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The Longest Airport Immigration Line You'll Ever See

Where: London-Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom
November 30, 2009 at 5:09 PM | by JetSetCD | 3 Comments


Click here to see the short (but shocking) video of the line

Think you can easily fly through London's Heathrow Airport because it's big and should have its act together? Well, there's only bad news: it doesn't have its act together and epically long lines pop up every so often for everything from going between terminals to heading through customs. Just search YouTube for crazy long lines at Heathrow, and you'll see what we mean—get stuck in one of these queues and you're looking at a 3-4 hour wait, so you might as well film it.

Nonetheless, no line is as bad as the one that recently occurred at immigration, for those with student visas. Click here to check out the brief video on BBC, where a Heathrow employee filmed the length of the line from back to front. Thank god we're beyond the student visa days. Still—what the hell is happening here?

Well, what's happening here is a back-up because of a change in the visas. Remember how crazy the airport security lines were when the liquids ban began? Yea—that type of confusion is what's at work in this Heathrow incidence. There's been a sharp rise in "students" entering the UK from India and Bangladesh under the new visa rules, and because of the volume of those that need to be processed, suspicions are high for visas from fake colleges. Many of the people in this line will be questioned to make sure that they are indeed students, and not just illegally entering on a fake student visa to work.

So a note to those flying to Heathrow over the next few months: if you see this crazy long line, go to the front. That is, unless you're traveling with a student visa, and in this case you should plan on bringing a tent and survival supplies.

Related Stories:
· Lengthy Student Visa queue at Heathrow [BBC]
· Student visa numbers soar after new rules take effect [BBC]
· Airport Security coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: BBC Video]

3 Comments

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  1. The Bewildered Brit

    Jaunted Member

    Avoid Heathrow

    The golden rule when travelling to or from the UK is: Avoid Heathrow if at all possible. Fly to Gatwick or anywhere else (Luton and Stanstead are both reasonably close to London, if you can get a flight there).
    November 30, 2009 at 10:00 PM
    #Permalink

  1. Cory O Brien

    Jaunted Reader

    Got to skip it.

    There was a crazy line when I was flying out of Heathrow a few months ago, but since I got there an hour before my flight and I just about missed it, they had to escort me through the line to get me to my gate on time. I felt bad cutting the 1000+ people waiting in line, but it did make my airport experience a lot shorter!
    December 1, 2009 at 2:44 AM
    #Permalink

  1. MLR

    Jaunted Member

    Necessary evil

    That must be a total nightmare for everyone concerned, but I think it's one of those situations where security has to take priority over all else. We can't just have people entering the country on fake Visas from south Asia, or anywhere else. It's a matter of national security.
    December 1, 2009 at 6:44 AM
    #Permalink

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