Border Force Xmas strikes (selfish/practical content)

[numtumfutunch]

Have looked and failed to find a thread on this - honest

My post is purely selfish and Im broadly in favour of the current public sector strikes especially considering that my wife is a nurse

So........ son is flying in to Heathrow from Sydney on Boxing Day

He has a UK passport and so can hopefully use the automated gates

Any informed ideas on how the strike is likely to pan out would be warmly received

My (uninformed) guess is that outbound pax are in for hell waiting to be processed as are inbound non UK peeps however if you can use the robo gate you *could* possibly be OK

Stakes are higher as we live 4h from LHR and I'll be picking him up hence would appreciate a more reliable window in which to arrive

Cheers

[Ashfordian]

- It will take longer to get through passport control.

- This will mean longer queues waiting for passports to be checked.

- If the queuing area gets too busy people will be held on planes until the queues have reduced.

- This will lead to flights being delayed and if delayed for too long, cancelled.

[gotoPzero]

I think the issue may come with the back office staff. If they are not there flights are going to be an issue.

[smifffymoto]

The strikes are causing me a real headache.

Daughter was booked to home to France for Christmas.

Firstly the train strike meant she couldn’t get her flight from Bristol,so we looked at a taxi.
Falmouth - Bristol. £800 return.

Sod that,so a £500 flight scrapped,no refund.

The new plan is scrounge a lift with her boyfriend to Heathrow(flying home to USA for Christmas) and fly from there,now the Border Force have spat their dummy out that is in jeopardy.

Are any public services in the UK not on strike?

[Slaav]

We have a vested interest in this thread….. we fly OUT of T5, LHR, on Xmas day.

Whilst we have Fast Track, I can’t actually remember anything other than an automatic reader/machine LEAVING w a UK passport? Pass through check in/bag drop, head for security, machine reader with an airport employee to help if needed and then security? No interaction with Border Force at all? Then lounge and on to gate? Even for long haul?

Coming back IN though, I would expect a complete cluster fk and disaster. The machines are unreliable and temperamental at best; THEN it’s a Border Force officer?

[Plymo]

It would be nice if the airport just went "sod border force, let's just open the gates"
After all, how many people actually get flagged up at the checkpoint?

[anonymous-user]

It would be nice of people could be with their families over Christmas and not working too though. It would also be nice if we, as a society, valued their services enough to give them a better wage because there’s more than enough to go round.

I’ve worked in retail, it’s st. Finish at 6pm on Christmas Eve, take down point of sale stuff, put up Boxing Day sales stuff, go home. Have a day with family, go back to work the next day to deal with the general public either trying to return broken stuff or pushing everyone out of the way to get a “bargain”… and I’m sure emergency services have it worse.

We really just are to self centred.

[Dolf Stoppard]

numtumfutunch said:

Have looked and failed to find a thread on this - honest

My post is purely selfish and Im broadly in favour of the current public sector strikes especially considering that my wife is a nurse

So........ son is flying in to Heathrow from Sydney on Boxing Day

He has a UK passport and so can hopefully use the automated gates

Any informed ideas on how the strike is likely to pan out would be warmly received

My (uninformed) guess is that outbound pax are in for hell waiting to be processed as are inbound non UK peeps however if you can use the robo gate you *could* possibly be OK

Stakes are higher as we live 4h from LHR and I'll be picking him up hence would appreciate a more reliable window in which to arrive

Cheers

Outbound passengers won’t be affected as the Border Force has zero interaction with them. They deal with people coming into the country, not leaving.

Senior staff should be there to operate the electronic gates.

The overall impact is really hard to judge as only one union is on strike. The ISU for example isn’t. Heathrow is, however, very heavily weighted toward PCS staff so it s the most likely to be affected or all UK ports. A strike there will also cause the most disruption so they’ll be pushing heavily for the maximum impact.

[valiant]

MrBogSmith said:

Where does the money magically come from to give people huge pay rises?

The same place that gave pensioners 10%.

[Rivenink]

valiant said:

MrBogSmith said:

Where does the money magically come from to give people huge pay rises?

The same place that gave pensioners 10%.

Or to hand over to Tory Donors for sham contracts.

[anonymous-user]

Or this… https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/08/n...

[vaud]

smifffymoto said:

Firstly the train strike meant she couldn’t get her flight from Bristol,so we looked at a taxi.
Falmouth - Bristol. £800 return.

Could she get 2 one-way car hires?

[loskie]

MrBogSmith said:

Where does the money magically come from to give people huge pay rises?

well perhaps you could pay more tax. Instead of civil servants on below average salaries being "taxed" extra since 2009 by means of a pay freeze.

[captain_cynic]

numtumfutunch said:

Have looked and failed to find a thread on this - honest

My post is purely selfish and Im broadly in favour of the current public sector strikes especially considering that my wife is a nurse

So........ son is flying in to Heathrow from Sydney on Boxing Day

He has a UK passport and so can hopefully use the automated gates

Any informed ideas on how the strike is likely to pan out would be warmly received

My (uninformed) guess is that outbound pax are in for hell waiting to be processed as are inbound non UK peeps however if you can use the robo gate you *could* possibly be OK

Stakes are higher as we live 4h from LHR and I'll be picking him up hence would appreciate a more reliable window in which to arrive

Cheers

Hey,

He can use the automated gates carrying a UK passport. Even if he had an Oz passport us dirty colonials are permitted to use the autogates (as are Americans, Japanese, EU members and a few others). I'm still travelling on my Aussie passport and not a single issue using the autogates/smartgates since 2018/19 when we were first permitted.

The biggest issue is if there is any kind of inspection required on his luggage (again, unlikely).

If you're worried about picking him up, park somewhere a little while away from Heathrow and have him call you when he's past customs. You can pick up from the drop of area (it's easier than parking in short term) however you cannot wait there, so if he can wait in the drop off area for a 10-15 mins whilst you drive from whatever car park you've chilled in it'll be less painful for all involved.

I think these strikes are meant to hurt cargo movements... I.E. people who's complaints will be listened to.

BTW, hope all goes well. Christmas is usually a good driving time as no-one else is on the roads.

[abzmike]

In theory outbound travellers shouldn’t be affected too much. However, the issue with incoming passengers piling up could cause cancellations…. And cancellation of the inbound flight knocks on to the outbound flights, so everyone gets impacted.
Looking at the planned action there are some airports not affected so it may be possible to sneak in by connecting flights from the likes of Amsterdam.

[smifffymoto]

vaud said:

smifffymoto said:

Firstly the train strike meant she couldn’t get her flight from Bristol,so we looked at a taxi.
Falmouth - Bristol. £800 return.

Could she get 2 one-way car hires?

She could……..if she had learned to drive like we suggested but she is a 22 year old know it all whom apparently doesn’t need to drive because she’s a student.

[GranpaB]

Christ, my kids couldn't wait to get a driving licence so they could be independent and mobile!

Now, one is stuck 100 miles away currently without her car and the trains have been cancelled.

[Glosphil]

valiant said:

MrBogSmith said:

Where does the money magically come from to give people huge pay rises?

The same place that gave pensioners 10%.

10% on a lot lower amount than salaries. Max state pension not much over £10k/year.

[vaud]

smifffymoto said:

She could……..if she had learned to drive like we suggested but she is a 22 year old know it all whom apparently doesn’t need to drive because she’s a student.

Then maybe this is a life lesson.

[abzmike]

Glosphil said:

valiant said:

MrBogSmith said:

Where does the money magically come from to give people huge pay rises?

The same place that gave pensioners 10%.

10% on a lot lower amount than salaries. Max state pension not much over £10k/year.

There are 11 million pensioners… 1.2 million NHS employees… so, probably about the same to sort out the public sector as to sort out the OAPs.