Incompetent idiots!

The past two weeks, we have had several visitors fly in from overseas.

The airport is about 30 kilometers from our house.

Every passenger made it to our house in less than an hour.

Some some made it in just over 30 minutes??!!

They all came on Emirates, and Emirates provide a limo for them!

And six hours to get through immigration in London??!!

What a relief, I thought all the idiots were in America working for TSA.

I can't imagine that Heathrow is much bigger than Emirates as an airport.

Inept workers and a poor design is probably the problem.

Pure incompetence!

I think it is hard to fire someone in the UK.

Pretty sure the Emirates can fire someone back to Pakistan or the Philippines in an hour. Maybe even out of a canon.

Heathrow is VERY MUCH larger than Dubai - and indeed almost all airports in the world - it doesn't really have a design as such - five terminals spread out over what seems like miles of country. Its a horror to navigate, expensive and wildly disorganised.

Every single encounter I have had with Heathrow has been a nightmare - particularly with firearms. I always try and avoid at all costs.

I could relate many tales but the best thing is just - avoid at all costs!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
I can't imagine that Heathrow is much bigger than Emirates as an airport.

Inept workers and a poor design is probably the problem.

Transited Heathrow in 1994; my first trip to Africa. Never returned.

I’ve been through Heathrow with firearms on BA4 times and have had ZERO issues.... what gives with all the negative comments on LHR?

Right now this has nothing to do with firearms.

Just plain incompetence!

Had a message from a friend traveling through there yesterday.

It took him 7 hours to get through the airport.

I travelled through Heathrow on BA a few 4 years ago.

Their First Class lounge would not pass for a third rate coffee shop here.

Been there a couple of times, but I don't think I have ever left the terminal I was in.

Frankfurt is pretty good.

Madrid sucks, but is small so it normally isn't an issue.

Rome sucks, and it's huge and service doesn't exist.

Oslo is awesome! Rental car place system is abysmal.

Gatwick and Standsted both sucked when I went through there, but it's was 2005.

I have never flown into any of the Swiss or Austrian airports.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Their First Class lounge would not pass for a third rate coffee shop here.

Tis is only British Standard)

quote:

Their First Class lounge would not pass for a third rate coffee shop here.

What would you expect from the Brit who is quite at home with a plate of eggs & bacon or baked beans on toast, washed down with a good "cuppa char"

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:
Been there a couple of times, but I don't think I have ever left the terminal I was in.

Frankfurt is pretty good.

Madrid sucks, but is small so it normally isn't an issue.

Rome sucks, and it's huge and service doesn't exist.

Oslo is awesome! Rental car place system is abysmal.

Gatwick and Standsted both sucked when I went through there, but it's was 2005.

I have never flown into any of the Swiss or Austrian airports.

Agree on Franfort, Schipol was great, Agree on Gatwick also, Vienna is fine but a bit smaller than I expected.

COVID has been around for over a year, and they still haven’t figured it out!

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana1:
COVID has been around for over a year, and they still haven’t figured it out!

The English have the same political ailments as you are.

Being led by idiots.

Boris is in love with a stupid greenie.

She just got awarded Person Of The Year by PETA!

That is how stupid she is and the man she controls!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
...
I travelled through Heathrow on BA a few 4 years ago.

Their First Class lounge would not pass for a third rate coffee shop here.

Depends on the airline. Virgin Atlantic lounge at Heathrow was pretty good.

I was at Heathrow once, I think I remember guys patrolling with automatic weapons...

That’s true of most European airports....

I’ve only transited through Heathrow twice. The first time, on my way back from Botswana, I notified security BEFORE going through the X-ray scanner that I’d found a stray cartridge in my bag. Mind you, this was in 1989. It turned into a shit show that involved Heathrow security, London police and British customs. I spent my entire 8 hour layover accompanied by a London Bobby. At least she was rather pretty. All turned out well but you’d have thought I was a member of the IRA, the way they treated me at first.

2nd time, we got pulled out of boarding line because they realized I was transiting with rifles, fully declared of course, and switched us to an alternate airline. Another shit show but at least the flight they switched us to got us home sooner.

After those two experiences, I now avoid Heathrow altogether. Better, and friendlier, options on Emirates and Qatar.

Anything involving firearms at Heathrow seems to turn into a clusterfuck - happens to me every time.

I was transiting Schipol on my way from Dar es Salaam to Scotland on leave. On pulling out my Barbour jacket at Schipol (not worn for six months) I found two live shotgun shells (Alphamax). What to do - dump in a bin or fess up? I went to the security office pulled the shells out, explained and they said "yes, fine, no problem". If that had been at Heathrow??

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
I’ve only transited through Heathrow twice. The first time, on my way back from Botswana, I notified security BEFORE going through the X-ray scanner that I’d found a stray cartridge in my bag. Mind you, this was in 1989. It turned into a shins how that involved Heathrow security, London police and British customs. I spent my entire 8 hour layover accompanied by a London Bobby. At least she was rather pretty. All turned out well but you’d have thought I was a member of the IRA, the way they treated me at first.

2nd time, we got pulled out of boarding line because they realized I was transiting with rifles, fully declared of course, and switched us to an alternate airline. Another shit show but at least the flight they switched us to got us home sooner.

After those two experiences, I now avoid Heathrow altogether. Better, and friendlier, options on Emirates and Qatar.

Given that the debacle at Heathrow at present is a national disgrace it is still only a short term problem. Travelling on NZ passports we entered and left the UK through Heathrow a few months ago with no trouble either way.
For decades the Worlds worst airport for non-citizens has been LAX. Over the last 50 years I have been forced to use it dozens of times.It has become progressively worse so that the last few times I have averaged 2 1/2 hours to get through the lines at immigration. People literally wet themselves rather than dare to leave the lines. There is no evidence of humanity. I recently saw a wheel chair bound lady in her nineties treated dreadfully at security because she couldn't walk through the security scanner.
New York isn't the friendliest city in the world but JFK airport is pure joy compared with LAX and San Francisco is even nicer.
British officials at Heathrow may be badly organised but they act like human beings!

I've heard a lot of bad press about heathrow in the past years; primarily with anti hunting employee zealots damaging or losing rifle cases.

I guess robncolorado and I must be the luckiest travelers ever. Sadie and I have transited Heathrow with guns at least a dozen times going and coming plus we've laid over in London 3 times. We've followed all the rules and we've had zero issues. They are paranoid about gun/ammo issues and for good reason. Seems for many years there was apt to be a terrorist attack about anytime. I don't blame them for being on alert.

I don't know what's going on now at Heathrow but the Covid issue has slowed everything down. I'm sure they're being hyper vigilant about testing etc.

Having said the above right now I would avoid Heathrow also. With customs etc taking that long making a connection would be a nightmare.

Mark

A friends daughter took over 6 hours to get through immigration today!

Boris and his greenie bimbo can bloody well take a hike!

My last 3 trips to Namibia, I flew ORD to LHR to JoBerg to WDH via British Airways. Having heard horror stories regarding LHR and guns, I decided to use my PH’s camp guns, which were quality guns with Leupold scopes. On the plus side, the Duty Free shop at LHR had decent prices on Cuban Montecristo cigars. On the negative side, I had 8 hour layovers between flights. I also never check baggage- I carry on a Red Oxx soft side bag containing 3 pairs of field pants, 3 Cabellas Serengeti shirts, underwear, shaving gear and meds, a laser range finder and binos. It fits easily in the overhead bin and I don’t have to worry about baggage theft or abuse. To kill time between LHR flights, I take the Tubes to Piccadilly Circus for $6.00 US and walk around playing tourist, also grab a good meal.

Got a kick out of the title of the OP. My first trip to Africa was in 1987. The word then was "stay away from Heathrow".

What we are seeing here is a silly fight between Boris, UK Border Force and Heathrow management.

And both Boris and UKBR are on one side against Heathrow management, and trying to prove a point to make it as miserable to passengers as they can.

We had no problems transiting Heathrow in January of 2020 with firearms. However, we originated on BA and changed to another BA flight at Heathrow, so the checked guns didn't come into "play".

Of course, Covid-19 has all public facilities in an awkward state, so I'll cut everyone a little slack since most (but certainly not all) of them are doing the best they can under the uncertainty of circumstances.

I've transited airports in Paris, Frankfurt, Budapest, Stockholm, Linkoeping, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Bergen, Aarhus, Amsterdam, Munich, and London (2) and always found the immigration process much quicker and friendlier than at any airport in the U.S. I never dread immigration "going", but "coming home" is a different story. The very worst U.S. immigration process I've experienced was in Minneapolis, which is supposed to be "Minnesota Friendly". Only three of the eight or so booths were operating and the woman directing foot traffic stood directly under a sign which directed U.S. Citizens to the "left" and loudly and rudely insisted that everyone go to the "right".