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Date Published: 06/06/2022

ARCHIVED - Britons queue for hours at Spanish passport control while EU passengers sail through

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

UK travellers have spent up to four hours queuing to have their passports stamped in Spain this weekend

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Britons queue for hours at Spanish passport control while EU passengers sail through

With the bank holiday weekend in the UK and the celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee the airports were always going to be packed, something which seasoned travellers have sadly had to get used to in recent weeks, along with lengthy delays and cancelled flights.

But Britons arriving in Spain for a break in the sun were left fuming in passport control queues that lasted as long as four hours in some airports, while EU holidaymakers “sailed through” in a matter of minutes.

This airport system is a casualty of Brexit, whereby non-EU passengers have to travel through the queue labelled “all passengers” rather than the often shorter and quicker line marked for “EU citizens,” and wait for their passport to be stamped.

Scenes of chaos reigned this weekend in Malaga, Alicante and Mallorca as thousands of tourists descended at the same time.

One angry Twitter user described the scene:

"Four hours queue in Malaga airport for non-EU passport holders, meanwhile everyone else walking on.

"We had a three-hour wait at Palma airport, with a very tired four year old in tow. ‘Other passports’ no line."

Another social media user showed the other side of the coin:

“Massive queues for non-EU passport control at Malaga Airport yesterday morning.

“In less than a minute we Irish passport holders were waved through with a smile. If looks could kill!”

Portugal made headlines earlier this year by allowing Brits to pass through the regular queue to speed things up, but so far Spain has decided against making the exception.

Things should get easier later this year, when the European Union Entry and Exit System (EES) is implemented, meaning that third country passports can be scanned rather stamped, but this is cold comfort to those planning on travelling in the near future.

Thousands of travellers might have been glad to queue at passport control in Spain rather than being left stranded in UK airports after easyJet cancelled another 80 flights on Sunday June 5. easyJet blamed the disruption on “the ongoing challenging operating environment”, which affected an estimated 12,000 people, while a handful of British Airways and Wizz Air flights to Gatwick were also cancelled.

“We are very sorry and fully understand the disruption this will have caused for our customers,” the airline said in a statement.

“We are focused on getting them to their destination as soon as possible.”

easyJet added that its customer service hours had been extended to deal with queries and complaints.

Image: Archive

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