July 12 – Passengers said they had ‘never seen anything like’ the queues at Heathrow Terminal 5 as officials blamed the scenes on staff having to self-isolate. A passenger said: ‘Total chaos at security at Heathrow airport T5 this morning. Never seen anything like it.’
July 20 – 90-minute queues were seen at arrivals after the government failed to update Passenger Locator Forms ahead of its ‘Freedom Day’ rule changes – resulting in double-jabbed Britons being rejected at e-gates.
August 2 – Queues of passengers stretched the entire length of Terminal 5. Officials again blamed staff having to self-isolate. A spokesman quoted figures showing that one in four Border Force guards were reported to be off sick with Covid or self-isolating.
29 – Three-hour waits were reported at passport control. A day later the Home Office risked fury as it said passengers ‘need to accept’ the risk of delays at peak times.
30 – One passenger describes the immigration process in Terminal 2 as ‘incompetent and ridiculous’, adding that he was forced to wait for more than five hours with ‘no water, no bathroom’
31 – One traveller wrote on Twitter that a queue for families with children had lasted three hours.
September 1-4 – Pictures and video show long snaking lines of travellers packed closely together with no social distancing, as some aired themselves with leaflets in an attempt to stay cool. There are reports of pregnant women and elderly people being forced to stand for hours, with no shuttle made available, and of a male passenger fainting in the queue.
One traveller told MailOnline last night: ‘I am currently at Heathrow airport and the queues have been three to five hours long for immigration. I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn’t working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation during Covid. We have been in the queue for two to three hours but some will have to wait five hours, with families and babies stuck in the queue.’
Taking to Twitter, one traveller said: ‘@UKBorder why aren’t the passport check desks fully staffed at Heathrow airport today? @HeathrowAirport why aren’t you ensuring the well-being of passengers arriving by providing drinking water for those in the nearly 2 hour long queue?’
Another tweeted: ‘@pritipatel @grantshapps Why were there long queues on the 3 Sep 21 at Heathrow? We landed at 21:35 and left the airport after midnight due to long queues at immigration. Why were families expected to queue for over 2 hours when single passengers could use the e-gates?’
A third person posted: ‘Friends arriving at @HeathrowAirport this week telling me the situation is beyond a joke. Queues beyond 2 hours at passport control & people handing out water & snacks. Why can’t these people work at immigration? What’s going on? #Heathrow I’m not buying covid as an excuse’.
Tweeting overnight, one holidaymaker said: ‘Currently mingling with 1000s of others, 1 hour in, plenty to go. Why bother with green, Amber, red tiers when your [sic] all put together on arrival?’
Another raged: ‘Border Force, embarrassing scenes at LHR T5 this evening with massive snaking queues for families. Incompetent border force staff refused to redeploy staff when asked to by T5 staff #heathrow @pritipatel’.
‘I came prepared Heathrow. Shame you wasn’t ready for your customers. Passport control was a mess, only a few of your machines working. The staff manning them didn’t know what was going on. Oh, and I arrived just under 2 hours ago and still no updates from your team,’ another tweeted.
Mr Charles told MailOnline: ‘First of all, this weekend is one of the busiest weekends for travel into the UK after that long summer break and the week following the August bank holiday. Border Force either know that or they don’t. They should have been planning for an increase in passengers coming through Heathrow, and it’s ridiculous that this has been allowed to happen yet again.
‘What kind of message does this send to the world about Britain? How does it look to other countries who are looking at those pictures and videos of big queues at Heathrow? Well I’ll tell you. It sends the message that Britain is not fit for purpose.
‘There’s certainly incompetence and mismanagement. But it does seem that the Government are trying to make international travel as difficult as possible for British holidaymakers wanting to get away. I don’t think they don’t want people to leave this country because they’re obsessing over Covid numbers and keeping them down at whatever cost.
‘This is not a government famous for trying to reopen global travel. It has put the brakes on overseas travel throughout this pandemic, despite the industry clamouring for a proper reopening. Add the traffic light system and the testing regime to chaos at Heathrow, and it has the effect of putting people off from flying anywhere. And it’s working.
‘It does seem to me that they’re deliberately sowing complexity around global travel.’
Images taken on Friday showed snaking lines of frustrated passengers waiting to enter the UK, in scenes that are now wearily familiar due to Border Force failing to tackle an issue that has been going on all summer. One furious traveller told MailOnline: ‘The queues have been three to five hours long for immigration.
Have YOU been waiting hours to get through immigration at Heathrow Terminal 5?
Send photos and videos of the queues to [email protected]
‘I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn’t working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation. We’ve been in a queue for two to three hours already, but some have been told the wait is up to five hours – with families and babies stuck in the queue.’
Another person said: ‘There are massive queues at Terminal 5 again.
‘Really young children and old people had to walk the full walkway as shuttle trains are out of service, and there are no toilets between the gates and passport control. No water. No social distancing. Supposedly the UK is a first world country, but not by this measure.
‘Absolute incompetence from UK border force and Heathrow airport. Run an airport? They don’t have enough competence and intelligence to run a bath.’
Yesterday, ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith called the scenes at arrivals ‘madness’, telling MailOnline: ‘We are going to achieve the worst of all worlds by having people close together who may have Covid. The whole thing is chaotic and we still haven’t fully opened up yet. We don’t seem to have a plan for how we are going to manage that.
‘If it carries on like this Heathrow will cease to be a hub airport and Britain will be left in the backwash as an irrelevant country. Having already jabbed such a large percentage of the population we have to get on with things.’
James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, asked: ‘What the hell is going on? This is totally unacceptable and I find it deeply embarrassing that the United Kingdom in the 21st century cannot get people into Britain faster than this.’
The latest bout of queueing chaos began on Sunday and has been repeated every day this week. But the Home Office – which has repeatedly pinned the problem on understaffing – has maintained an unapologetic stance despite widespread fury from the public and senior travel industry figures.
One passenger tweeted: ‘Chaos at Heathrow airport Terminal 4. Four hrs waiting to go through immigration. Families with children, pregnant ladies & old folks everyone had to wait. Is that human?’
Images on Twitter show huge lines of people packed together tightly – apparently without access to water, ventilation or toilets – while they queued for several hours to pass through immigration on yet another day of mayhem at Terminal 5
A busy Heathrow Airport this morning as passengers experience long delays on arrival
Arrivals at London Heathrow Airport amid reports of travellers experiencing massive queues at immigration
A busy Heathrow Airport this morning as passengers experience long delays on arrival
Are they TRYING to make life hard? Industry expert accuses government of ‘sowing complexity’ to stop people from travelling abroad
A leading travel expert today accused the Government of ‘deliberately sowing complexity’ to discourage British nationals from going on overseas trips.
Paul Charles, CEO of the respected PC Agency, told MailOnline that the Government is ‘obsessing over Covid numbers and keeping them down at whatever cost’.
He said: ‘There’s certainly incompetence and mismanagement. But it does seem that the Government are trying to make international travel as difficult as possible for British holidaymakers wanting to get away.
‘I don’t think they don’t want people to leave this country because they’re obsessing over Covid numbers and keeping them down at whatever cost.
‘This is not a government famous for trying to reopen global travel. It has put the brakes on overseas travel throughout this pandemic, despite the industry clamouring for a proper reopening. Add the traffic light system and the testing regime to chaos at Heathrow, and it has the effect of putting people off from flying anywhere. And it’s working.
‘It does seem to me that they’re deliberately sowing complexity around global travel.’
Mr Charles added: ‘This weekend is one of the busiest weekends for travel into the UK after that long summer break and the week following the August bank holiday. Border Force either know that or they don’t.
‘They should have been planning for an increase in passengers coming through Heathrow, and it’s ridiculous that this has been allowed to happen yet again.
‘What kind of message does this send to the world about Britain? How does it look to other countries who are looking at those pictures and videos of big queues at Heathrow? Well I’ll tell you. It sends the message that Britain is not fit for purpose.’
A second wrote: ‘Passport control at Terminal 5: Empty e-gates. Yet families with kids under 12 have to queue for 2 hours. Two desks open to UK citizens, kids and babies are screaming #disgrace.’
The Home Office disputed this figure, with a spokesman citing Border Force statistics that the lengthiest queue at Terminal 5 yesterday was 1 hour 15 mins.
Under-12 can’t use e-gates due to limitations with the facial recognition technology, meaning families with young children have to use manned desks.
Mr Duncan-Smith urged the government to come up with a new solution to the chaos, saying Border Force could remove the need to spend time processing Covid paperwork by introducing sniffer dogs trained to detect Covid.
‘The NHS has already done phase one of a trial for medical detection dogs, which has shown they are already almost at the level of a PCR test when it comes to Covid,’ he said.
‘That would indicate who has it immediately, at which point they can be taken out of the queue and sent for a full PCR. But the NHS, having done the first phase of the trial, has now refused point blank to do the second phase at airports. We are seeing these queues now but this trial has been completed months ago.
‘They could easily by now have dogs deployed at airports very accurately detecting Covid but the NHS has failed to complete the trial.’
North Wiltshire MP James Gray called for Border Force officials to be hauled in front of a select committee. He told MailOnline: ‘People coming into the country who aren’t British must have had the most appalling experience. Someone needs to get a grip of this.
‘I’d like to know how many people Border Force has altogether, how many are self-isolating and how many people are on the rota at peak times? People know when flights are coming in so it can’t be acceptable that there are only two guards on duty.
‘We need to get Border Force in front of the select committee and the government to do a review of Border Force per se. And the ridiculous carry on with e-gates is farcical. E-gates have been around now for years. Why haven’t we sorted it?’
On Wednesday, journalist Guy Faulconbridge compared the scenes that met him after touching down in the UK to the dying days of the Soviet Union.
He tweeted a picture taken two hours into the queuing process, with hundreds of people still in front of him in the line.
On Tuesday, one traveller wrote on Twitter that a queue for families with children had lasted three hours. Another described the wait for families as ‘shameful’, adding that the UK ‘must be the only country which treats families worse than adults’.
On Monday a passenger said the immigration process in Terminal 2 was ‘incompetent, ridiculous’, adding that he was forced to wait for more than five hours with ‘no water, no bathroom’.
Clive Wratten CEO of the Business Travel Association (BTA), described the scenes as ‘very worrying’. He said: ‘As the world continues to open up safely, it is essential that there is enough staff and support at all points of a journey.
‘The travel experience needs to be as frictionless and consistent as possible to give all travellers the confidence they need to return in large numbers.’
Jacqueline Dobson, President of Barrhead Travel, which describes itself as the UK’s leading independent British travel agents, said: ‘From a visitor perspective, arriving into Heathrow is the first impression many will get of the UK – and first impressions matter.’
The issue has been exacerbated by a shortage of Border Force agents and many going into self-isolation for Covid. But earlier this week a senior Tory MP insisted the issues should have been addressed ‘a long time ago’.
‘This has been a constant problem throughout the pandemic and I appreciate the Home Office may have had difficulties recruiting to the Border Force but that is not a new problem,’ the MP told MailOnline.
‘They should have addressed this a long time ago. It adds to travel uncertainty and it is not good for the travel industry or the travelling public. The Border Force needs to be better organised.’
There have also been widespread complaints about British Airways operations at Terminal 5 and the management of the airport as whole, with passengers reporting lengthy delays to disembarkation and luggage pick up. Pictured: T2 departures
On Wednesday, journalist Guy Faulconbridge compared the scenes that met him after touching down in the UK to the dying days of the Soviet Union
Have YOU been waiting hours to get through immigration at Heathrow Terminal 5?
Send photos and videos of the queues to [email protected]
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary brands travel traffic light system ‘monstrously stupid’ as he calls for it to be scrapped so UK can ‘return to normality’
Ryanair’s boss has branded the traffic light system ‘monstrously stupid’ and called for it to be scrapped so the UK can ‘return to normality’.
Michael O’Leary, 63, suggested replacing the scheme with a ‘simple’ policy that allows unrestricted entry for double-jabbed passengers from Europe.
The Irish businessman said travellers who have received one or neither of the vaccine doses should still have to take a PCR test.
Currently, arrivals in England from low-risk ‘green’ countries and medium-risk ‘amber’ locations must take two Covid tests, even if they are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, all travellers coming from red-list destinations must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days and take three tests.
The comments come amid Heathrow Airport’s fourth day of queueing chaos, with passengers facing yet more huge waits at the border.
Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary (pictured above), 63, suggested replacing the scheme with a ‘simple’ policy that allows unrestricted entry for double-jabbed passengers from Europe
Queues of people wait in line at UK citizens arrivals at London’s Heathrow Airport today. Yesterday, one traveller said a queue for families with children had lasted three hours
Ryanair boss: ‘Never a better time’ to book a winter break
There will ‘never be a better time’ to book a winter break, according to the boss of Ryanair.
Michael O’Leary said air fares will be ‘much lower’ than before the coronavirus pandemic while demand recovers.
He told reporters at a press conference in central London: ‘There has never been a better time to go away on winter breaks, (visit) Christmas markets, city breaks, than there will be this winter because there’s going to be lots of capacity at very cheap prices.’
Mr O’Leary said the airline has seen a ‘very dramatic recovery in traffic’ over the summer.
It expects annual passenger numbers to reach ‘close to 100 million’ this year compared with 149 million before the virus crisis, and exceed pre-pandemic levels next summer.
Mr O’Leary told The Independent: ‘The traffic light system needs to be scrapped.
‘You need to have a very simple system: if you’re double vaccinated, no restrictions. If you’re not double vaccinated, get a PCR test.’
He added: ‘This monstrously stupid system, that requires passengers from Europe to be double vaccinated and get a PCR test, doesn’t help deal with the Covid problem.’
The Ryanair chief then demanded a ‘return to normality’.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport (DfT) said: ‘Our top priority is to protect public health – decisions on our traffic light system are kept under regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors.
‘We recognise the challenging times facing the travel sector, which is why we have committed around £7billion of support by September 2021 and continue to work with industry to help them navigate this difficult period.’
It comes as the airline expects annual passenger numbers to reach ‘close to 100 million’ this year compared with 149 million before the virus crisis, and exceed pre-pandemic levels next summer.
Ryanair announced that it will operate 14 new routes from London airports this winter.
From Stansted it will serve Helsinki and Tampere in Finland; Oradea in Romania; Stockholm, Sweden; Trapani and Treviso in Italy; and Zagreb, Croatia.
The locations which will be served from Luton are Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands; Grenoble, France; Naples and Turin in Italy; and Shannon, Ireland.
A new link to Malaga in Spain will open at Gatwick.
It comes as the airline expects annual passenger numbers to reach ‘close to 100 million’ this year compared with 149 million before the virus crisis (Mr O’Leary pictured speaking at a press conference in London yesterday)
Ryanair said the announcement will create more than 500 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers at its London airports (file photo)
Ryanair said the announcement will create more than 500 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers at its London airports.
Meanwhile, Britons rushed to snap up bargain flights to Italy after the country said it would drop Covid quarantine rules for double-jabbed UK arrivals from today.
The most booked cities since the changes were announced on Saturday have been Rome, Milan, Naples and Venice – with £11 return flights still available in September.
Flight comparison website Skyscanner said it had seen a week-on-week increase of 214 per cent in searches for flights from Britain to Italy, as well as a 48 per cent rise comparing the day before and after the announcement.
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