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(Another) Immigration Agent Strike in London Will Affect Travel This Thursday

May 7, 2012 at 9:58 AM | by | Comments (0)

If you have had the displeasure of traveling through London-Heathrow, you understand that long lines to get your passport stamped is a very common occurrence. Airport officials are well aware of the impact this will have on this summer's Olympic games and have taken steps to reduce the headaches.

For the sake of easing traveler frustration, the debate on how to reduce waiting time through immigration continues, and, frankly, hasn't resulted in much progress toward a solution. All of these debates will cause the ultimate airport hell: a strike.

This Thursday, immigration agents at Heathrow will walk off the job. Again.

Now as a point of clarification, the border guards are not striking to oppose anything that has to do with the criticism of the long lines at immigration. The industrial action is a mass public servant movement to fight changes to pension plans.

Last week, wait times for passport control were up to 4 hours long at Terminal 4. Airlines and airport officials are fuming-mad at the inconvenience this is causing passengers, so the government has moved some agents from Manchester to London to speed up the process. A more permanent fix would involve a new fee that would ultimately be passed onto passengers. It might be worth a few extra dollars to eliminate a four hour wait just to get into a country.

For those of you that are flying into London this Thursday, we wish you the best of luck. Let us know how long you wait.

[Photo: Jaunted]

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