Inbound travellers should expect long queues on arrival at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and other airports over Christmas and New Year, but outbound passengers should be largely unaffected by strikes by Border Force staff.
Airlines vowed to maintain their Christmas and New Year schedules despite the government making clear there will be no relaxation of border control during the strikes. Instead, ministers confirmed: “Military personnel, civil servants and volunteers from across government are being trained to support Border Force.”
While strikes that were due to take place today (December 16) were suspended as a “gesture of goodwill” following an improved pay offer, additional strike action by more than 400 workers scheduled to run between December 29 and the early hours of January 1 remains in place pending a ballot result, Unite confirmed.
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A leading airline source hit out at “media forecasts of mass cancellations” and insisted: “Airlines and airports intend to operate a full schedule. We don’t expect mass cancellations. Airlines can’t cancel inbound flights anyway because of the outbound demand.
“Any capacity mitigations will be around the number of passengers on aircraft. There could be a range of measures at peak times, such as putting back the departure times of inbound flights or [temporary] passenger caps. But the ambition is to operate the full schedule.”
The source explained: “Planning between Border Force, airports and carriers is on a local basis. It is complex, but the aim
is to carry as many people as possible who are currently booked.
“There will be long queues. It’s not going to be a good customer experience, and anyone who can use an e-gate should.”
British Airways head of integrated operations control Richard Treeves confirmed: “We don’t expect to see an impact on departing passengers.
We’re keeping our schedule under review, but we plan to operate our published schedule. It’s likely there will be increased queues.”
Aviation minister Baroness Vere warned the Abta Travel Matters conference last week: “There will be some very long queues and we have to communicate that to customers.”
Border Force officers, employed by the Home Office, want a 10% pay rise and plan to strike on December 23-26 and 28-31, although action on December 26 and 31 is due to end at 7am. The action at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff airports and port of Newhaven will hit passport control and customs.
Agents reported customers appear unfazed by the latest disruption. Paul Hardwick, head of commercial at Fred Olsen Travel said: “We’ve not had many customers ask about the strikes. It would put people off booking last minute, but we rarely see last-minute bookings for Christmas.”
Polka Dot Travel director Mark Johnson agreed: “The strike action is not really having an impact. Very few customers mention it.”
Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, added: “Customers who are travelling accept there may be some disruption. We’ve been making sure clients know we’re here to support them in case of any challenges.”
Heathrow said in a statement: “Departing passengers should expect to travel as normal. Arriving passengers with UK, EU, US, Canadian and some other passports will be able to use e-gates.”
However, children under 12 can’t use e-gates and those aged 12 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult.
A Heathrow spokesperson added: “Passengers are advised to check their flight status before travelling.”
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