The Border Force has instructed airlines to limit London terminating travel on strike days to ensure that the limited staff on hand can adequately process the passengers without hours-long delays.
British Airways has stopped selling any London terminating tickets for December 23 – 26, and both BA and Virgin Atlantic are not selling tickets to London December 28 – 31. The UK Border Force staff are striking on these days and are replaced by other government employees swiping passports and clearing passengers.
Remember that there is no exit immigration leaving the UK, so this does not affect people exiting the country.
It is unclear how this will affect automated gates that many nationals entering the UK can use, as the border staff supervises those.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have zeroed out the New York – London availability.
But American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue happily sell seats.
Conclusion
I have spent three weeks in London over the past month+.
There was a complete meltdown trying to get to London from Spain last week when a touch of snow arrived in the capital, and airports were utterly unprepared for the winter weather, as they always are.
You can fly to Ireland first and then take a “domestic” flight to the UK, as these two have a common travel area without immigration checks.
