At Heathrow, Americans Can Skip the Line to Enter the UK

[Tony O]

The British government has revealed that, in 2019, holders of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Japanese passports can use LHR’s eGates. The privilege was previously only granted to European passport holders. The move is seen as an attempt to encourage ties with non-European nations.

Long lines at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) have been the bane of many an arriving traveler over the last few months, but it seems that – for some passengers, at least – a reprieve is in sight. On Monday, the British government announced that holders of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Japanese passports will be permitted to use LHR’s eGates, something that should make entry formalities move more swiftly and smoothly.

Though this news garnered only a small paragraph of a recent press release issued by LHR, this announcement is notable in that it comes just as Brexit negotiations enter a new phase. As NerdWallet indicates, it is hoped that this relaxation of rules for this particular group of passport holders will help to encourage and foster stronger trade ties among travelers from non-European nations.

This speedier processing comes just months after both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic criticized the immigration wait times for non-European nationals arriving at the airport, which were exceeding two hours in length.

Speaking to the BBC this past August, Craig Kreeger, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, was quoted by the outlet as saying, “At a time when the UK needs to show the world it is open for business, the government and Border Force need to provide a great first impression for every visitor every time.”

It appears that Kreeger’s words were heeded and, as of January of 2019, passport holders of these nations will now be permitted swift processing via LHR’s eGates, something only previously allowed for European visitors

 

This was from another web site I think you can't mention. Since  Cruise Critic is really big on censorship .

Edited November 16, 2018 by Tony O

[Alaskanb]

I assume you will need a biometric chip in your passport for this to work.

[klfrodo]

Great news

Thanks for posting this.

 

Of course CC is also big on copyright infringement.

If the above was a cut -n -paste job, then you've violated copyright law.

If you provide a hyperlink along with the cut/paste, then CC has no problem.

Edited November 16, 2018 by klfrodo

[Globaliser]

At Heathrow, Americans Can Skip the Line to Enter the UK

 

This is the UK. We don't do "lines" here. We do "queues".

 

[fbgd]

Using eGates doesn't necessarily mean you're "skipping" any lines. At certain times the lines for the eGates can be huge. 

 

I'm British and it can help having an American wife to use either the Fast Track (for business/first class passengers) or non-EU queue to save time.

 

US citizens can use it anyway at the moment by registering for a program. Small enrolment fee and annual cost and only need to document a handful of trips across a 2yr period.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/international-arrangements/registered-traveller/us-citizens

[mom says]

You aren't going to "skip the line". You're just going to be able to use a different  line (or queue).

[Zach1213]

2 hours ago, fbgd said:

Using eGates doesn't necessarily mean you're "skipping" any lines. At certain times the lines for the eGates can be huge. 

 

I'm British and it can help having an American wife to use either the Fast Track (for business/first class passengers) or non-EU queue to save time.

 

US citizens can use it anyway at the moment by registering for a program. Small enrolment fee and annual cost and only need to document a handful of trips across a 2yr period.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/international-arrangements/registered-traveller/us-citizens

 

Yep, I have experienced this many times. Sydney is a great example - more often than not, I find myself just joining the regular line versus the machines because it can be quicker during the morning rush. Alternatively, I kept having issues with the machines in both Australia and New Zealand...finally asked an immigration guy at SYD why, and he said the cameras could never match my passport photo to my face because of facial hair, and almost always kicked me out in to the regular line anyways.

[Cruise Junky]

Excellent news. 

[pcur]

So very happy to hear this!  My husband almost made world news on our last entry to LHR.  We stood in line for about 2.5 hours, and they DECREASED the number of agents, and he started yelling in that big, echoing terminal that "Yes, I'm talking to YOU over there at desk #(something); get some agents out here!"  They pulled him out of line and made him sit in the naughty chair while they, did indeed, put more agents out.  All the people that passed by him leaned over to thank him.  They finally had a 4'10" supervisor chastise my 6'1" husband (the guy came to his chest), and tell us we almost were not granted admission to the UK.  My husband kept his mouth shut, and we went through.  

 

The "problem" with the lines was on the news that night, and the fact that incoming passengers were "acting out" their displeasure.  Luckily, no pictures.

 

So, we are VERY, VERY happy to hear the US passport holders will use the e-gates!

[FlyerTalker]

Any bets on whether that passport is going to be flagged and rejected at the E-gates??

[DogLover]

5 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Any bets on whether that passport is going to be flagged and rejected at the E-gates??

👍

[brian1]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 4:26 PM, fbgd said:

Using eGates doesn't necessarily mean you're "skipping" any lines. At certain times the lines for the eGates can be huge. 

 

I'm British and it can help having an American wife to use either the Fast Track (for business/first class passengers) or non-EU queue to save time.

 

US citizens can use it anyway at the moment by registering for a program. Small enrolment fee and annual cost and only need to document a handful of trips across a 2yr period.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/international-arrangements/registered-traveller/us-citizens

It doesn't help when some of the machines are out of action and people don't follow the instructions in front of them.Popping their passports in and out of the scanner for 5 minutes and the "helpers" send them to the face to face section after.

[pcur]

On 11/18/2018 at 10:04 PM, DogLover said:

👍

We've been back since with no problems.

[pcur]

1 hour ago, brian1 said:

It doesn't help when some of the machines are out of action and people don't follow the instructions in front of them.Popping their passports in and out of the scanner for 5 minutes and the "helpers" send them to the face to face section after.

I had this problem coming into LAX last year, using their GOES kiosk.  I just moved to another one.

[brian1]

10 minutes ago, pcur said:

I had this problem coming into LAX last year, using their GOES kiosk.  I just moved to another one.

I have no problem either.I was talking about the lack of machines working and the ones that are in use,people not knowing how to use them.The helpers are just interested in herding people thru as fast as possible.You will only get 1 go on a machine in the UK and then you are dispatched to face to face.Good luck trying to backtrack to another machine with 500 p----d off people behind you,lol.

 

19 minutes ago, pcur said:

I had this problem coming into LAX last year, using their GOES kiosk.  I just moved to another one.

 

[pcur]

6 minutes ago, brian1 said:

I have no problem either.I was talking about the lack of machines working and the ones that are in use,people not knowing how to use them.The helpers are just interested in herding people thru as fast as possible.You will only get 1 go on a machine in the UK and then you are dispatched to face to face.Good luck trying to backtrack to another machine with 500 p----d off people behind you,lol.

 

 

Thanks for the heads-up.  At LAX you could move more easily to the next kiosk, but it may be there weren't that many people using them when we came in last year.