nobbyclark

Some self important **** seemed to think he was far more important than the rest of us in the T4 Fast Track queue this morning. Bustled his way to the front of the particularly long line of passengers and was so "late" for his flight that I saw him 20 minutes later in the Gate 1 lounge filling his fat face on a bacon roll. He should have been frog-marched back to landside and made to stand in the economy queue.

Rant over.

G-BOAC

"You should have got here earlier like the rest of us standing here, then, shouldn't you?" and not letting them past is my usual response unless they are actually being rushed through/escorted by some harassed BA staff member

FIRSTclstraveller

Deleted

virtualtroy

I must admit to having done this once at the FCC. I didn't think the group of 50 Japanese students ahead of me would mind, especially when each and evey one of them was having such fun, regarding the security scanner as something to giggle about, rather than preparing for by removing coats, putting bags ready, etc. Perhaps they're still there?

Worth adding - this was as a consequence my inbound arriving late and having missed the Fast Track facility by a matter of minutes. I asked one of the very bored security personnel what to do and he suggested just walking to the front of the queue.

moeve

Maybe he got punished accordingly and missed his flight after all

FIRSTclstraveller

I'm afraid that I would have been very tempted to go over and remonstrate with the said individual over this...just plain rude.

seaniboy

I got FT'ed @ T4 last November - no my plane wasnt even due for another hour 1/2, but BA/QF had messed up my booking ( replacement intinary done last thing at night by some poor BA personel when my EDI-LHR was delayed so late I missed the last SYD bound flight out of LHR ) I spent 45 mins tossed from pillar to post between check in and ticket sales, they stickered me fast track as compensation so i could go enjoy the Jack Daniels, ooppppsss sorry I meant the lounge !!!

I'd bloody slapped him ! Maybe he did miss his departure - I hope his boss gave him hell lol, the cheeky swine !!

James S

My sentiment too... but just maybe his flight was subsequently delayed.

vSFU

I've queue jumped at EDI only to find my flight delayed

Phil the Flyer

nobbyclark - never was a truer word said, feel free to rant all you want!

Such people annoy the hell out of me too. General LHR T4 delays notwithstanding if they can't understand the basics of time management they certainly shouldn't be in the Fast Track queue.

Having said that, if someone is genuinely otherwise going to miss their flight, thereby possibly inconveniencing hundreds of other passengers, what to do? Maybe a BA staff member should decide individual cases on their merits, rather than letting the individual queue jump unilaterally because he/she wants more time to shop at duty-free or down the bacon butties.

Blackjackburger

I was once travelling down from NCL to LHR where the flight was delayed at take off and again at LHR waiting for a landing spot.

Was starting to get a bit worried myself as it was cutting it very fine to catch my flight to JFK (under an hour), when an announcement was made onboard (for myself, Mrs BJB and another couple) for us to wait at the top of the ramp.

We were greeted by a member of BA staff who took us through a side door to a waiting minibus. He the drove us through all the service roads and shortcuts to the other terminal making sure we were not delayed any further in the transfer.

Great service.

vla

[RANT]

Five years ago or so I was arriving at Stansted at about 1900. I had been in meetings all day and hadn't eaten. Yes I arrived on easy jet. Anyway so anticipating the Stansted Express journey I stopped off at the Whistlestop and got a British Rail sandwich and a can of lager. Dead Posh. There was quite a queue. And there was this [insert nasty names x10] bugger, middle-aged, not a little chubby, air of superiority. I remembered he was on my flight (it was from Nice I think). Lots of duty-free purchases, and oversized, overweight carry-on. There was a queue ten deep or so at the till. Anyway, he goes to the chilled bevvy section, gets two bottles of white wine and completely queue jumps. Anyway it was apparently only German and Eastern European people in the queue, nobody said anything (in English as far as I could tell) , so I went absolutely off my rocker and called him out, quite explicitly. He said he had a train to catch. I said, oh? I'll bet it's the 1915 to Liverpool Street isn't it. He flicked a tenner at the cashier and walked out. I was ape-$hit . Of course, waiting my turn, I was able to pay for my Coronation Chicken Bap and can of Stella (as I said, Dead Posh), made my way down to the platform and made it my mission to ridicule this prat. Fortunately I found him -- the bloody cheeky alkie -- having opened one of the bottles and swilling away. I sat down nearby, nearly opposite, and got out my mobile and in an usually loud voice for me, recounted the story in great detail and with only minor embellishment. Repeatedly. For 46 minutes, eg. "Hey there, how's it going? Well as I have you on the line let me tell you about this major ...... I met on my travels today..." His fat little face got redder and redder, he downed the first bottle of wine on the ride in (no doubt the second is for his ready meal in front of the telly), I know he heard as the entire carriage heard (NOT DYKWIA NOT, I was just pissed off eg. "yeah? and guess what? he's sitting in the seat opposite me!"). And the point of the story in a non-preachy sense: Karma(-ish). He dropped his ticket whilst approaching the barrier and got caught up in the ensuing scrum he caused.

Thank you for allowing me to vent something which may have come back to haunt me in thirty years or so.

If someone's genuinely, really late for their flight, show me your boarding pass and the fact that you have no bags checked, and I'll be nice and others should as well. Otherwise you can wait.

[/RANT]

Raffles

If a BA staffer brings someone to the front of the line, I am happy(er). I assume in this case that there connection was late - although that doesn't explain why there are going through the main scanner and not FCC.

In general, though, the whole system would break down if people were automatically given a free pass to the front of the line if their plane was departing in under, say, 20 minutes.

Rambuster

I have asked myself to the front of the queue too when my inbound flight for a connection was late. In general I don't mind to let someone ahead of me, as I would assume (hope) that most of these people have a genuine cause.

I do however think that if I were to find the person later stuffing their face in the lounge they would get a piece of my mind.

LHR Tim

As was said, if someone is genuinely late, then I've got no problem. There was a lady off my ZAG flight in BUD who pushed to the front of the queue as here flight was boarding. Er, we've arrived five minutes ahead of schedule and it's not like BUD is difficult to navigate. That said, there was no point in making a fuss. If it made here day go a bit smoother than great.

As for the OP, I think vla's method is great. Find the fat b'stard in the lounge and sit near them, then get on your mobile and tell your mates (in a loud voice so all can hear) about the t**t you encountered that day.