We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
How to get fast track immigration at London Heathrow LHR
If you aren’t familiar with fast track immigration it’s a service that is provided that allows passengers to bypass the LONNNNNNNNGGGGG lines at immigration and “fast track” themselves through a short one. It’s one of those things that makes traveling international so much easier. Immigration can often take an hour, sometimes two, just to get through. Having a fast track pass makes the trip much, much better. So here’s how to get fast track immigration at London Heathrow LHR
- Fly in a premium cabin
- Carry elite airline status
- Registered Travel ( e-gate as well )
- Buy Fast Track Immigration
Fly in a premium cabin
If you’re in business or higher, the odds are extremely high that you will be given a fast track pass. This doesn’t have to be a paid ticket, you’ll be given a pass for fast track using points as well. Check out the list of Fast Track Participating Airlines. Look at the arrival column – the middle one. *List courtesy of www.heathrow.com
Fast Track immigration is also given for airline status.
One world – Sapphire, Emerald
For instance, Terminal 5 is the BA terminal. So the only airlines you’ll receive Fast Track with are BA and Iberia. Both owned by the parent company, IAG. However, as you can see below…multiple airlines gain Fast Track access with status in terminal 3. Now, the One World website says that only One World Emerald gains access. However, when I flew BA I was given a fast track and it specifically mentioned Sapphires as having access. Look at the feature picture.
Get approved for Registered Traveler –
Want to reaaaaaallly fast track your immigration process? Get the UK’s version of Global Entry: Registered Traveler. Here are the deets from the official site as to who is eligible and how much it costs.
Note: You can no longer apply for this program if you’re from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea or the United States.
Instead you may be able to use the e-gates
What airports is it available?
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Cardiff
- East Midlands
- Edinburgh
- Gatwick
- Glasgow
- Heathrow
- London City
- Luton
- Manchester
- Southend
- Stansted
You can also use it at these Eurostar locations:
- Brussels
- Lille
- Paris
Who’s Eligible?
- Gotta be 18_
- Get a visa or visit the UK 4 times in 24 months
- Need a passport
Eligible Passports are:
- Africa
- Botswana, Namibia, Seychelles.
- Asia
- Brunei, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region passports only), Macao Special Administrative Region, Malaysia, Maldives, Taiwan (if your passport has a personal ID number on the photo page).
- Europe
- Andorra, Monaco, Vatican City State.
- Middle East
- Israel.
- North America
- Bahamas, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
- Oceania
- Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga.
- South and Central America
- Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay.
What’s the cost?
- £70 for a year
- if you don’t get approved you’ll get 50 back
- £50 to renew
Heathrow now sells Departure fast track
As describe by Heathrow, the parameters for booking:
-
Book a time-slot approximately two hours before your flight is scheduled to depart
-
On arrival at Heathrow, after check-in, proceed to the Fast Track security area in the terminal of your departure ( if you are travelling through Terminal 5, please proceed to the North Fast Track Security area )
-
To gain access present your booking confirmation to the officer at the desk.
I checked the pricing on a random date out of T3 and it was pretty fair IMO. Note, you’d also get this fast track security if traveling in a premium cabin/status so it would only be purposeful without those perks. As a point of comparison, prices haven’t moved since 2019.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.