Have Heathrow immigration queue times stabilized since the Olympics?

Question

Last year, I flew NZ 2 from LAX to LHR twice, once right before the Olympics and once in early December before the Christmas on-rush. The first trip, it took about an hour to clear immigration because of the queues; the second trip, under three minutes. In addition, it seems that the online complaints in regards to Heathrow immigration queue times all date from last year.

As I will be traveling to Heathrow again several times this year, I was wondering if anyone knew if immigration times have stabilized to a semi-predictable length since the Olympics?

I'd be particularly interested in information on Terminal 1, but any information at all would be helpful.

Answer 1

Honestly, it depends on when your flight arrives (it could be late or early), how many staff are on at that time, and whether other flights have arrived late or early. Peak times are also worse.

The official site is diplomatic and states:

With tougher checks now in place at the border, you may have to wait a little longer to get into the United Kingdom, especially at peak times.

Several news articles talk about waits of 1-4 hours depending on staff, strikes, students, and many other factors.

At Heathrow, Stansted and others, I also take the non-EU queue. Some days I've been lucky to walk straight up and through, other times I've waited hours.

Even if the flights are 'as expected' you could have a contingent of students with messed up visas or something ahead of you, which cause a delay.

Generally Terminal 1 is less busy than Terminal 3 and 5 in terms of passengers, but has the second-most flights. However even if it had the fewest passengers, it might also have the fewest staff rostered on, and so you get a delay.

Long story short; allow for lots and be happy if it's not :)