Passengers are faking a need for wheelchairs to skip queues at Heathrow Airport, according to its chief executive, John Holland-Kaye. He told LBC radio that some travellers are using wheelchair support to get fast-tracked through the airport, a trend he attributes to a TikTok video promoting the practice.
Holland-Kaye said: 'For passengers requiring wheelchair support we have more demand than we had before the pandemic. Why is that happening? Some of this is because people are using the wheelchair support to try to get fast-track through the airport. That is absolutely the wrong thing to be doing.' He added: 'If you go on TikTok you’ll see that that is one of the travel hacks that people are recommending. Please don’t do that.'
In June, a TikTok user posted a video of themselves pretending to have an injured ankle to get a wheelchair while flying from Ibiza to Bristol. The video showed the user removing their shoe and was captioned: 'Faking hurting my leg to get through security faster and on to the plane.'
Holland-Kaye noted that about half of arriving passengers who request assistance only do so once on the plane. He urged those who 'really need the service' to inform Heathrow 'well in advance so we can make sure there are enough people there to meet your needs'.
He also attributed delays to passengers 'travelling with more than they normally would' and failing to 'check in all of their makeup' before security. The airport has faced long queues this summer due to staff shortages and has capped daily departing passengers at 100,000 this month to ease pressure.
