Alex Trelinski
IN A TASTE of what might happen at Spanish airports this summer- with a record number of UK tourists expected- long passport control queues formed at Tenerife South Reina Sofia on Monday night.
The Diario de Avisos portal reported that up to 500 people had to wait to get their passport stamped with all of them having arrived from Britain.
There were just two lanes open with two Policia Nacional officers at each checkpoint dealing with the backlog.
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Reports suggested that it took up to two hours for some people to get through.
The uptake in UK visitors coincided with a bank holiday back home and a school half-term break in large parts of the country.
The problems at Tenerife South are nothing new when a number of flights from the UK and other non-Schengen Zone countries arrive at the same time.
Lourdes Torrecillas who had flown in from Bristol, told Diario de Avisos about her experience:
“They kept us on the plane for 45 minutes without being able to leave and when we arrived at the terminal the escalators were not working.”
“Retirees and entire families with babies managed as best they could carrying children and their belongings in the middle of a large traffic jam of people,” Lourdes added.
There then followed the long wait to clear passport control.
“These people, who come here to spend their savings, cannot be treated like sheep that go to the slaughterhouse, mistreating them and lacking their dignity,” she fumed.
She also asked why e-gates were not being used to quicken up procedures.
Tourist and hotel associations on Tenerife have long criticised the long passport control delays, pointing out that staffing has not been increased since Brexit.
