Airlines to have their say on landing cards controversy
Airlines and airports are amongst a number of organisations to be consulted over the government’s plan to ditch landing cards for millions of travellers arriving in the UK from outside the EU.
It claims getting rid of the paper cards, which are handed out on flights and ships for passengers to compete prior to arriving in the UK, will cut costs for airlines and shipping companies.
It is also believed the move has been designed to reduce queues at airports and the number of staff required to help passengers fill out the landing cards.
Under the Home Office plans, the landing cards will be scrapped on October 1 and instead immigration officers will rely on the advance passenger information every passenger is already obliged to provide prior to travelling to the UK.
The move is expected to save the government around £3.6 million a year, according to The Times.
However, critics warn that ditching the landing cards will mean that around 16 million people arriving in the UK every year from outside the EU will no longer have to say where they are staying or for how long.
The advance passenger information they are currently required to provide only requests their name, gender, date of birth, passport number and the country issuing the travel document.
Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and a former chairman of the home affairs committee, told The Times that the decision was at odds with a government-wide drive to increase the amount of immigration data.
"It defies logic, at a time when so much effort is being put into improving border security, to remove a long- standing tool like this without a proper replacement and for what is a relatively small saving," he said.
Airlines and airports, along with officials and academics who use statistics from landing cards, will be consulted over the next four weeks on the plan to scrap them.
A Home Office spokesman said: "The withdrawal of landing cards will not result in the loss of any data that is used for security checks.
"All passengers arriving from outside the EU will continue to be checked against the variety of police, security and immigration watchlists, which are used to verify the identity and confirm the status of every passenger arriving at UK airports.
"This is the latest stage in a wide-reaching consultation and security and immigration colleagues have already been involved in the development of this proposal."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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