The chief of Heathrow Airport has blamed a popular TikTok “travel hack” for additional delays, due to passengers pretending to be disabled or injured in order to skip queues.
Speaking to LBC Radio on Monday (Jul 25), Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said there has been more demand for wheelchair support at the airport compared to pre-pandemic times.
“Some of this is because people are using the wheelchair support to try to get fast-tracked through the airport. That is absolutely the wrong thing to be doing.”
When asked if some people were abusing the rules by pretending they needed wheelchair assistance, Mr Holland-Kaye confirmed it and pointed to supposed “travel hacks” that were being recommended on TikTok.
“Please don’t do that, we need to protect the service for the people who need it most.”
In a TikTok video posted in June, user WolfJenko said that he pretended to be injured in order to get through airport security faster.
“Faked hurting my leg to get through security faster and onto the plane back from Ibiza,” he wrote in a video caption.
The video also showed him being pushed on a wheelchair through airport security, bypassing snaking lines of other passengers. He also said he had an entire row of seats on the flight to himself.
According to the Telegraph, the man was a 28-year-old student who had travelled from Turkey to Bristol.
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