The little-known UK airport pass that everyone should know about – and will completely change your arrival
THERE is nothing worse than landing after a long flight and seeing huge queues at arrival.
But there is a little known pass that could let you skip this entirely – and make it home much faster.
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While fast passes are commonly used when arriving for a flight, which can speed up getting through departures, some airports also have arrival passes.
This means you can skip the long queues at passport control.
Just six airports in the UK offer the service, and each vary in price.
One of the cheapest airport’s to have the arrival passes is East Midlands Airport.
Starting from £5, the Passport Control FastTrack also includes a faster, dedicated passport lane.
There are some restrictions however, as it can only be used between 12pm and 4pm and 9pm and 1am.
Both London Stansted and Manchester Airport‘s Passport Control FastTrack starts from £15 per person.
London Stansted’s can be used between 6am and 1am and Manchester Airport’s can be used between 7am and 4:30am
Birmingham Airport’s Premium Arrivals Fast Track service also has a faster separate lane at passports.
However, this service is about to leap in price.
Previously costing £7, from July 1 this is to cost a whopping £20 per person.
Birmingham Airport confirmed they were made aware of the change in price back in March, but that the prices were dictated by Border Force.
London Gatwick’s Fast Track Passport Control, which is limited to just 50 passengers per hour, starts from £9 although is free for anyone under the age of 2.
And Edinburgh Airport‘s starts from £7 per person.
Of course passengers who have checked in any luggage are unlikely to benefit from the passes, as they will still have to wait at baggage collection.
Desperate Brits have also been attempting to buy fast passes for departures at a number of airports, following huge queues stretching outside the terminal.
Holidaymakers at Birmingham Airport have been arriving at 4am in an attempt to avoid the hour-long queues.
What are the passport rules?
The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained exactly what Brits need to know.
“Travellers used to be able to roll over up to nine unused months from their old passport onto a new one.
“But post-Brexit, anyone wanting to travel to the EU can no longer rely on those extra months.
“In order to travel to the EU, all passports must be no more than 10 years old on the day you arrive in your European destination.
“And you’ll need at least three months on your passport on the day you head back to the UK.
“Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
“The 10-year rule only applies to countries in the European Union but every country may have different rules on what is accepted – some countries like South Africa, for example, insist you have at least six months left on your passport when you travel and a full clear page.”
Many of the queues, however, are following the confusion over the new 100ml rules.
Here’s everything you need to know about the liquid rules.
