BA to fingerprint domestic passengers

[Roland Perry]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.0802291813050.26876@bb4.ncuk.net>, Sebastien
Lahtinen <xx-ukcrypto@smail.ncuk.com> writes

>> 1) What if I'm a domestic passenger and don't want to use the shops and
>>    restaurants - is there a bypass lane straight to the domestic gates?
>
>That would mean BAA wouldn't get shopping revenue.

Indeed. I didn't mention the earlier paragraph of their letter which
says that despite the improved facilities at T5 you should still arrive
in plenty of time, and ...

        Then with the luxury of time on your hands, you are free to
        enjoy everything that Terminal 5 has to offer.

I'd prefer the luxury of an extra hour in bed, frankly.

>> 2) What's special at T5 - domestic and international passengers mingle
>>    freely in the shops and bars at East Midlands Airport
>
>Gatwick they take photographs and do this. I think they want to improve
>accuracy/security.

I saw cameras at Gatwick, but not in use for many years. Do they grab
you and take your picture if you present them with a domestic boarding
card?

>> 3) Why fingerprint just domestic passengers - surely all passengers have
>>    to provide photo ID?
>
>What they need to prevent is an inbound international transfer
>passenger scheduled to depart to another international destination
>getting onto a domestic flight instead and bypassing UK immigration.

How do they do that at T1, today?

Presumably at T5 they'll skim off the arriving *international* transit
passengers and put them through a special immigration lane, ending up
with taking fingerprints just like for those whose domestic journeys
start in the UK.

>Hence if you are flying to an international destination you aren't
>going to bypass inbound UK immigration so no fingerprint needed.
>
>(This may further change when they want controls on those leaving the
>country).

Gets complicated, doesn't it? If you start out on a domestic flight to
Heathrow, you aren't leaving the country yet, so there will need to be a
second skimming-off for people transiting to International having
arrived on domestic. A process that will need to ignore people flying on
connecting domestic flights!!

>> 5) All records are deleted. Yes, of course they are (BA don't say when,
>>    "after" could be much longer than 5 min after the plane departs).
>
>I believe it's 24 hours.. I've seen that somewhere.

It's a shame they didn't integrate it with the fast-lane Iris-scan
system, then they could automate it for second-and-subsequent-trip
travellers, and be less intrusive as well.

Although maybe the cost at every gate is prohibitive.
-- 
Roland Perry