Heathrow Airport
Reviews and Complaints

DEAR Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about an immigration officer who made I believe some racist comment.
To begin with I am a British Citizen but mother of mine is Armenian. She has got a permanent residence card and a settlement card which states indefinite leave to remain. The problem arises when the officer was not sure to stamp my mother's passport or not. I politely pointed out that her passport was not stampted last time, however, she made unacceptable comments such as even though you are British Citizen now, you originally weren't before and all what you did was arguing with me. I was shocked that she made such comments.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Faithfully yours
Eduard Arustamyan

I arrived at Lane 13 in Terminal 5 as directed by the security staff on the morning of Tuesday 22nd October 2019 (on my BA flight to Berlin at 10.55) and placed my handbag, mobile phone and a plastic bag containing 5 items of make up including;

1. Chanel 4 colour palette eye shadow
2. Chanel black kohl pencil
3. Clarins Joli Rouge lipstick
4. Clarins moisturising replenishing lip balm with blue lotus wax
5. Clarins Supra Volume Black mascara

into the box indicated by the member of staff. I placed my coat in a separate box and proceeded through the security gate and was searched by a member of staff as the alarm went off . By the time I had been searched and had gone to collect my belongings from the boxes which had gone through the security facilities my bag of make up had gone and in its place was another bag of make up (which was 2x the size of mine!) and did not belong to me. This took place between 09.17 and 09.31 as confirmed by the security manager on duty at the time.

I notified the member of staff who was located in my lane and he went to have a look for it but was unable to find it and he then directed me to the security manager on duty at the time Awil Yusuf who also searched for it. Mr Yusuf went to look at the CCTV footage which was unable to show anything either. He was unable to identify what had happened to my bag of make up and could not explain how another person's bag had been placed in my box. He was however able to provide me with details of the time slot in which I proceeded through the security search process which was from 09.18 to 09.31.

I had to come away having spent over 30 minutes waiting around for someone to locate my missing bag of make up empty handed and subsequently had to rush to try and replace some of the items from the airport shops before I boarded my BA flight at 10.55.

I am therefore requesting reimbursement for the items I now need to replace as a result of this experience.

My flight was delayed and my arrival time was delayed as a result. The shuttle service would not come to get me saying that I was late and to catch a taxi. The taxi cost me $108 usd (bank statement available for proof). This complaint as first submitted over a month ago. Your company keeps telling me they can't get in touch with the service they contract with for transportation to/from airport.

After the departures gate entry, I entered into your security gate and the alarm went off.
I was then asked to pass once again, this time, with my shoes off.
After that my body was checked by a young Sikh man and he asked me if I had anything in my pockets.
I told him no, when he checked me he asked me why I told no when I had something in my back pocket.
I told I forgot I had a few 10 pounds note in my back pocket.
I took them out and let them drop to the floor, so he could see there was nothing untoward in my pocket.
He asked me why I was being rude, I told him how was dropping my money on the floor being rude to him?
He then started to go on and I told to do his job and finish with me.
This guy then started arguing with my wife who was on the other side of the wall.
I told him that a man in is position shouldn't be arguing with passengers.
He said he would do as he pleased..and what was I going to do about it! And then proceeded to come towards me. I dont take aggression and I also moved towards him and also said..what are you going to do.
He backed off and than swore at my wife telling her to [censored] off.
I left it at that and asked to speak to a manager and explained what had happened, another manager than went to the man in question and came back and said I threw the money at him which I didnt.
The managers name was Gurvir Koona.
The time was 8.10 /8.15 pm
The security baggage check area was no 3.
My flight was QR016
Actually another security lady near the altercation told me to go to the manager and complain about your security personal.
You have CCTV that covers the area, you check it.
As I said to your man, this is not the way you deal with people who indirectly pay your wages.
And he replied, no you don't.
The same was said by the manger Mr Koona.
We are a private company he said.
So if Heathrow didnt have passengers, would they have a contract with a private company to check passengers?
Passengers pay to you the airport and some of that money goes to the private company to man the security company, who in turn pay the security staff..
Or am I wrong and the company is self financing.
I want to complain in the strongest possible terms about this gentleman who shouldn't be dealing with people if he has anger management problems.
My email address is [protected]@HOTMAIL.COM.
THANK YOU

I lost my laptop bag having New Silver 17.3" HP i5 latest laptop as well as New 10.1" latest Samsung tablet in most probably in security check in area or otherwise boarding gate of Emirates airlines flight no.EK004
Flight timing 20.40. I was noticed inflight after the flight takeoff . I complained to crew members about my lost of bag. They try solve my problem but unfortunately I couldn't find the laptop bag. I lost my bag first time in life and the things in the bag is most important for me.

I am kindly requesting you to please help me to find out the laptop bag.

Thank you so much

Sekar Chettiar

Contact no. India [protected] Ashok (brother)
UK contact no.[protected] (currently in holiday in India returning UK on 28th September, 2019.)

Ekai id. [protected]@yahoo.co.in

Left my liquid bag with nearly £200 worth of make up and perfume in it at south security on the 27 Aug 2019
Filed a list property notification and on returning to airport on the 30 Aug checked with lost property to no avail .
Asked at security to be told my liquid bag had more than likely been thrown in the bin!
Surely this can't be acceptable? At least give people the chance to claim it back.
I am furious with the disregard for my property that cost a lot of money just to be thrown away

I have a blue badge and wanted to park in the blue badge spaces at T2 level one. All the spaces were occupied. Five of the spaces were occupied by either Black Mercedes, Black BMWs or Black Vito passenger buses. None were displaying Blue Badges and when I confronted two of the drivers, one said, "I don't care" and another said, "well I might be picking someone up who is disabled.
Yesterday one of the Vito bus things was parked across 3 disabled bays blocking all three from use. When I asked the driver to move to allow me to park he told me I would have to wait.
This is becoming really unacceptable and maybe you should introduce a £100 fine for improper use of Blue badge spaces?

After paying for and securing an airport lounge pass you can imagine my dismay when I walked into an area I expected to be peaceful and comfortable so I could do some work while I waited 5 hours for my flight and there were no seats available let alone plugs to charge my phone or laptop. On top of that the Aspire lounge and spa also had NO SPA!

I also had 5 hours to wait and as a smoker, which is my choice and right, I was told I would have to leave the airport in order to smoke a cigarette!

I am disgusted that the above two scenarios happened in a brand new terminal in one of the world's busiest airports!

I expect a refund on my lounge ticket at the very least!

I look forward to your response.

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am writing to you to raise an complaint about an incident that took place at Heathrow Airport.

I was a passenger of BA on Friday the 21st of June from London to Athens. I left my hand luggage after the security check, though once I retrieved 2 days later, 800 euros in cash were missing.
I reported the case to the met police who they advised me to get in touch with you. I did have other valuable stuff in the luggage, though only the 800 euros were missing. I believe that this shouldn't have happened especially when i have already passed through security control.
It is incident that must take your attention as this shouldn't happen and mainly on a routine basis.

I would appreciate if CCTV cameras are opened from that day to check that the cash was stolen and/ or arrange a refund. Also there should be on your records who handed the luggage and what time that had place to the lost properties and this footage to be investigated as well, as is my legal right to know .
As hand luggage's are checked through monitors when passing through security, in my understanding it must be also easy to locate any valuable things into it .

If you are unable to suggest a way forward I am happy to follow a legal complaint procedure, if you could kindly advise me on that process.

I look forward to your prompt response on this matter.
My email address is [protected]@gmail.com

Yours faithfully,

konstantina papatolia

I observed one of your security officers between 4 pm and 5 pm on Friday 3 August treating a 3-year-old child abysmally. The mother and child were in front of me going through baggage security. As they walked through the first scanner, your officer asked them to walk through the scanner where you have to put your hands up and stand still inside a small tunnel. The officer tried to force the 3-year old into the scanner. The mother then went first to try and encourage the child. But the child still did not want to go into the tunnel. In addition, as you officer turned back to indicate me through, I clearly saw her swearing under her breath but moving her lips - "[censored]ing hell" she clearly said. The father and older brother (who clearly had autism) had gone through with no trouble, however, the older brother was becoming very distressed at what was happening to his 3-year-old brother and the delay caused. I feel it is appalling that a 3-year-old child should be forced to go through such a piece of equipment on their own - it would appear very frightening indeed to such a young child, and the fact that your officer swore because he would not go through is despicable. Regrettably, I do not have a name or number of the officer but she was not of British descent - she looked perhaps oriental and was not young. I do however wish you to acknowledge this unacceptable behaviour and I hope that you will train your officers better in the handling of children - this could be deemed to be abuse otherwise. I look forward to your response.

My parents came to the uk to travel for two weeks and they would like get tax refund on the goods they have bought here. They have sorted out the receipts before head and arrived at the airport three hours before their flight. We have no idea how the tax refund works, we saw the queue for checking in at terminal 2 is awfully long so they decided to do the check in and bag drop first before dealing with tax refund as checking in plus catching flights is more important than tax refund.

After the check in and bag drop process, they only have one hour left before boarding. We went to the tax refund counter and the lady just ask where we are from and do we have the receipts for it. We show her the receipts and she let us in and starts queuing. We have no idea how it is going to work and no one is trying to explain it to us. They have no notice or poster telling people how it is going to process. All they ask for is receipts.

Time is limited and my parents is worried about time to go through the border and finding the boarding gate. I asked the staff there about how long does it takes and she said it should be fine just wait and queue. When it is our turn, my parents lost their patient by the waiting time. We gave the receipts to the staff and the computer went wrong. My father is worried so he jumped into another counter when it is free. The staff asked can we show her the boarding pass for record. We show it to her and she then asked us to provide all the goods for tax refund.

At this point, it doesn't make sense already. The staff ask for the boarding pass but want to look at the goods at the same time.

We tell her about the situation and she started to cancel all the forms. She didn't explain anything to us which makes my parents feel very uncomfortable and stressful. My father know nothing about english which makes him more stressful so he started to shout at the staff because he wanted to know why this is happening. But the staff just turn back and continue canceling every single forms. She even canceled one of the forms that we have stamped from the Paris airport. I can't understand this because that has nothing related to the UK and the Paris airport tax refund counter have already help us to stamp and finish the forms. I can't understand this and she refuse to return all the forms unless we can get our checked in cases back and show her what we have got.

If we try to get our checked in cases back, it is just waste of time, the flight might be delayed and no one on the flight wish to.

It is very uncomfortable and I just can't explain how frustrated we are. Especially my parents came here for traveling and they want this to be a happy trip but it wasn't now because of this bad confusing tax refund incident.

I understand that it might be our problem that we can't provide the goods there as all of them is inside our checked in cases but I wish there are more information about the process at the tax refund counter before we start queueing. If we know that we can't get tax refund because of this silly reason, we won't be queueing that 45minutes for nothing.

The whole process is extremely stressful and unclear overall. My parents went on the flight with frustration and anger because of all the confusion and lack of explanation from the staff there.

We have travelled to Las Vegas every year for at least the last ten years from Gatwick where the airport assistance is good.
This year the flight departed from Heathrow. The service provided was abysmal.We are both over 80. I have spinal problems and my partner has a heart condition so we cannot walk long distances and need airport assistance. On departure from Heathrow we had to wait a considerable time for chairs to go through security. Then there was no special queue. We had to wait in a long queue before we got to security. The security officer was extremely difficult, obnoxious and rude, insisting that I take off my shoes, which I could not do as I was wearing a spinal brace and could not bend to reach my feet. The security officer refused to let me through unless my shoes were removed. My partner had to leave all our belongings which had gone through, come back and remove my shoes.
On the return journey, we had to wait for chairs, then wait for a buggy, then wait for more chairs in order to get to the baggage reclaim. It was all very difficult and distressing both when departing and arriving.
Surely the organisation for the disabled could be improved and the staff instructed to be more courteous and respectful.

What we experienced at the hands of Heathrow security was tantamount to child abuse.

While vacationing, we traveled through the security of three different countries. Only at Heathrow did we encounter bigotry and ignorance.

My four-year-old son supposedly set off the metal detector with his shoes. This did not occur in any other country. We were forced aside. He was separated from me both times we traveled through Heathrow, first to make a connection to Scotland, then as we passed through again going home to US.

Being four and forced from his mother, he began crying. He was visibly distraught, but I was prevented both times from helping him. The second time we passed through Heathrow, my son became clearly frightened at the idea of being forced through the scanner after his previous experience. He began crying and was noticeably agitated. Again, I went to help him and I was not permitted. He is four.

There is no reason they could not simply have used a wand to check him. These agents intentionally caused trauma to my son. People remained to ensure our safety; they looked on with horror as the agents blatantly lied to a manager by saying I refused to allow my son to be searched.

One agent said to his manager, "It's two against one." Referring to himself and the other agent with him regarding his lies about my son biting and my refusal for search.

This was not about safety or protecting the airport. This was bigotry, child abuse, and abuse of power.

I filed a complaint for the first incident at Heathrow and followed up with customer service about the second incident.

Again, my son has traveled multiple times and through different countries without incident. We have never had an issue. Heathrow is the first time we have ever experienced such abuse from security.

Heathrow has not followed through and contacted me further regarding my complaint. My only hope is someone recorded the incident and shares what those agents did to a child. It's absolutely disturbing such behavior is allowed. What purpose does it serve? Whose safety was protected by abusing a child?

I returned to LHR from New York on AA 142 on Tuesday 25th June, arriveing at LHR at 10.10p.m
I had booked a wheelchair. DREADFUL service. There was no one waiting at the aircraft. I was told I hadn't booked. Yes I had when I booked my flight.Eventually he came and took me a short distance, couldn't use the lift, turned back, all the time going slowly, carrying another passengers bag. She was walking. He then told me to get out of the wheelchair, sit on a seat and wait. He put my wheelchait on the back of an electric buggy, told me there was no room for me in it and drove off.
I was completely alone iuntil the cart returned and another assistant told me to get in. I was on my own in it. He told me he would not help me at the carousel, then drove to the top of a steep ramp and told me he did not go any further and said I could walk down to Passport Control. I used my stick and just about made it. One of the other wheelchair assistants was disgusted by my treatment. I walked with my stick to baggage claim and another assistant got my bag. The person I am complaining about was tall, dark and I think probably Indian. Youngish. Absolutely unacceptable treatment and very distressing. I have to use a wheelchair as I had a near fatal road accident and suffered a fractured sternum, seven broken ribs, a broken leg, injured neck and a bruised coccyx. Perhaps you will now understand my distress. Joan Wheeler.

I had requested to have a wheel chair transfer me from t5 (ba 811)to t3 to my connecting flight aa729 on 25.06.2109 to phl. I made that request approx 2 weeks priorthru aa and it was verified when i checked in at ba and reconfirmed when i called aa. I needed the transfer because i am recovering from a fractured humerus (arm) and i am in a brace. Thi s limits my endurance and mobility. My travel was mandated by my work. When i got off the ba flight there were no wheelcahirs on the jetty and was told they were running late but to check outside the arrival gate and see if there were any. I did check and was told again by the employee in the purple jacket-that there were none and prob be awile. My connection was short due to delay of ba flight from cph because of lhr issues. So i "hoofed it to the bus for t3, took a toour of lhr airport on this bus and hoofed again to gate 42. Each time was told no wheel chair. So i am asking as busy as lhr is shold there not be enough wheel chairs to accomodate disaled customers. I reeally di not need to hear about the excellent dinnin and shopping options on the bus but would rather hear that at heathrow thr passenger comes first! i think that it is shameful that wa disabled passenger should be treated this way!

Dear Sir,
On the 8th of June my Carer and l travelled from Faro to Heathrow on BA 507 l had pre booked my requirement for assistance when l booked the flight two months previous, they were six of us who required assistance and the flight was an hour and ahalf late, when the Aircraft was on stand we then waited approximately for an hour and a half before we were taken off the Aircraft no explanation was given why the assistance was late. When the staff turned up there was a baggy for five people which was clearly not enough as there were six of us. I was eventually taken off the Aircraft in a wheelchair and my carer walked beside me no apology was given for the lateness of the staff other than to say their company would only pay for two people... in their words this was a common practice.
This service was appalling .As the owner of the Airport i assume you accept vicaious liability for the operators of this service. l believe the captain of the flight also made a complaint in his log .I wish to know what steps you plan to take to improve the service and compensate me. l will await your response before taking further action .

Yours sincerly

James Middleton
8 Greenview Court
Ashford
TW15 2HY

Re Vietnam flight Wednesday 12th flight number V050.we checked in at about 08.15 1case weighed 15kg went up to the main conveyor belt and got stuck when the check in operator stopped the belt our suitcase was broken open our luggage was in full view the duty manager was called over and she did get us a new suitcase which was a lot smaller than the one we had just brought to which we were grateful unfortunately we have lost 1 training shoe(new brown) which the duty manager said they were looking for but had not appeared an electric razor which was in the shoe a new bottle of kuros after shave a bottle of coresedine for my tooth extraction and 4 pairs of new socks, 1 lock. We didn't get a report number so we can claim or if you have found our items which would great can you please advise me what I need to do next as this has never happened to me before. Thank you for your help Ian buckles...

On May 7, I travelled from Toronto to Belfast via Heathrow. I had to change terminals from 2 to 5. The special assistance at Terminal 2 took me as far as the bus to change terminals. I am unable to walk long distances or navigate stairs safely. When I got off of the bus at terminal 5 and went to the desk for special assistance, I was told that it would be at least a 45 minute wait for a wheelchair. I responded that if I waited 45 minutes, I would miss my connecting flight to Belfast. The attendant said "then you better walk or you will miss your flight." I expect a world class airport such as Heathrow to be able to do much better than this at Special Assistance. Having checked my mobility walker at the gate, I only had a folding cane to use for assistance. It took me 30 minutes to walk to my gate and I was in extreme pain. I almost missed my flight but a companion ran on ahead and asked them to wait for me which thankfully they did. I had a 90 layover so that should have been plenty of time if the special assistance had done their job correctly.

Tmira And William Ostrow - BA booking Q9PEKU
I would like to complain about the obnoxious behavior of your employee, Nina, who was working at the customer service desk in the BA Galleries Lounge (southern lounge in Terminal 5).
We had a 6 hour layover at Heathrow waiting for a connecting flight to PGH (USA). My husband is a badly disabled combat veteran. He has one leg, replaced shoulders and hips, a bad spinal column injury and many others. He has trouble walking and standing. This Nina paged us to inform us that our wheelchair transportation to the gate had arrived. She told me that I cannot accompany my husband. I explained that my husband needs my assistance. She was obnoxious and I could tell that even the BA Lounge employees nearby were also shocked!
My husband refused to go without me, and we walked to the gate (him on crutches) with great difficulty. This woman should not be working with customers, certainly not disabled ones.
Thank you,
Tmira Ostrow
+[protected] [protected]@hotmail.com

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Hi There
I flew in to heathrow airport on the 28th april 2019 with Ethiopian airlines
Flight ET700

when I collected my baggage from the belt my bag was damaged. This was reported to the airline at the airport and pictures were taken along with my passport and flight details and email.

I was told if I don't hear from you in 72 hours to contact you so hear I am chasing am update as to what will happen with replacing my bag that was damaged and the goods lost while in transit.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Lorraine Manzi