T3 Immigration Queue Management
On the T3 immigration queue issue, a bit of anecdotal observation. Last week, I arrived at T3 on the fourth of four Ryanair flights landing in a short space of time. My flight from Gdansk appeared to have just three empty seats, and as these were located alongside each other (before opportunists relocated) I suspect they were allocated to a no-show party rather than being unsold. The other three Ryanairs were from Barcelona, Palma and Rome Ciampino - so likely to be full or thereabouts also. The immigration queue supported this assumption.
I have arrived to such queues in T3 before, but there was a marked difference on this occasion. Three staff were allocated specifically to manage the queue. The first one directed customers into EU / Non-EU queues, segregated people travelling with ID cards from those with passports, and periodically held up a huge diagram of a passport cover showing how to identify whether it was chipped.
The second staff member patrolled the junction at which arriving passengers split into queues for the e-gates (chipped passports) or staffed immigration desks (old-style passports, ID cards). He periodically drew attention to a short film showing on overhead TV monitors which explained how to use the e-gates. He also injected some humour to keep the crowds in a positive mood. "The e-gates will recognise you unless you've spent afew grand on plastic surgery whilst you were away!"
Finally, a lady supervised the e-gates themselves (about five of them - all working). She helped the less-able passengers navigate the procedure. She also troubleshooted any problems and redirected any unobliging passports to staffed desks. All regular desks appeared to be staffed, though my view of these was partially obscured.
The result was that from the aircraft arriving on gate to me being outside T3 landside took exactly 20 minutes. I timed it ... I'm sad like that! And my start-point was close to the back of a RYR B738, not the optimal location for a quick getaway (although the rear steps helped).
I was actually very impressed by the way the whole system worked (well done staff). This was a considerable improvement over previous arrivals at busy times. Are MAG operating a similar queue-management system in T1 and T2? Anybody know? Money well-spent if so.
BTW, my outbound trip five days previously navigated security with no queueing of consequence. About five minutes from start to finish. A slightly less busy time though, my steed being the Sun-Air J328 to Billund well after the first wave of Ryanairs had departed. Afew AAL pax in the mix by then, however.