The thought of a well-deserved holiday is often tempered by the stress of getting to your destination, and recent scenes at Tenerife South Airport have done little to alleviate these concerns.
Videos have been circulating on social media showing lengthy queues at passport control, with many travellers expressing their frustration at the “awful” experience. Security screening, which involves passing through a metal detector and potentially undergoing an additional check with a handheld device, is a mandatory step for all outbound travellers from Tenerife Sur.
However, it’s the passport control queues that have been causing the most issues, with footage showing long lines of passengers waiting to be processed at a slow pace. One TikTok user, Claire Walters, was shocked by the inefficiency of the system, while another user, Scott Story, shared his own frustrating experience. Other travellers have also shared their stories, with one commenting: “Just came back today and half the plane was empty due to people being stuck in the queue. Absolute joke.”
Another asked: “We were fortunate enough last Friday to get through just before our plane left. What happens if you don’t get through on time? How do you arrange another flight and do you have to pay? ” A third traveller replied: “We had this a few weeks ago. Stood in that queue for an hour-and-a-half.”
While reports of mayhem at Tenerife Sur threw holidaymakers into despair, some travellers aren’t convinced it’s the usual experience, reports the Express. One passenger remarked: “This must depend on the time of your flight. I flew home yesterday and we were the only people there. Maybe 40 minutes or so before our flight boarded.” Echoing this sentiment, another said: “I fly to the UK and back once a month. This is not the norm – far from it.”
Last year irked tourism leaders on the island say the passport control at the busy Tenerife Sur is “nonsense” and want urgent action to prevent one-hour queues to get through passport control. The holiday bosses claim that the situation had already been going on for months last year, and is still affecting hundreds of thousands of Brits.
“Tenerife airport, the UK passport queues mile long to get through. Thankfully we both have Irish passports and the only ones in the EU passport queue, sailed through. We are still waiting at the gate to get on the flight back to Gatwick though,” one happy European recently Tweeted.
Photos from the airport show that the queue for EU citizens is often very small or non-existent, while the line for those with British passports only often stretches back many metres. The same phenomenon has occurred at other airports popular with Brits, such as Malaga.
Hoteliers warn the waiting times are just as bad at the taxi ranks at the airport where new arrivals also have to queue at peak times. The concerns have been raised by Ashotel, the hospitality association of Tenerife and the other Canary islands of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.
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