UK: Passengers warned of 6 Hour Check-ins at LHR,LGW

The checks - known as the Advanced Passenger Information System - will
be mandatory from this summer, adding crucial extra minutes to the
check-in process, said Travel Trade Gazette magazine.

The head of regulation at holiday firm First Choice, one of Britain's
biggest, said: "If it takes an extra half a minute per passenger to
collect this information, you are looking at an extra three hours'
check-in for a full 767. This would create an enormous number of people
congreating at airports."

Passengers are already told to allow three hours for checkin, causing
huge queues at Heathrow and Gatwick.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/traffic/articles/10318727

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 09:32:58 -0400 John Taylor
wrote:

: The checks - known as the Advanced Passenger Information System - will
:be mandatory from this summer, adding crucial extra minutes to the
:check-in process, said Travel Trade Gazette magazine.

:The head of regulation at holiday firm First Choice, one of Britain's
:biggest, said: "If it takes an extra half a minute per passenger to
:collect this information, you are looking at an extra three hours'
:check-in for a full 767. This would create an enormous number of people
:congreating at airports."

:Passengers are already told to allow three hours for checkin, causing
:huge queues at Heathrow and Gatwick.

:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/traffic/articles/10318727

Article does not describe what information is desired nor whether the TA (or
the client if booking directly) can supply the information in advance.

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.

colin. wrote:

Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.

I guess the US isn't the only country with inane security requirements.

mrtravelkay wrote:
colin. wrote:
Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.

I guess the US isn't the only country with inane security requirements.

This IS a US security requirement.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

"mrtravelkay" wrote in message
...
colin. wrote:

Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT
relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.

I guess the US isn't the only country with inane security requirements.


What we found extremely worrying in US airports, That is Orlando, Chicago
and Washington was the behaviour of Americans to their Luggage. The number
of times we saw people just leave their bags unattended and wander off was
unbelievable. Security staff took no notice of unattended bags either.-
unlike at UK airports.

Jan

Think its a bit of an over kill on the time. The only places needing the
data are US and Canada so far and if the passport is reasonably up to date
it can be just scanned to get the data. Its more likely that you'll stand
for hours in US to get through immigration and bag checks than at Heathrow
or Gatwick.

colin. wrote:
Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.


That was 3 hours total added check in time, not for each passenger.
Presumably the 3 hours would be divided by the number of check in queues.

Miguel Cruz wrote:

mrtravelkay wrote:

colin. wrote:

Exactly what extra information are they looking for? I have several
transatlantic flights coming up between now and December. I do NOT relish
the thought of spending six hours loitering around Heathrow or Glasgow
airports before a nine or ten hour flight.

Security is paramount, I do understand. But to expect passengers to
tolerate six-hour check-ins? That is completely un-****ing-acceptable.

I guess the US isn't the only country with inane security requirements.


This IS a US security requirement.

Yeah, I didn't go to the link... and the original poster didn't mention
the US.

mrtravelkay wrote:



That was 3 hours total added check in time, not for each passenger.
Presumably the 3 hours would be divided by the number of check in queues.

That's not what was said in the article. It seemed to assume that
there's only one person checking in the whole plane.