LHR Fast Track. How does it work, Am i eligable

[Sdtravel]

Anyone know about Fast track in LHR?

I have a couple of flights through LHR coming up (QF T3 to BA T5 and BA T5 to AA T3)
According to BA's website it lists OW Sapphire (which i hope to be by then) have access to Fast Track Security oneworld | Frequent flyer benefits | British Airways also London Heathrow Terminal 5 | Airport information | British Airways
OW website list Fast track as a Emerald benefit https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/emerald-privileges

So i have a few questions, if anyone has some info that would be great.
Is there fast track for transferring PAX?
Being OWS or a QF J pax transferring to BA Y will i be able to use Fast track? Based on OWS or that i was a QF J pax?
If travelling in J BA to AA will i be able to use fast track (assuming i dont have OWS)?
Is it that BA / LHR offer fast track to OWS & J pax even though its a benefit for OWE?
How does it work? Just show my QF SG card at security? Collect a special card from someone somewhere?
Is it worth it? Will it make any difference in transiting.

I dont see much reference to it here except so am thinking it may not be all that great

Thanks anyone who can help me.

 

[Hvr]

Have flown QFi into LHR and was given a Fast Track pass (F and OWE). Very quick through immigration.

Recently (30/4) flew BA J (still OWE) from BKK-LHR T5 and was told no Fast Track passes on board but it wouldn't matter because the queues shouldn't be too long. No concern about the lack of passes.

The regular queue took 30+ minutes with only two agents working and both practicing their interrogation skills seeking to deny entry.

Still priority baggage worked with my bag on the carousel whilst others (presumably EU citizens) were still waiting for their bags.

My thoughts, don't expect anything from BA and you will still be disappointed.

 

[TonyHancock]

The following advice assumes that you, and any checked luggage you may have, will be checked through to your final destination, and that your final destination is outside of the UK.

When you land you need to head for flight connections, assuming that you have your onward boarding pass, - look for the purple flight connection signs. You will transfer by bus to T5 where once again you need to look for the purple flight connection signs. When you get to the flight connections area head to the far right fast track lane. Your boarding pass will have your status on it and OWS is good for fast track.

Once you have had your boarding pass scanned by the agent the fast track line filters into fast track security which is up the escalator. (It is arguable if you actually get any benefit by using the fast track security line but I tend to err on the side of caution and use it.) You will have a choice of lounges as a OWS - either the North or South BA J lounges.

The process is reversed on your return. you will need to follow the purple flight connection signs and take the transfer bus to T3. I can't remember whether there was a fast track service at T3 for transfers.

 

[Skyring]

Movements in the UK

Good to know that OWS is good for FT. Sometimes BA is remiss in handing out the goodies.

I got an FT pass last year. Coming in from Do Buy, it wasn't terribly busy, so I counted up the number of people ahead of me in each queue, divided by the number of agents, and figured I'd do better in the regular line. But I marked the passenger last in the FT queue, the one I would have been standing behind, thinking I'd check her progress against mine to see if I'd made the right decision.

So often in my life, I'll change from one supermarket queue to another, and it proves to be wrong wrong wrong.

Anyway, good choice this time, my line moved briskly, and the other didn't. I got my passport stamped and was striding away, picking up speed, a big silly grin on my face as I looked at the FT passenger I'd marked, still waiting her turn.

"Excuse me, Sir!"

Some immigration guy, seeing me loping past like I'd gotten away with something.

He checked my stuff, asked me a few questions about where I was staying - St Hilda's College in Oxford for a conference - and set me free. If I'd been moping glumly along, my usual style of progress at Heathrow, I wouldn't have been delaid, I'm sure.

A few days later - no FT involvement here at all - I was waiting in Heathrow for my wife arriving off Qantas. Same terminal, same flight, same time of day. I'd printed out all the hotel bookings and contact details for her before I left, made sure she had it with her itinerary in a plastic folder, knew what it was, she had my number in her phone and so on.

I had some godawful hotdog previously while I waited for the flight to land, then I stood at the gate and waited and waited. I usually like hotdogs, but this was some British interpretation of a classic and it sat like an evil demon in my insides, thinking up ways to blight not just my life, but the existence of those within a certain radius around me. The combination of cold purple onions and English mustard may have been the killer element.



I waited, growing increasingly uncomfortable as time ticked by and no wife. I couldn't head off to the facilities, no, not for a moment, and there was a time bomb inside me.

Finally she emerged. Her embrace was a trifle perfunctory, I thought, and she said that she had been grilled by an immigration agent who was not happy with her lack of knowledge of her movements in the UK. She'd said her husband was waiting on the other side of the barrier with all that stuff, and he said, well, what if he isn't? What are you going to do then?

He'd letten her go through, obviously, but she'd been dreadfully embarrassed, and when my wife gets embarrassed, it's always my fault, if she has the faintest hope of pinning it on me, and if I have zero involvement she sulks for hours until she finds some way of tying me in, usually through something I could have done but didn't.

***SIGH*** How I love this woman.

I later checked her travel documents. She had everything she needed, neatly printed out by me a week earlier. I think she'd stowed everything at the bottom of her checked luggage. God knows how she got on the plane in Canberra.

Anyway, um, forgive this digression. I suppose the lesson learnt is to make sure you have some address and contact details of your intended stay before leaving home.

And not to eat hotdogs in Heathrow.

Or smile. It makes you stand out from the crowd.

 

[Sdtravel]

Re: Movements in the UK

Thanks TonyHancock that was super helpful.
Yep im transiting out of the UK.

I take it from Skyring that there are cards but per TonyHancock showing a OWS card means i dont need to worry if i dont get one on the inbound flight.

 

[TonyHancock]

Re: Movements in the UK

Thanks TonyHancock that was super helpful.
Yep im transiting out of the UK.

I take it from Skyring that there are cards but per TonyHancock showing a OWS card means i dont need to worry if i dont get one on the inbound flight.

The cards are for arrival at immigration and are given out if you are not traveling on a European passport. Your boarding pass will be scanned at the connections desk and possibly checked prior to you joining that line to ensure eligibility.