Can airport chaos be avoided?

The UK's two busiest airports - London Heathrow and London Gatwick - have hit the headlines this month due to delays caused by security checks, protestors, not to mention bomb hoaxes.

The situation at both London hubs has been described as utter chaos by industry commentators and passengers alike.

Gatwick, located to the south of London has been ranked the worst in the country for passenger delays by a UK independent travel agency group, which has set up a delay-monitoring website.

Found at ukairportdelays.com, the site has discovered that passengers using the airport are encountering average delays of up to three-quarters of an hour to get through security and half-an-hour to pass through immigration on their return.

To the north of London, Stansted has been ranked as the second worst airport in the country with check-in times of more than half-an-hour and average security delays of almost 40 minutes, with Heathrow ranked third worst.

To add to these woes, which have peaked during the busy August holiday season, Heathrow has this week seen a large group of climate protestors set up camp on the fringe of the airport, with reports that some planned to disguise themselves as passengers and make hoax bomb threats to cause further disruption at the airport.

Just days before the campers moved in, I was at Heathrow Airport preparing to fly back to the UAE and was expecting the aforementioned 'chaos' documented in the press.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find a relatively quiet Heathrow where waiting times for security were no longer than usual.

What did strike me, however, was that it's not the enhanced security measures slowing down the passengers' passage through the airport, but the passengers themselves.

You would think that by now, most seasoned travellers would realise what hand luggage they can and can't take; what liquids are permitted in their hand luggage - and that a plastic bag is provided for them; and that items such as shoes, coats, belts, etc must be removed before passing through security?

However, most travellers, despite the large signs warning them in advance of what preparatory measures to take, decide to opt for the last minute evacuation method.

They are just about to pass under the security gate when they suddenly realise they are still wearing their coats, shoes, belt, and also have a mobile phone and enough 'spare change' to keep a vagrant stocked with ciggies and 'cups of tea' for weeks, in their right-hand pockets.

This is an irritating practice I have witnessed at airports across the globe.

We should not be blaming security measures at airports for delays - they are there to protect us. Instead we should give our fellow passengers a nudge into removing all relevant items of clothing before they reach the security gate, as nine times out of 10 it is they - and not the machine or the security guard - that makes us miss our flight.

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