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DOZENS of British tourists have missed their flights home from Spain due to poorly-managed passport controls, the Olive Press can reveal. At least 30 people missed their Ryanair service to London Stansted last week due to serious delays in getting their passports stamped. The chaos ensued at Lanzarote airport when passengers were informed they had failed to show up in time for boarding - after suffering ‘ridiculous’ waits at passport control. It came just days after similar scenes in Malaga airport saw British flyers queuing inside the terminal ‘all the way past duty free’. One British tourist arriving from Bournemouth spent 85 minutes waiting for her passport to be stamped. An affected passenger at Lanzarote told the Olive Press, she had missed important cancer treatment back in the UK due to the delay. “Families were split up and ridiculously Ryanair then had to spend an hour and a half getting luggage off the plane. Therefore we could have boarded during that time. “None of us were actually late to the gate despite the long queues. “It was such disgusting behaviour by a supervisor who made the decision.” She added: “We were told the gate was shut and they couldn’t do anything. And then families
Strike extended WORKERS at Alicante airport will continue their partial strike throughout the month of August, it has emerged. The industrial action has been extended by security personnel and may cause delays at baggage control. More than 290 security workers are being called to support the partial strikes during the height of the summer season. Workers are demanding improvements in conditions on the 3.30am shift, as well as a better ‘work-life balance’. The unions have called strikes on August 15, 16, 17, 18, 30 and 31, between the hours of 8.30am and 9.30am and 6pm and 7pm. Some airlines, such as Jet2, are already advising their passengers that they should arrive at the airport earlier than usual on these days.
Vol. 5 Issue 137 www.theolivepress.es August 8th - August 21st 2024
Brits missing flights home and facing ridiculous queues due to shoddy police controls at Spanish airports were not given food, or alternative flights and hotels. “People were ultimately told to sort themselves out.” The issue emerged when airport bosses were ordered to stamp British passports on both entry and departure after it emerged they had hardly been doing it in a bid to reduce delays. Since the UK left the EU, Brits are only allowed to spend 90 in every 180 days in the Schengen zone - with stamps on entry and exit designed to keep a tally. But this has caused a nightmare at tourist hotspots, particularly in Spain, where millions of UK visitors arrive each year. Brits now have to queue with
EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore
other non-EU or ‘third’ countries, creating painfully long queues for everyone on arrival and departure. For this reason, sources told a Canary Islands newspaper that border staff at Lanzarote were ‘subtly and verbally’ told not to stamp UK passports. The thinking was to ‘make the passage of British tourists easier’ and lower queues for everyone. However this practice was recently discovered and quashed by Madrid, despite airport bosses warning police simply do not have the resources. In Malaga at the end of July, one line for passport
control for UK citizens snaked all the way through the departures area of the airport, past restaurants, cafes and even duty free. The queue had got so long it had to double back on itself. One reader told the Olive Press: “Four years down the line, Brexit can’t still be used as an excuse! It’s just bad management!” Another said: “It was the same two weeks ago. Another Brexit gift. However, that does not make it acceptable at all.” Another Londoner arriving in Malaga for a short weekend break three weeks ago, said she had to endure a ‘nearly 90 minute wait’ to get her passport stamped on arrival. “It really took a shine off the weekend,” she said. A Ryanair spokesperson told the Olive Press: “Due to passport control delays at Lanzarote (31 July), a number of passengers missed this flight to Stansted. “Should these passengers have presented at the gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded
WAIT: Passengers have reported waiting 85 minutes in passport queues this flight alongside the 140 passengers who did. “We regret that these airport passport delays, which are out of our control, and causing passengers to miss their flights.”
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