Heathrow Airport is experiencing huge immigration lines and travel delays.
May 1, 2012- The 2012 London Olympics Games are just months away and already, there is a big problem at Heathrow Airport in London. Planes are landing on time, but it may take hours waiting in line before travelers end up leaving the airport.
Lines are already winding around and stretching back and forth outside the waiting area to get trough immigration. It is not uncommon to find long lines in most international destinations around the world. However, the lines at Heathrow are being described as the longest anyone has ever experienced.
The problem at the airport is so bad that the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has contacted the Home Office, equivalent to U.S. Homeland Security in the UK. He was clear in his letter that the reputation of London as being a city of tourism and business travel is on the line.
The London Olympic Games are just around the corner and if normal travel days have lines that take hours to get through, the Games will bring the airport to a standstill. One reason is that staff has been reduced at the border patrol, but officials promised to have more as the summer approached.
Border patrol for the UK said that UK citizens and European Union residents should not have to wait longer than 25 minutes and foreign nationals 45 minutes. However, of late, that has increased to hours not minutes and the Games are still a couple of months away.
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