The suspect, 24, who worked at Terminal 5, is said to have charged customers £25,000 a time to abuse a loophole in order to fly them across the BA network without crucial visa documents.

Police are working with counterparts in India to try to trace the man, who vanished with his BA ground services partner after being arrested and bailed.

As part of his fiddle, he got clients, most from India, to fly to the UK on a temporary visitor visa where he arranged for them to jet elsewhere.

Other clients were UK-based asylum claimants who feared being returned to their country of origin.

Canadian authorities raised the alarm after years of BA flights to Toronto or Vancouver on which arrivals would immediately declare asylum.

A probe found all were checked in by the same man who falsely verified the travellers had an eTA — electronic travel authorisation — to enter a chosen country.

An eTA can be applied for by a passenger only in their country of origin, and would have been rejected without the BA official’s help.

He was nicked on January 6 but bailed after which he flew to India, from Heathrow, where he has bought several homes, it is said.

A source told The Sun last night: “He exploited a loophole knowing that immigration checks are no longer carried out by officials but are left to airline staff.

“By inputting wrong data, and claiming eTA documents had been secured, he got people to countries they had no permission to enter in the first place.

“On arrival, the bogus passengers would shred their documents and claim asylum.

“Many jetted to Britain to pay him to get them to Canada.

“Others had been stuck in the UK immigration system for up to 10 years, and feared being sent back to their country of origin.

Read the full story originally published at thesun.co.uk

The post British Airways supervisor is on the run in India accused of organising £3million five year immigration scam from his Heathrow check-in desk appeared first on Aviation Figures.

The airline has increased the minimum connection time for connecting flights operating through Heathrow Terminal 5.

The connection time, which previously stood at 60 minutes, has increased to 75 minutes.

On the British Airways website, passengers can only book connecting services if flights are scheduled to arrive at least 75 minutes before the onward departure time.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Following customer feedback, we’re increasing the minimum connection time for some of our flights through Heathrow T5.

“This will give customers more time to make their next flight and reduce the risk of missing their onward service, which we know is incredibly frustrating.”

The rule change was brought into effect on January 9, 2024, in a bid to make connections at Terminal 5 less stressful, with UK passengers flying from airports like Manchester and Edinburgh most likely to be impacted.

Any passengers travelling from those airports may need to take an earlier flight before arriving at Heathrow.

While minimum connection times are set by the International Air Transport Association, individual airlines can set their own times.

Holidaymakers who need to switch between Terminals 3 and 5 will still need to have a minimum connection time of 90 minutes.

This is because passengers will need to take a 10-minute bus between the terminals.

Other top airports across Europe have shorter minimum connection times.

For example, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has a minimum connection time of 40 minutes for flights to Schengen countries and 50 minutes for non-Schengen countries.

Meanwhile, British Airways flights are set to return to London Stansted for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The flag carrier has confirmed that three new routes will depart from the London airport, with prices starting at £36 for a one-way ticket.

From London Stansted, British Airways will fly to Florence, Ibiza, and Nice.

The new flights will be operated by BA Cityflyer – a subsidiary of British Airways.

At present, BA Cityflyer already flies from London City Airport to nearly 30 short-haul destinations.

Read the full originally published story at – thesun.co.uk

The post British Airways introduces new rules for Heathrow passengers – and it will make your journey longer appeared first on Aviation Figures.