With passport checks and immigration control causing chaos around Europe, this peak holiday period, new travel advice has been offered to passengers.
Airline officials in the UK and Ireland are recommending that travellers arrive at the airport at least three hours before their flight is due to leave.
Many passengers have taken to social media, expressing their frustration as flights are missed due to long queues and ‘ridiculous’ waiting times. Queues of up to four hours have been reported, as increased checks continue throughout the European Schengen zone. Thousands of flights have been delayed as a consequence and many have departed without passengers, as airport staff take up to ten minutes per person at the checking stage.
UK ministers have promised that they will raise the matter with European officials and Ryanair has told their customers to allow at least 180 minutes in the airport before departure.
There has also been considerable uproar over the fact that those missing flights due to the queues, will not be able to claim compensation at this time. While airlines are required to pay out for delayed or cancelled flights, currently they are not liable if they are not at fault. Airlines claim the immigration problems are not of their making and are outside of their control.