If you can’t use the e-gates, then this could speed things up
If you’re a UK passport holder (or EU, US, Canadian, see the long list below), then this will have zero impact on you. For everyone else, this could make the exit from the plane to the taxi much faster.
What is Fast Track arrivals at Heathrow?
Most travellers will be familiar with Fast Track when they’re departing. The majority of airports allow you to pay a little extra to get into a – usually shorter – line. Whether it’s actually any faster is another question. Heathrow charges £12.50 per person to “skip the queue” once you’ve checked in your bags.
This newly launched Fast Track Arrivals service allows you to do the same if you’re landing at Heathrow rather than taking off. The price is at least double that of fast track on your way out: £25 per person during off-peak hours, or a somewhat steep £35 per person during peak. The peak hours depend on the terminal you’re flying into
Heathrow Peak Hours by Terminal
- T2: 6am to 9am, 6pm to 9pm
- T3: 6am to 9am, 1pm to 9pm
- T4: 6am to 9am, 12noon to 9pm
- T5: 6am to 9am
The service is bookable between 9am and 9pm, and you can cancel or amend the booking up to 8pm the day before your scheduled arrival.
What do you get with Fast Track Arrivals at Heathrow?
The service allows you to use a separate Fast Track lane through passport control. This will be signposted once you arrive at the immigration hall. To enter, simply show your booking confirmation email to the staff member at that line.
You get a one-hour window to pass through passport control. That could mean that a delayed flight stops you from using the service. You would hope that common sense would prevail, and Heathrow do say that “…we will endeavour to provide access to Fast Track Arrivals Passport Control, however, this cannot be guaranteed.”.
If your flight is cancelled and you can’t, or don’t have time, to cancel Fast Track Arrivals, they will refund your money if you apply within thirty days of your cancelled flight and provide proof of the cancellation.
Who is this for?
If you have any of the following passports, you should be able to use the e-gates (where your passport is scanned and your biometrics are checked, all without speaking to anyone). In my experience, the e-gates are extremely fast and efficient, so there is no need to use Fast Track.
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Canada
- EU
- Iceland
- Japan
- Liechtenstein
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Switzerland
- United States
For everyone else, this could be a benefit, if you want to pay for it. At the time of writing the time to get through the e-gates at T5 is less than ten minutes, whereas other passports will have to wait between 20 and 30 minutes. That’s during an off-peak period for that terminal.
In Terminal 3, which is in a peak period according to the Fast Track rules, it’s taking both e-gate and other passport holders less than ten minutes to get through immigration. Like all fast-track options, there’s a chance that it’s no faster than the regular option.
Any other T&Cs?
Yes, you can reserve a Fast Track slot for up to six people at once, per booking, but the entire party will have to arrive together at the Fast Track lane.
Is Heathrow the first in the UK to have Fast Track Immigration?
No. Manchester has been operating a similar scheme for a while now. That comes in at £15 per person, although the airport has a reputation for a sluggish immigration process when a few planes happen to land at the same time. Despite flying through MAN many times each year, I have never paid for this process in the same way that I always would pay for Fast Track security on the way out.
If you want to do something even better than Fast Track then you could use a private terminal. Heathrow has the Windsor Lounge, and Manchester has Aether. Both are priced well above Fast Track, with Aether being the more affordable. I wrote earlier this year about all of the UK’s VIP terminals.
Is the Heathrow Fast Track Arrivals worth it?
If you value your time, or you dislike a sluggish immigration process, and you can’t use the efficient e-gates then this is a way to speed things up. For cash-rich tourists coming from outside the EU/US this could be a god-send after a long flight. For everyone else, this probably won’t make much of a difference.
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