Travel experts on the hunt for cheap deals tested out whether a premium Fast Track is worth it at the airport. Chelsea and James, also known as Cheapholidayexp on Instagram, decided to use the service but claimed it only works when you follow the rules.
The pair were travelling during the Easter holidays back in April, timing each of their attempts to get through security. Chelsea can be seen clutching a small plastic bag for her carry-on liquids.
Upon arriving at the security queue, Chelsea found an extra lane opened up. She said: “It’s really not too bad. How’s he doing? I don’t think there was any queue for the premium is the problem.”
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A shot from James’ camera saw him strolling on through to security without needing to queue. Chelsea’s time passing through normal security checks took her eight minutes and 22 seconds.
She said: “Now there is a chance he will have been stopped because he gets stopped all the time. So hopefully that’s on our side.”
Chelsea beat James through security, who ended up having his bags pulled and checked by security. Upon reuniting, she asked: “How was your £6?” He replied: “Waste of money.”
James’ final time was a total of 16 minutes and 30 seconds. Chelsea asked: “So what was the reason you got stopped?” He simply replied: “Camera.”
Chelsea added: “So it doesn’t matter if you’ve paid for premium or not, if you don’t follow the rules, you’re gonna get stopped. So not only was I quicker, I saved money too.”
However, the service won’t be fast if you end up getting your bags checked. The content creators explained that the security thought it was due to a camera still being stored in the bag, rather than unpacked.
The pair were confident that had James avoided any issues with his bag, he would’ve made it through security checks in minutes. They caveated: “It’s tough because some security lines say just laptops, whilst others say electronics. Basically it’s always worth a quick ask when you’re unpacking your bits.”
They captioned the video: “I wasn’t expecting this twist. Some of you SWEAR by Fast Track but is it worth the £6?! We decided to test it out!! Save this for the future and tag someone you’ve had this argument with!!
“As we were travelling at peak times (hello a Saturday in the Easter holidays!) we decided to test out whether Fast Track was worth the cost or not. Naturally, James went with the fancy premium service and I stuck with normal FREE security.”
Their top tip if you do want to take a punt with airport fast track? Buy it in advance. The pair explained that buying the service ahead of time can save you £2 in comparison to purchasing at the airport.
Another reason for James’ slow time was the number of people also getting checked in his queue. They wrote: “There are loads of reasons that more people were being pulled in his queue, and here’s a few of them: More families were using this area with more items and therefore more chance of error in things being placed through security.
“On the day James used premium, they only had one bag checking area available for 2 security scanners. As Premium was quiet, the airport was feeding normal security through to this area too which means it has potential to slow down a premium user’s journey should their bags get pulled.”