Would you pay extra to jump a queue?

Mobile giant EE is the latest company offering customers the chance to jump the queue. And with airports and theme parks already cashing in on waiting times, is paying for the ‘fast track’ really worth it?

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Call centre short cuts

If you need to call EE, customers might be tempted by its new ‘Priority Answer’ service which enables you to queue jump and be answered by the next available operator... for a price.

An automated message offers you chance to jump the queue for a one-off 50p fee which should appear on your next bill, but even if you pay up EE won’t give a guaranteed response time. And even if you want to pay for it, the service is only available from 9am-6pm whereas the regular call centre opening hours are 8am-10pm.

Theme parks

Take a trip to any of the big theme parks and ride queues are usually part of the deal. So it's hardly surprising that they are cashing in by flogging ‘queue jumper’ packages.

But the option to bypass the main queue comes with a hefty price tag; nearly double the ‘gate rate’ in some cases with ‘fast track’ passes added on top of your park entry fee. Plus while you can often cut the ‘pay on the gate’ rate by booking online, you can’t usually get the same advance discount on queue jumping passes.

Alton Towers

Standard adult entry costs £49.20 or £36.90 for online bookings made seven days in advance.

To cut queue times you can shell out for a ‘Fastrack’ ticket. These cost £10 a time for flagship rollercoaster Smiler, while other ‘Fastrack’ packages typically cost £12 for four named rides.

But even with this you can only jump the queue on each of your allotted rides once. If you want an unlimited ‘Fastrack’ for 18 of the biggest rides, you’re looking at a mammoth £92 for ‘Fastrack Platinum’.

But even shelling out for this top-of-the-range ticket comes with small print. While the numbers of ‘Fastrack’ passes are limited, these won’t guarantee a choice of seating on the ride and you ‘may still incur a wait time’ with other queue jumpers.

Chessington World of Adventures

Adult park entry is £45 on the gate or £25 if you book five or more days in advance.

‘Fastrack’ passes start from £5 for two named rides and go up to a whopping £70 per person for unlimited priority access to all ‘Fastrack’ rides.

However, Chessington do offer a more ‘pocket friendly’ option if you just want one queue jump. If that’s the case how about a ‘One Shot Fastrack’ ticket, which costs up to £4 a time, depending on the ride. While these mean a timed slot and are only available in the park on the day, it’s a cheaper way to bypass the biggest queues without breaking the bank.

Thorpe Park

Park entry is £49.99 on the day or from £25.99 online with ‘Fastrack’ passes an additional £8-£75 per person.

The top price £75 version gives you unlimited queue jumper benefits on every ride with a ‘Fastrack’ option while the cheaper options typically include up to one ‘Fastrack’ entry on four named attractions.

Legoland

Park entry costs £46.80 with savings of 10% if you book online.

Unlike the ticket system used in other parks, Legoland’s system comes in the form of a hand held device called Q-Bot.

This means forking out a £50 deposit and carrying it round with you for the day, but if you programme it with the ride you want, you’ll get a specific timeslot.

However, you can only book one ride at a time, so you can’t line up a list of rides one after the other to get around quicker. Each device can be used for up to six people, and you’ll pay from £15-£70 per person depending on the number of rides you want to book.

Other major attractions

Blackpool Pleasure Beach runs 'Speedy Pass’ with several levels of ‘speed’ to choose from.

Cheapest is its standard ‘Speedy Pass’, which is £12 on the day or £9.60 if booked online with entry tickets. Like Legoland it’s a handheld device that works out your ride time, or to cut queue times by as much as 90% you’ll need to buy the ‘VIP Plus’ version which costs £42 per person (£33.60 if booked online), and that’s on top of the standard £29.99 entry. And as with Legoland you’ll need a £50 deposit.

At London Zoo you can pay an extra £3 for fast track entry with its special entry lane open until 2pm and online tickets can be upgraded to the fast track version on the day.

Fast track airport security

UK airports including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Bristol and Luton all have a ‘fast track’ security option.

While you’ll still go through all the same security checks, paying up does mean you’ll join a separate, usually shorter, queue.

Prices range from £3 at Newcastle and Luton to £5 at Edinburgh. Depending on the airport you can either pre-pay online or pay on the day, however at Manchester, fast track passes must be booked by 10pm the night before travel, so you can’t turn up, spot the queue and pay up.

And even if you pay up there’s no guarantee of a minimum or maximum queue time.

Airlines

Budget airlines Ryanair (£2 per person per flight) and easyJet (from £2.99 per person per flight both offer the option to purchase priority boarding and get on the aircraft ahead of everyone else. However, with allocated seating on all easyJet flights now, this isn't anywhere near as advantageous as it used to be. You can also pay a fee for allocated seating on Ryanair flights (£5 per person per flight) so there's arguably no need to pay for both.

Do you pay for the convenience of not having to wait in a queue anywhere? Or do you refuse on principle? Let us know in the Comments box below.

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