Laurence Dollimore
BRITISH travellers could suffer passport queue delays of up to FIVE hours if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.
That’s the warning of consumer group Which?, which predicts a no-deal Brexit could add an extra 90 seconds per passenger at popular EU destinations, including Malaga, Mallorca and Alicante.
The group’s study found that an average of 201 hours of additional immigration checks may be required every day at the airport if the UK withdraws from the EU without an agreement.
Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca are among the top 10 airports in Europe for British passenger numbers.
But Which? said it is concerned that Spain has yet to reveal any concrete plans to tackle the additional immigration checks.
According to its investigation, airport staff may have to check UK holidaymakers’ passport validity, passport expiry date, purpose and length of stay and whether they can support themselves financially.
It would take a single passport lane in an EU airport nearly five hours to process one flight full of UK passport holders.
Editor of magazine Which? Travel, Rory Boland, said: “Airports can be chaotic at the best of times, but if additional checks at passport control in Spain, Italy and other popular EU destinations are implemented in the event of a no-deal, it seems that very long queues are going to be an unwanted side effect.
“Until there is a deal or these airports announce simpler arrangements, you should consider what you may need if you have to fly to them – as it is very likely that you’ll be in a queue for several hours.
“Make sure you have food, water and essentials for kids like nappies to hand.”
