Flight into LHR on Brexit morning - bad idea?!

I have a flight into LHR at 7am on 29th March, but just realised that's Brexit morning.
Is this a bad mistake? I'm imagining massive immigration lines.

Would love to avoid it, but VS isn't offering free swapsies for pax on this date... ugh.
I guess a whole country shooting itself in both feet doesn't merit any flexibility?!

Nothing will change immediately. Absolutely no reason to be concerned.

I have a flight into LHR at 7am on 29th March, but just realised that's Brexit morning.
Is this a bad mistake? I'm imagining massive immigration lines.

Would love to avoid it, but VS isn't offering free swapsies for pax on this date... ugh.
I guess a whole country shooting itself in both feet doesn't merit any flexibility?!

As things stand the UK will still be an EU member state until 23:00hrs GMT on 29 March.

VS (as any other airline) is only responsible to get passengers to the destination airport. It is not responsible for immigration queues.

So why would VS offer anyone a free flight change?

Anyway it's not the 29th you need to worry about - not that I think there is anything to worry about - it's the 30th. As Brexit occurs at 11PM UK time on the 29th so any flight landing on the 29th will be OK!!!!

We were considering the 20:15 BA flight from Heathrow to Budapest on 29th of June, which lands at 00:15. If they extend Brexit for the maximum likely (3 months), then technically we'd be taking off when in the EU and landing when not.

Ok, so whatever you think on extension and likelyhood, its probably would be the Friday 28th June rather than the Saturday, but a wee bitty drama there possible.

(* I think extension is unlikely but still considering that flight).

I don’t get all this concern. When you fly into or out of any EU airport you already have to show your passport as the UK is not part of the Schengen agreement. That will continue to be the case after Brexit so no change there.

Ultimately UK citizens may need to buy some sort of electronic visa waiver to travel to the EU - presumably similar to a US ESTA - but there’s no reason why that will make any difference to the existing arrivals or departures process.

And all this scaremongering about flights suddenly no longer operating between the UK and EU is beginning to feel like the millennium bug - we were reliably informed planes would fall out of the sky when all the computers in the world stopped working at midnight on December 31st 1999. Needless to say, nothing happened.

I'm flying to Copenhagen on 28th, back om 31st. Not especially worried.

I've got a second home in Southern France and am not overly worried. As a regular visitor to France, in my experience the French Authorities have been stepping up arrival / departure checks for some time - the trigger probably being the Paris & Nice terror attacks in 2017.

Prior to these events, arrival and departure at passport control was just a quick look at your passport photo page from the Douane officer & passport handed back. Now it's a detailed look at your passport, put it under the UV light to look for forgeries, then put it into the computer reader to log the arrival / departure.

We fly into Nimes fairly regularly on Ryanair - so the only arrival at this airport. They have put out chairs in the immigration queue there as if you're at the back of the 189 passenger queue it will take well over half an hour to get through passport control (there are only normally 2 of the 3 desks staffed).

One key issue will be the ability to use the e-Gates. When I was commuting to AMS, I could clear these within a few minutes whereas queuing for a border agent could take upwards of an hour. Given that these are available to non EU passport holders with chipped passports (incl USA and Japan) then I guess it depends on the status of the UK vis a vis the EU and whether the default position is the same as for, say, the USA with the 90 day visit visa exemption.

Things will presumably change in 2021 when ETIAS comes in, and how the border processing of same is applied.

As to aircraft actually being able to fly, isn't the jury still out on that? There is a barebones proposal from the EU (December?) but it required reciprocity and I haven't been able to find any statement that it has actually been agreed by both sides, and (1) at the moment the government's focus appears to be on the political rather than the practical. and (2) Chris "What Ferries? What Rail TImetable?" Grayling is in charge,

Do you hold a UK passport? If so I can't see anything changing now, during Brexit or ever after. If anything the EU lanes will be empty because no one in their right mind would want to come to such an isolationist country ( )

As the UK has proved it cannot organize a piss up in a brewery given almost 3 years, I would be amazed if anything changed. In fact I am hoping that there is no way back into the UK after independence day as I will be in Vegas and would love to be stuck there.

Perpetually stuck in Sin City....sounds like the plot of some kind of 1960s comedy caper movie!

Nothing will change immediately. Absolutely no reason to be concerned.

You really cannot absolutely say that. Not in the case of a No deal brexit. Quite simply all international agreements between the UK the EU, and those which covered it because it was an EU member will no longer apply. Do we have an ESTA into the US because we signed individually as the UK, or as an EU member, which we will no longer be? I've no idea. Do you?

Also, there will be no freedom of moment after March 29, deal or no deal. This means no right to work in the EU, as far as I can tell. Citizens of countries which need a visa are questioned on length of stays, return tickets. That will be us. There's a weird "nothing will change" but (ssshhhhhh) "don't mention the UK's withdrawal from the single market means loss of freedom of movement on BOTH ends"

Claims that "nothing will change" has been the war cry of Quitters since the beginning, in a weird denialism, about it never winning, never happening, then nothing will change and everything will change. "We want NOTHING and we WANT IT NOW". But we don't pay, we don't get. Freedom of movement has been negotiated away. Can you tell me if you can attend a work meeting in you German office without a work visa in 10 days time? I've struggled to get an answer.

Any extension of that is another can of worms just deferring to the same crap in 3 months time. So yes, a lot will change, will it change yet? But the inference is that we paid 10 billion a year for absolutely nothing is total nonsense and we'll see what disappears there. But I guarantee, if Brexit happens, like they say its inevitable, then a lot will change.

I sense Smid is unhappy

I sense Smid is unhappy

Yeah, I know... I am. It's just that people even still saying nothing is going to happen when, that is such a wonderful hope for me. That we just simply forget about it. A bit of brementia would do the country a lot of good.

As mentioned above, kick it down the road three months, and I'll be on a flight taking off when we're in the EU, and landing when we're not. Then a no deal brexit (which seems the only option, since if we don't participate in the May EU elections there is no extensions) will make me that booking... Somewhat interesting.

Nothing will change immediately. Absolutely no reason to be concerned.

You really cannot absolutely say that. Not in the case of a No deal brexit. Quite simply all international agreements between the UK the EU, and those which covered it because it was an EU member will no longer apply. Do we have an ESTA into the US because we signed individually as the UK, or as an EU member, which we will no longer be? I've no idea. Do you?

Also, there will be no freedom of moment after March 29, deal or no deal. This means no right to work in the EU, as far as I can tell. Citizens of countries which need a visa are questioned on length of stays, return tickets. That will be us. There's a weird "nothing will change" but (ssshhhhhh) "don't mention the UK's withdrawal from the single market means loss of freedom of movement on BOTH ends"

Claims that "nothing will change" has been the war cry of Quitters since the beginning, in a weird denialism, about it never winning, never happening, then nothing will change and everything will change. "We want NOTHING and we WANT IT NOW". But we don't pay, we don't get. Freedom of movement has been negotiated away. Can you tell me if you can attend a work meeting in you German office without a work visa in 10 days time? I've struggled to get an answer.

Any extension of that is another can of worms just deferring to the same crap in 3 months time. So yes, a lot will change, will it change yet? But the inference is that we paid 10 billion a year for absolutely nothing is total nonsense and we'll see what disappears there. But I guarantee, if Brexit happens, like they say its inevitable, then a lot will change.

Completely agree. As we Brits have learned to say in America, this is a raging 'Dumpster Fire'.

Love how May wants to be allowed to vote, vote and vote again till she gets her desired result, but the people are only allowed one go at it. It's a complete disaster, and clearly a lot of meddling (Foreign, esp Russian) skewed things.

Give the people a referendum on the final proposal!

I'd say if this is becoming a Brexit discussion this needs to be moved to The Galley section

[mitchja]

I'd say if this is becoming a Brexit discussion this needs to be moved to The Galley section

Yes indeed, let’s not let this turn into a political debate and keep this about travel please.