London: A fast-track system will be
introduced at the Heathrow Airport in the UK next year under
which passengers paying an extra 50 pounds can jump the
immigration queue and avoid delays by using a fast gate.
Luton and Liverpool airports already allow passengers
to jump the security queue if they pay extra when leaving the
country, The Daily Telegraph reported today.
British Airways announced last week that customers
must pay to choose their seats more than 24 hours ahead of
travel.
The new system at immigration will allow those who pay
the charge of upto 50 pounds to use a fast gate. The hi-tech
gates are being installed to read new biometric passports,
which have chips containing details of the distances between
a person`s eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
However, at present only 19.7 million Britons have the
new passports, which were introduced in March 2006.
These people will be able to use the scheme free of
charge, as will EU nationals with biometric travel documents.
The fast-track subscription programme will be offered
to about 28 million people in Britain without biometric
passports.
The scheme will also be made available to "trusted
travellers" from outside the European Union, often business
executives.
It is designated to contribute towards the £7million
needed to pay for extra gates at Heathrow, which are capable
of scanning the new biometric passports.
Another option for passengers would be to receive a
biometric passport by renewing the document early. This costs
between 77.50 pounds for the passport to be issued by post to
129.50 pounds for a same-day service.
The fast track gates, which will be rolled out to
Heathrow`s Terminal 4, will eventually replace the IRIS
scheme. It is currently used by more than 90,000 British
passport holders.
Bureau Report
