a) why the need for a search when transferring INT-DOM but not DOM-INT
Arse covering. The politicians can't trust foreign airports to clear passengers to DFT standards so they put them through the system again. Having said that, don't they do exactly the same at AMS as they check you at the gate?
Though without the massive queue and the little Hitlers.
I brought this up on a similar thread earlier in the year having experienced the same inconsistency at T5.
The stupidest thing I found on this point was that people were having to hand over the bottles of water and wine to security that BA had handed out on the plane. So what was safe for BA to give out..then became a security risk again having landed on UK soil.