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Passengers facing four-hour security queues at some European airports Passengers facing hours in queues at some European airports
(about 7 hours later)
Thousands of flights are being delayed due to understaffed border controls in some of the most popular destinations for British holidaymakers, Europe’s largest airline association has warned. British passengers flying to and from continental Europe for their summer holidays face the prospect of “devastating” delays because of tougher Schengen area border controls, Europe’s largest airline lobby group has warned.
Passengers have faced queues of up to four hours as they arrive or attempt to leave places including Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Lisbon, Lyon, Paris-Orly, Milan or Brussels, Airlines for Europe (A4E) has said. Aage Duenhaupt, a spokesman for A4E, which represents airlines including BA’s owner, International Airlines Group, Ryanair and easyJet, said thousands of flights had already been delayed because of tighter checks at some EU airports.
The organisation – which represents airlines including easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair – blamed the delays this summer on understaffing amid tightened checks brought in under European regulations after the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks. Duenhaupt warned that this coming weekend, one of the busiest times of the year for departures from UK airports, there could be delays of up to two hours, with 200,000 passengers arriving in and departing from Mallorca, for example.
Thomas Reynaert, managing director of A4E, said: “Member states need to take all necessary measures now to prevent such disruptions and deploy appropriate staff and resources in sufficient numbers to carry out the requested checks. “Unless Spanish border control puts in place an emergency plan to avoid queues and help passengers to get through faster, there will be a lot of devastating delays for passengers,” he said.
“A4E has stressed the disproportionate waiting times and disrupted flow of traffic at external borders with the European commission and calls for a swift solution on behalf of European passengers and airlines. “It’s a crazy situation. When arriving, at least delayed passengers don’t miss their flights, but when returning, you need to queue up again and could miss your flight. You need to make sure you are on time at the gate.”
“Especially during the peak season of the year, travellers face long lines and can’t get on their flights. Queueing for up to four hours has been the top record these days; airports like Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Lisbon, Lyon, Paris-Orly, Milan or Brussels are producing shameful pictures of devastated passengers in front of immigration booths, in lines stretching hundreds of metres. However, airlines and tour operators suggested the problems were not widespread, and delays were not always due to immigration issues. Thomas Cook said the border control changes had briefly affected flights in Mallorca in May, when the tour operator briefly brought forward the times for its transfers.
“At some airports, flight delays have increased by 300% compared to last year – member states must take the responsibility for this.” IAG, which also owns Iberia and Vueling, said none of its airlines had delayed flights because of the issue, while Monarch said it was “monitoring the situation” and Ryanair said operations were “running as normal” – although the airline is asking passengers to check in three hours before takeoff.
Border staff must now check passenger details against databases – such as the Schengen information system and Interpol’s record of stolen and lost travel documents – as they arrive and leave the affected countries. An easyJet spokesman said: “Like all other European airlines, easyJet wants European governments to take necessary measures to reduce unnecessary passenger disruption.”
Passengers aired their grievances over passport control queues on Twitter from destinations across Europe. The intermittent delays follow the introduction in March of new EU regulations in the wake of the Paris and Brussels terror attacks. The new rules demand both entry and exit checks on passengers from countries – including Britain – outside the 26-nation Schengen border-free zone.
From Amsterdam Schiphol: Passengers’ details are checked against several databases – such as the Schengen information system and Interpol’s record of stolen and lost travel documents.
@Schiphol is this the norm at your international airport?? Random blocks halfway to the baggage hall? #useless #letusthrough pic.twitter.com/L2sdSoqc2Y Member states are not obliged to check every non-Schengen passport until October, when regulation EU 2017/458 comes into full force, but several airports are already doing so and others are carrying out spot checks on selected flights.
Lyon: Reports from passengers suggest the delays are not universal and depend on the airport, the time of day and the number of border control staff on duty.
“I’ve flown through Lyon airport several times in July and the time to get through customs and security etc has been no different from normal,” one traveller commented on the Guardian website.
Another said they had experienced long lines at Palma but “the carrier had advised us by text the day before to get there early and the delay was probably 30 minutes maximum”. Others said Amsterdam could be “pretty horrific” and reported a one-hour wait at Bergerac in France.
A4E said in a statement that the problems had been caused “because EU border controls are significantly understaffed to comply with tightened immigration checks”, adding that some passengers had missed flights as a result.
It said it had called on the European commission and member states to find a “swift solution” to the problem, citing “shameful pictures” of long queues in airports such as Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Lisbon, Lyon, Paris-Orly, Milan and Brussels.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Palma in Mallorca and Paris-Orly airport have been particularly affected. “In Paris it has been a disaster in recent weeks,” Duenhaupt said. “UK passengers in Palma have also been complaining and some have seen three- to four-hour delays in Amsterdam.”
Aéroports de Paris plans to install 87 automatic passport reading machines at Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports but has been held up by delays at the interior ministry which has yet to approve facial recognition.
Last month Marc Rochet, the president of Air Caraïbes, lambasted Orly-Sud for the waiting time at passport control, saying delays had exceeded 60 minutes every day since mid-June, causing “numerous public order problems” with angry passengers.
“In this summer period with heavy traffic, the situation has reached a critical level … with 320 hours of delays [at passport control] for international flights leaving Orly airport’s southern terminal,” Rochet said, adding that passenger frustrations had led to “near riot” situations.
PNC Contact, a French forum for airline stewards, said the situation at Orly was “from another era” or reminiscent of “queues in Soviet shops during the height of communism”. France “shows a very negative face as soon as tourists get off their plane”, it said in a report.
The interior ministry said 100 more border control staff would be on duty at both the French capital’s main airports, with new passport verification systems expected to “significantly reduce delays” from the end of July.
Passengers have aired their grievances over passport control queues on Twitter from destinations across Europe. “Schiphol, is this the norm at your international airport?? Random blocks halfway to the baggage hall?” tweeted one user.
One passenger, Andy Bryant, reported:
Huge slow snaking queues to get thru passport control before flying from @lyonaeroports. Never seen it this bad. Leave min 2 hours.Huge slow snaking queues to get thru passport control before flying from @lyonaeroports. Never seen it this bad. Leave min 2 hours.
ITV news journalist and presenter Alastair Stewart reported queues in Toulouse: While the ITV news journalist and presenter Alastair Stewart wrote:
Toulouse airport: definitely not 'Jeux sans frontieres' - more 'Frontieres sans jeux'... bonkers queues at passport control...Toulouse airport: definitely not 'Jeux sans frontieres' - more 'Frontieres sans jeux'... bonkers queues at passport control...
Geneva: A spokeswoman for the travel agency and tour operator association Abta said: “New, stricter passport checks are resulting in longer queues at some airports, including Palma, which is already busy due to a significant increase in passenger numbers.
@GeneveAeroport Regular GVA commuter and the queues at passport control are ridiculous. If security is such an issue, you need more staff. “Tour operators will ensure that customers get to the airport in plenty of time. However, independent travellers will need to check with their airlines and, where necessary, ensure they factor these longer queuing times into their travel plans when flying in and out of the airport.”
A record 2.4 million UK holidaymakers left for their vacations in the first weekend of the summer alone, according to the travel trade association Abta, while air traffic controllers are expecting a record 770,000 flights in UK airspace over the summer, 40,000 more than last year.
A spokeswoman for Abta said: “New, stricter passport checks are resulting in longer queues at some airports, including Palma, which is already busy due to a significant increase in passenger numbers.
“Tour operators will ensure that customers get to the airport in plenty of time so that they are not in danger of missing their flights.
“However, independent travellers will need to check the situation with their airlines and, where necessary, ensure they factor these longer queuing times into their travel plans when flying in and out of the airport.
“It is also extremely important that border control check points are sufficiently resourced so that queuing times are kept to a minimum.”