U.S. Pre clearance at UK airports

The Department of Homeland Security announced that the United States plans to expand preclearance facilities in regions served by U.S. airlines.

The plan calls for the United States to enter into negotiations that will result in new preclearance facilities in ten foreign airports located in nine countries. The list of countries includes Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Preclearance allows travelers to undergo immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customers and Border Protection personnel prior to boarding a direct flight to the United States.

Proposed airports include Brussels Airport, Belgium; Punta Cana Airport, Dominican Republic; Narita International Airport, Japan; Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Netherlands; Oslo Airport, Norway; Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain; Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden; Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey; and London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, United Kingdom.

The department said that the airports were identified working with the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of State. Over two dozen foreign airports expressed interest in opening preclearance facilities.

Well that would be wonderful, if it ever happens.

Not LGW though - they won't be happy if they were one of the two dozen that applied.

Not only would it speed up the arrival process but it would open up new destinations that don't currently have international facilities. Let's hope it happens soon but I can find stories of this expansion as far back as Sep last year and little appears to have happened so far.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11090846/US-security-checks-could-be-based-at-British-airports.html

I really don't see this happening at any UK airport.

For starters it would require the UK government to ceede territory to the US who will insist that CBP staff carry guns etc. This almost scuppered Irish pre-clearance until a compromise was reached.

As to LHR which terminal do you have it at? Unless it is available at all terminals then the airlines will kick up a fuss as it could affect competition. Imagine of BA had it but not VS or AA etc? And if it was in a single centralised terminal (who would pay for that??) then airlines have issues like lounges to consider as well.

As to LHR which terminal do you have it at? Unless it is available at all terminals then the airlines will kick up a fuss as it could affect competition. Imagine of BA had it but not VS or AA etc? And if it was in a single centralised terminal (who would pay for that??) then airlines have issues like lounges to consider as well.

Presumably it was LHR that applied to be considered, so they'll have a plan for its implementation.

And presumably the territory issue can be resolved - after all the French police have been doing border checks at St Pancras/Waterloo for more than 20 years. Are they armed? I don't know.

Sure it won't happen any time soon but glass half full and all that.

[honey lamb]

Having done Pre-clearance in DUB, YVR and YYC, here are my thoughts, especially with regard to LHR.

For starters, each terminal will have to have its own facility. Once through Pre-clearance, you are sequestered away from the rest of the terminal and board the aircraft directly from there. In DUB Pre-clearance is on the ground floor while the main departure floor is on the first floor. The aircraft is accessed by an escalator to the gate which is isolated from the rest of the airport much in the way that arriving and departing passengers are separated. I cannot see bussing from a central facility as an option

Size matters! In DUB there are only about 15 departures to the US from about 9am to early afternoon on aircraft which include 757s, 767s and A330s. No A380 and 747s leaving at roughly the same time as might happen in LHR.

And what about the passengers. When I flew out to SFO from DUB my flight was due to leave at 12.20pm - long after the bulk of the flights to the US had left. Nonetheless my boarding pass showed that Pre-clearance for my flight closed at 10.35am although as a Business passenger both check-in and the lounge told me that it would be 11am. This was pushed back an hour as there was a delay to the flight but at about 12.15 I was through Pre-clearance for a 1.15pm flight which didn't actually depart till 2.15pm. See what this means, folks? Less CH time!! No more waiting till the last call before sauntering down to the gate. Nope, you will be in a gate area with maybe a snack bar, a bar and a shop for sundries.

Having said that, it WAS nice to get off the plane and not to have to worry about Immigration and Customs but just be aware of what Pre-clearance means.

Also if VS has this, it would have to have two clubhouses right? One in the pre clearance area, and the other in the non preclearance for countries which are not the US...

I doubt it - the Clubhouse would be post security, as now, but pre pre-clearance.

So, as HL pointed out, you'd presumably have to leave the Clubhouse a good hour before your flight, do pre-clearance then wait with everyone else in a sterile area (effectively US soil) until boarding. Similar to what happens at most European airports which have to separate Schengen and non-Schengen passengers.

It's very easy to pick holes and find obstacles but I'm sure HAL has a plan - it applied for this so it's in its interests to make it work.

As things stand it would probably benefit BA the most - they have so many US flights they could probably set aside the whole of T5B for pre-cleared US passengers who'd have their own shops, restaurants and lounge. But as the long term plan is to knock down T1 & T3 and expand T2, I'm sure they can create a designated US pre-clearance satellite for all other airlines too - albeit many years down the road.

And presumably the territory issue can be resolved - after all the French police have been doing border checks at St Pancras/Waterloo for more than 20 years. Are they armed? I don't know.

I think they are not permitted to carry weapons in the Eurostar terminal, where I think you will find that UK Police officers do so as routine.

As HL says, be careful what you wish for. I'd rather take my time waiting on real US soil than a pretend version.

Manchester Airport in the news today around the expansion plans including us pre-clear.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-airport-expansion-plan-security-9370929

I hope they get a better system in place than the one currently on offer. Almost every time I've undertaken mandatory TSA pre-clearance (leaving Canada for the USA, for example), the TSA employees there have been even more officious than usual.

I suppose there is 'extra' pressure on them to make sure nobody/nothing bad passes, but I have - on two occasions - missed a flight to NYC ex-YVR because of TSA pre-flight secondary-screening (each time the process lasted around two hours).

[honey lamb]

I hope they get a better system in place than the one currently on offer. Almost every time I've undertaken mandatory TSA pre-clearance (leaving Canada for the USA, for example), the TSA employees there have been even more officious than usual.

I suppose there is 'extra' pressure on them to make sure nobody/nothing bad passes, but I have - on two occasions - missed a flight to NYC ex-YVR because of TSA pre-flight secondary-screening (each time the process lasted around two hours).

NYLON, having done both ex-Canada and ex-DUB, the experience is chalk and cheese! If you look at my DUB-SFO trip report you will see that the whole experience was good. I had used a machine but needed to be sent to an agent who explained exactly why that was so and was kind and friendly. My abiding memory of YVR was the cacophony of sound going through security and the long line for people with non-USA passports (although eventually some of us were sent through to the USA citizens line)

NYLON, having done both ex-Canada and ex-DUB, the experience is chalk and cheese! If you look at my DUB-SFO trip report you will see that the whole experience was good. I had used a machine but needed to be sent to an agent who explained exactly why that was so and was kind and friendly. My abiding memory of YVR was the cacophony of sound going through security and the long line for people with non-USA passports (although eventually some of us were sent through to the USA citizens line)

Thanks, HL, but as you say in your post above: ex-DUB is a relatively small enterprise compared to the operation in place for US flights ex-YVR (which I imagine will be of a similar volume as ex-LHR for example). My ex-DUB TSA experience was similarly pleasant as yours.

And now that it appears that TSA agents let anything through anyway and need retraining (and the head of the TSA has just been fired, er, I mean 'reassigned'), I just can't imagine it being much fun (or quick)...