Two passengers missed their flight due to a ‘paralysed’ passport control queue in a major European city.
One disgruntled woman reported she and her husband failed to get through passport control in time for their flight from Lisbon to London.
Helena Feltham explained the pair arrived at Humberto Delgado Airport, Lisbon’s airport, for their flight to Heathrow – but after waiting for almost an hour, missed their flight.
She told The Times: ‘On November 26 my husband and I arrived at Lisbon airport as check-in opened for our British Airways flight to Heathrow, and following a quick cup of coffee in the lounge after security, I discovered that passport control was paralysed, with more than 100 people queueing in front of just two officers.
‘The airport staff did nothing to help. After 50 minutes’ waiting to get through, we missed our flight.
‘BA had no staff in the terminal to assist and the ground handlers could only roll their eyes, say this was a daily occurrence and give us a BA call-centre number.’
The couple were informed BA couldn’t help them rebook as the flights were purchased through a third-party site, DialAFlight.
She explained they ended up paying for a TAP Air Portugal flight home.
Huge queues are increasingly common in the Portuguese capital’s airport
Helena explained: ‘We are out of pocket by £380 and were very stressed about the experience. How long is this shambolic situation going to continue?’
The Times Travel Doctor replied: ‘Unfortunately, that quick cup of coffee was your downfall and it doesn’t look as if the chaos at Lisbon airport’s passport control will disappear anytime soon.
‘Teething problems with the new entry/exit system have added to the delays caused by airport over-capacity, too few staff and flight scheduling issues, with some passengers complaining of three or four-hour waits, depending on the time of day.’
The Times reported the airport operator ANA Aeroportos de Portugal apologised for the stressful experience but said passport control is operated by the police and it had no authority to staff, open or ‘prioritise’ the police booths, and couldn’t alter their shift-change procedures.
‘We continue to press government authorities to improve staffing levels and service quality, especially during peak times,’ a spokesperson told The Times.
BA had warned passengers about possible passport control delays.
Since the passengers booked through a third party, BA could not assist with rebooking flights.
The Daily Mail has contacted Lisbon Airport and BA for comment.
Passengers travelling from Lisbon airport should arrive early to try to avoid queues
Delays at passport control in Lisbon are nothing new.
Earlier this week, air passengers complained of five-hour queues at Lisbon Airport, as hundreds of fliers were seen in videos crammed into the busy airport.
One social media user wrote on Reddit: ‘Four hours has become the “expected” wait time at the Lisbon airport arrivals queue if you don’t have a EU passport.
‘This has been going on for months now. How is this acceptable? Are there no plans to fix this?’
