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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.
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If you’re not one of the ‘special’ ones, are flying internationally (Phx to London, tx to Manchester) the first time AND were not notified through any notifications to not book flights too close in time, arriving terminal 3-deparating terminal 5 w/ 90 minutes to get through security and whatever else needs to be done, AND British Airways informs that if you don’t make it all flights are cancelled OR you can cancel the London to Manchester flight at the going rate which is more than the round trip I’ve already paid for .. then my trips I have paid for in London and Liverpool not to mention the hotel which is worst case scenario, IS THERE SOMETHING YOU CAN HELP ME WITH. THIS IS A TRIP I HAVE WAITED FOR AND SAVED FOR FOR SOME TIME. PLEASE!!!!
Hey Karen – this sounds stressful, but I think it will work out. First, you should call BA and clarify what they mean if “you don’t make it all flights are cancelled.” Typically this means if you skip out on a leg the rest of your itinerary is cancelled. I.e. you fly to london, skip out of the manchester leg, and try to board your flight back to phoenix from london. Once you skip the middle leg, the rest of your itin is cancelled. Not if you simply miss it because you were connecting and it took too long. If you board your flight at PHX and the carrier arrives late or causes you to miss the connection, they should accommodate you with at least standby on a later flight. 90 minutes is enough time to transit from Terminal 3 to 5. You’ll take a bus from 3 to 5, and you will have to go to security again and a passport check + biometc scan, but you won’t collect your bags. I would look up on the BA website which section of T5 A,B,C you’ll be connecting out of. This will help you as well, but i think you’ll be fine https://www.britishairways.com/assets/pdfs/information/airport-information/lhr-connections/LHR-Flight-connections_Terminal-3-to-Terminal-5.pdf
I have a question – I’ve received these vouchers before when flying from US to Heathrow but will I get these vouchers if I am traveling from Europe to Heathrow as a non-EU/UK foreigner? Say from Vienna back to Heathrow in business? I will gladly pay more for BA business if I can avoid those horrific customs lines…
Flew from Vienna to LHR in Jan and they distributed fast track passes prior to landing
Thank you!!
I am flying to LHR next week from Atlanta, we are connecting in LHR to go to Bombay. We are flying business class and have 3 hours to enjoy the lounge in LHR virgin atlantic lounge. Will our ticket get us thru the fast pass for immigration and customs. We have US Passports.