Domestic passengers departing from Heathrow’s Terminal 5, which opens in March, will have to give a fingerprint and have their faces scanned as part of a security check before take-off. The checks are being brought in because both domestic and international passengers will share a common departure lounge and there are fears that those arriving on international flights may be able to bypass immigration control by booking an onward domestic flight to a regional airport.Wouldn't it be wonderful if other airlines ran ads announcing that, say, flying EasyJet from Luton to Edinburgh or Ryanair from Stansted to Prestwick didn't require such intrusiveness?
But then of course BA would respond by claiming that going from Terminal 5 was safer, wouldn't they?
Well, let's have a real contest. One that would I'm sure appeal to Mr O'Leary. Let BA and BAA have their state-operated "security" measures at Heathrow. But let a rival airline offer no governmental fingerprint taking, no governmental face scanning but passenger profiling using methods that the airline chose, including arming the crew.
1 comment:
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James Higham
I did a couple of posts on the danger of flying.
29 July 2007, 08:52:13 GMT+01:00
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James
For a moment I only read "I've just run an airline."
Highamflot?
24 July 2007, 14:15:32 GMT+01:00
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Bill (Scotland)
It goes from ridiculous to frankly sinister.
I saw a report last week that 'well-heeled' US travellers who formerly transited Heathrow on their way to places in the Middle East or Africs now routinely avoid London (in favour of places like Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Paris) to save themselves the hassle of going through London, which has security arrangements extreme even by the US administration's paranoid standards.
There's so much not to like about this new T5 'scam' that I hardly know where to begin.
24 July 2007, 09:02:46 GMT+01:00
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James Higham
Very interesting indeed. I can say that without hypocrisy because I've just run an airline post myself.
24 July 2007, 06:50:06 GMT+01:00
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dagny
the next step is to introduce these controlles at all airports.
first, they will say, because it done well at Heathrow.
second, because competition should not be applyed to security, they will say.
23 July 2007, 12:08:46 GMT+01:00
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