The reason it is so quick passing through the iris recognition immigration system (IRIS) lane on returning to London's Heathrow Terminal 5 is that not many people are able to use the lane. Why not? For the last four months - at least - the airport authorities have kept the office shut, where travellers could have their scans taken and put on record.
The Blog sails through the IRIS lane each time, but then has to wait for family and friends to pass through the regular queue. For months, the office in Terminal 5 has had a rough note stuck to the locked door saying it would be open at 7.30 am, no matter what time of day it was.
Now the airport has finally admitted that it has given up. A printed note is on the door to say it is shut until further notice. If you haven't had it done by now, you've missed your chance.
It's been exactly the same situation at Manchester airport for as long as I can remember. It was excellent to begin with, but I'm the only one in the family that found the office open. Now two out of four of us have chipped passports, so the wait continues...