Butts
Veteran Member
The worst experience I had recently was at one UK airport outbound. The member of staff lost his rag a little when I was slow trying to bring up PLF, vaccination certificate, etc. I do not blame him, mind - I suspect that the airline is trying to operate on a shoestring, being forced into a poor financial position by over-extended restrictions on international travel, and the staff that do remain are thus overworked.
The absolute ban on international travel which applied this spring in the UK was a huge mistake, and completely pointless given that we had Covid as bad, and probably worse than, most other European countries. It just seemed to be a display of authoritarianism and 'being seen to be doing something' to look good. Of course Hancock's indiscretions and Johnson's desire to reach a trade deal with Modi made a mockery of the whole thing.
By contrast the member of border staff arriving back in the UK was uncommonly polite (I have had some unpleasant experiences with border staff in airports in recent years even before Covid and Brexit - despite being a UK citizen they have treated me quite suspiciously for some unknown reason; maybe single male travellers with facial hair are seen as likely drug smugglers, or something - not sure).
Use the E-Gates and travel with paper copies of the documentation required ?