Paying for Fast Track Security

[Butts]

Normally i don't have to bother with this but on my next trip am not flying BA where it is a perk so have coughed for it at Edinburgh and Birmingham next week.

Last week I flew down to London City from EDI and witnessed the horrendous scrum in normal security from the fast track lane which was bad enough. This was around 5.30am !!

Returning on Easyjet from Birmingham on Saturday around the same time I was part of similar scenes to those described above. They did eventually start pulling people out of the line as time marched on for upcoming flights but only to the front of the actual queue for the security scanning. Got through just as my flight was boarding for a 7am departure.

I have paid £7 at EDI and £5 at BHX for a fast pass as I am on Easyjet both legs with no privileges.

Still the Easyjet BHX-EDI only cost £16 so what's another fiver, the EDI one was £20 odd.

Is this money well spent ?

 

[gabrielhj07]

I'd say so, if you only made your flight closely. The only time I've ever paid for fast track security is if I need to change terminals landside, and I've quite a short connection.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Depends on how busy it is at the specific time.

At Luton minutes can make a difference. Rock up at about 0430 and you'll be straight through either way, but 0445 and you'll want to cough up as the queues will be quite long.

 

[Butts]

At most Airports there seem to be a pile of departures first thing then a hiatus when you can stroll through Security unimpeded.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Normally i don't have to bother with this but on my next trip am not flying BA where it is a perk so have coughed for it at Edinburgh and Birmingham next week.

Last week I flew down to London City from EDI and witnessed the horrendous scrum in normal security from the fast track lane which was bad enough. This was around 5.30am !!

Returning on Easyjet from Birmingham on Saturday around the same time I was part of similar scenes to those described above. They did eventually start pulling people out of the line as time marched on for upcoming flights but only to the front of the actual queue for the security scanning. Got through just as my flight was boarding for a 7am departure.

I have paid £7 at EDI and £5 at BHX for a fast pass as I am on Easyjet both legs with no privileges.

Still the Easyjet BHX-EDI only cost £16 so what's another fiver, the EDI one was £20 odd.

Is this money well spent ?

You did the right thing. It is much less time spent than missing your plane, booking a new ticket, and then wrangling a refund off Airport customer service for security incompetence (been there, done that with Man Airport.)

 

[D2007wsm]

If you want to go Fast Track at Bristol, register for their newsletter and you regularly receive emails with discounts for that as well as parking and the lounges

 

[nlogax]

Paying for FT is probably money well-spent at EDI, and it's usually incorporated into the cost of my car parking which always feels like a bit of a bonus.

GLA.. not sure it's worth it. I've never spent more than ten minutes in the standard line even at busy times.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Is this money well spent ?

Seems to very much depend on the situation. Paying at Stansted used to make a lot of sense when they opened security precisely two hours before the first flight, but now that security is open from around 2am, there's little point in doing so unless you can't arrive at the airport earlier.

Same with Luton, where you'll want fast track at certain times in the morning, but then it's a complete waste of time in the afternoon and evening.

 

[Butts]

Just to report back that it was certainly worth the money at Edinburgh on the outward leg as the main hall was rammed.

Coming back Birmingham was nowhere near as packed than on my previous visit. Still got me to the front of the queue with a dedicated lane.

Thank God my next trip is to Jersey with my BA Privileges next weekend. Complimentary Fast Track and Breakfast in the Lounge.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Having to go through that security five times a week, Edinburgh really is awful.

It’s because all the early departures (particularly Ryanair) all go at the same time, so it’s a massive deluge of people.

The same happens when the second wave of flights in the afternoon go, the airport can be heaving.

 

[westv]

Having to go through that security five times a week, Edinburgh really is awful.

It’s because all the early departures (particularly Ryanair) all go at the same time, so it’s a massive deluge of people.

The same happens when the second wave of flights in the afternoon go, the airport can be heaving.

Why do airlines do that, merge all their flights into a very short window? Cheaper??

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why do airlines do that, merge all their flights into a very short window? Cheaper??

You want to use the aircraft all day to maximise usage, so they all go out from base locations pretty much as soon as the runway and terminal open, and return back in the evening just before it closes.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Why do airlines do that, merge all their flights into a very short window? Cheaper??

As @Bletchleyite said, most airlines (particularly low cost carriers) tend to schedule all their departures at the same time so they maximise the usage, which means they all come back at the same time for the second wave of departures.

 

[westv]

As @Bletchleyite said, most airlines (particularly low cost carriers) tend to schedule all their departures at the same time so they maximise the usage, which means they all come back at the same time for the second wave of departures.

If they are all going to different destinations, how can they all come back at the same time??

 

[Bletchleyite]

If they are all going to different destinations, how can they all come back at the same time??

They start at the base around 0600-0700, do lots of different flights in a bit of a circuit (though sometimes doing an out and back more than once), and get back to the base around 2300-0000. It's all planned out to maximise each aircraft's time in the air, which is when it's earning money.

That's short haul, of course. Long haul is a bit different, typically each aircraft will do a day flight and a night flight, usually out and back on the same route.

 

[Butts]

If they are all going to different destinations, how can they all come back at the same time??

Or on time in the case of almost any flight to Edinburgh after late afternoon from T5

 

[neilmc]

Never paid for Fast Track Security, it's basically yet another airport scam. Our flight from Edinburgh early this year was absolutely fine, however it was mid-afternoon not the rush hour. Ditto the return

Manchester security has been a disgrace for years, however in my awful return from India with BA/Heathrow, the outward service at Manchester Terminal 2 security was all sweetness and light with smiley polite staff, don't know whether the arsey grumpy sods have been retrained or sacked.

Having a friend with a wide driveway who lives a couple of miles from Manchester Airport and has space for an extra car for a week or two outweighs anything any other airport can offer.

 

[Butts]

Never paid for Fast Track Security, it's basically yet another airport scam. Our flight from Edinburgh early this year was absolutely fine, however it was mid-afternoon not the rush hour. Ditto the return

Manchester security has been a disgrace for years, however in my awful return from India with BA/Heathrow, the outward service at Manchester Terminal 2 security was all sweetness and light with smiley polite staff, don't know whether the arsey grumpy sods have been retrained or sacked.

Having a friend with a wide driveway who lives a couple of miles from Manchester Airport and has space for an extra car for a week or two outweighs anything any other airport can offer.

Try it at 5am and you might see what it's really like, not a scam but a necessity unless you are an advocate of visiting Alton Towers on a Bank Holiday.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Why do airlines do that, merge all their flights into a very short window? Cheaper??

It's just about scheduling, as others have said. Essentially, most airports allow for departures to start at around 0530-0600, so the airlines want to get all the planes going as early as possible. Then you've got the first wave of arrivals about 08:00, meaning a second wave of departures about 09:00. What you'll find is that the LCCs often operate 4 rotations a day for crew, so those departing on 0600 flights will need to come back to the base no later than 1800. In the case of an airport like Stansted, it's highly likely that they'll do two rotations from Stansted, hence the two waves.

An LCC will ideally want to have their planes utilised as much as possible, even up to 18 hours a day depending on the base.

The issue wouldn't be so much of an issue if airports weren't restricted in their operation times. Stansted for instance can only operate between 05:30 and 23:30 without using their 'night flight' allowances. Certainly, I'm sure if they could, then Ryanair would be quite happy to operate cheap flights in the middle of the night at Stansted, rather than packing everyone into that narrow slot at the beginning of the day.

 

[westv]

So what is beneficial to the airline isn't for the passenger if they at the check in desks at the same time as another thousand other passengers.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So what is beneficial to the airline isn't for the passenger if they at the check in desks at the same time as another thousand other passengers.

Benefit to the passenger is low fares.

 

[Cloud Strife]

So what is beneficial to the airline isn't for the passenger if they at the check in desks at the same time as another thousand other passengers.

The problem here is that we still don't really have a good system for check-in at airports. We're still relying on very labour intensive processes, causing large queues as a result. For instance, Wizz Air seems to have abandoned their bag drop machines in Luton, and I'd say that it should be made mandatory for such machines to be used if an airline has more than a token presence in an airport.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The problem here is that we still don't really have a good system for check-in at airports. We're still relying on very labour intensive processes, causing large queues as a result. For instance, Wizz Air seems to have abandoned their bag drop machines in Luton, and I'd say that it should be made mandatory for such machines to be used if an airline has more than a token presence in an airport.

I'm not convinced self-tagging machines are efficient - people fumble with them and as most flyers on budget airlines are occasional users they tend to take a very long time, and they'll cause more lost/misdirected bags due to people putting the labels on badly and leaving old ones on, something a person can look out for. This is one case where humans really do do the job better.

The key is to have a good, efficient system of online and mobile check-in that reduces the length of that encounter and removes it entirely for those only carrying hand luggage. And to employ sufficient staff, which should be possible given the hefty fees charged for checked bags by low-cost airlines.

 

[westv]

The key is to have a good, efficient system of online and mobile check-in that reduces the length of that encounter and removes it entirely for those only carrying hand luggage. And to employ sufficient staff, which should be possible given the hefty fees charged for checked bags by low-cost airlines.

I assumed those just carrying "cabin" luggage had no need to check in if they had done it already online.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I assumed those just carrying "cabin" luggage had no need to check in if they had done it already online.

They generally don't, except where a visa check is required, but some will end up doing if the online check-in feature is complex or difficult to use, or doesn't work half the time, which is how it is with Wizz Air for instance.

 

[westv]

They generally don't, except where a visa check is required, but some will end up doing if the online check-in feature is complex or difficult to use, or doesn't work half the time, which is how it is with Wizz Air for instance.

Ok. I've only had dealings with Jet2 and their online check in is super easy. Just a pity that we'd find it impossible to do a 1 or 2 week holiday with just "cabin" luggage.
Of course, no matter how efficient check in is, it still won't prevent 1k (or whatever) passengers arriving at security at a similar time.

 

[Cloud Strife]

The key is to have a good, efficient system of online and mobile check-in that reduces the length of that encounter and removes it entirely for those only carrying hand luggage. And to employ sufficient staff, which should be possible given the hefty fees charged for checked bags by low-cost airlines.

I think this is where Ryanair aren't receiving enough credit. Their online/mobile check in works very well, and you never see any of the issues associated with Wizzair's appalling system. The only problem with Ryanair is that their check in times are too short (2 hours to 40 minutes before departure), and they don't do a good job of advertising that places like Stansted offer 'bag drop anytime'. You don't have to wait for the flight to be formally opened.

So what is beneficial to the airline isn't for the passenger if they at the check in desks at the same time as another thousand other passengers.

A lot of passengers on LCC flights simply aren't checking anything in these days. It's more of an issue with holiday flights, but for instance, I saw today on my STN-WRO flight that only 11 passengers had checked in luggage.

I'm not convinced self-tagging machines are efficient - people fumble with them and as most flyers on budget airlines are occasional users they tend to take a very long time, and they'll cause more lost/misdirected bags due to people putting the labels on badly and leaving old ones on, something a person can look out for. This is one case where humans really do do the job better.

Hmm, what about this system used by BA? https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/business-travel/articles/self-service-bag-drop

I don't suppose it would be too difficult to design a system where someone would be manually checking these bags after they get taken, with non-compliant bags taken aside and retagged?

 

[Mojo]

They generally don't, except where a visa check is required, but some will end up doing if the online check-in feature is complex or difficult to use, or doesn't work half the time, which is how it is with Wizz Air for instance.

lt depends on the airport. l'm not aware of any UK airports with this issue, but some airports overseas will insist on people going to the checkin desk for a variety of reasons, such as security, perhaps because the scanners at the airport cannot handle mobile boarding passes or even because the airline's computer system does not talk to the computer system used by the handling agent at the airport.

 

[gabrielhj07]

lt depends on the airport. l'm not aware of any UK airports with this issue, but some airports overseas will insist on people going to the checkin desk for a variety of reasons, such as security, perhaps because the scanners at the airport cannot handle mobile boarding passes or even because the airline's computer system does not talk to the computer system used by the handling agent at the airport.

Indeed, PHX Terminal 4 accepts mobile boarding passes at security, but all BA passengers (at least) have to have them printed at the gate.

 

[Cloud Strife]

lt depends on the airport. l'm not aware of any UK airports with this issue, but some airports overseas will insist on people going to the checkin desk for a variety of reasons, such as security, perhaps because the scanners at the airport cannot handle mobile boarding passes or even because the airline's computer system does not talk to the computer system used by the handling agent at the airport.

This seems to happen to me fairly regularly with Lufthansa for no apparent reason. It doesn't happen with any other airline, but there's something about Lufthansa's system that always seems to demand a visit to the check in desks in places in Malaga.