New Technology at Major Hub Makes Tight Connections Risky

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline.

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

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Let’s say you arrive at the airport 30 minutes before your flight leaves, with your ticket already printed and no bags to check. If you’re flying through select terminals at Heathrow, you’ll no longer be given the chance to make a run for your flight.

According to tnooz.com, the London airport has introduced a technology that prevents passengers from entering the security checkpoint if they have less than a half an hour left before their flight departs.

Heathrow is equipped with automated gates at which passengers must scan their boarding passes before they are allowed to enter the security checkpoint area. Now, when passengers scan their boarding passes, if they do not have sufficient time to make their flight, they will be forced to return to the check-in desk instead, and the airline will automatically be informed that the flyer will not make their flight. The automated system can also alert passengers if they are in the wrong terminal.

It should be a time-saver that airlines will be automatically alerted if a flyer will not make a flight (giving them extra time to remove any checked baggage from the plane), but as someone who has had to change terminals and make a run for a connecting flight, it seems a bit unfair to not even let someone TRY to make their flight with a half an hour left.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

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(Photo: LONDON – MAY 13 via Tupungato/Shutterstock.com)

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