Irish passengers face fingerprinting checks at Heathrow

IRISH air travellers passing through Heathrow Airport in London may be subjected to mandatory fingerprinting as a result of security measures introduced by the British Airport Authority at the weekend.

Passengers catching flights from London’s main airport to the Republic will have to undergo biometric screening if they wish to use Heathrow’s international passenger lounge as part of British immigration requirements.

The new measures apply to anyone arriving on an international flight and transferring to a British domestic flight, as well as domestic passengers visiting the international lounge before boarding flights in Terminal 1.

Travellers on flights to Ireland are classified as domestic passengers because of the common travel area between Ireland and Britain.

A BAA spokeswoman explained that the new security measures were introduced to allow domestic and international passengers to mix freely in the terminal’s larger international departure lounge.

Air travellers on domestic flights will be able to avoid the biometric screening if they opt to only visit the domestic passenger lounge.

However, fingerprints and a digital photograph will be taken of all people on flights bound for Irish airports as they leave the international passenger lounge. These results will then be matched with passengers as they board their aircraft.

The BAA spokeswoman said the extra measures were designed to prevent boarding passes being swapped, as well as stopping people entering Britain without undergoing the appropriate immigration checks.

She stressed that the biometrics data would not be passed on to other authorities such as the British police. The personal information would also be destroyed on a daily basis, she added.

“The main purpose of these initiatives is to improve the passenger experience for people travelling through Heathrow,” said the BAA spokeswoman.

However, British civil liberties campaigners have expressed concern that the airport authorities have implemented the new measures without proper consultation. It is understood that passengers at Heathrow are being handed information leaflets that warn them they will be barred from flights unless they co-operate with the requirements.

Similar security checks are also planned for Heathrow’s new Terminal 5, which is scheduled to open at the end of March. It is also a single passenger lounge for domestic and international travellers.