British tourists were reportedly stuck for hours on Easter Sunday at one of Portugal‘s main airports, amid alleged staff shortages and issues with e-Gates.
Pictures circulating online seemingly show the airport in Faro, the capital of the southern Portuguese region of Algarve, filled to the brim with people.
Among those who took to social media to report their Easter Sunday misery was TV presenter Jeff Stelling, who claimed on the social media platform X: « Faro Airport. Not enough staff, electronic gates that don’t work. People stuck for over three hours and not moving. Happy Easter. »
A second holidaymaker at the Portuguese airport shared a similar picture on X, showing dozens of people stuck on stairs in a seemingly endless queue.
The X user, Yvette Hughes (@HughesYvette), claimed to have been queueing for three and a half hours through security, before adding: « My knees are swollen, someone has passed out, children are crying. Not a bit of information from anyone. »
Another traveller reportedly at the airport, Gina Blundell, also took to X to share her experience.
Using the X handle @Gijo37, the distressed holidaymaker wrote upon sharing a picture showing a massive queue at the airport: « Two and a half hours in this @FaroAirport @jet2tweets and now sitting on a coach for the last 40 mins absolute chaos ».
This prompted the response of Jet2, with one of the low-cost airline representatives acknowledging the presence of massive queues on arrival at Faro but said they were « beyond our control ».
The Jet2 representative told the X user: « Hi Gina, We apologise for the long queues on arrival today, which is beyond our control. For any queries, please see a member of our friendly http://Jet2.com team who are on hand to assist.
« Please don’t worry, your transfer will wait for you. Please see a member of Jet2holidays in our famous red uniform after baggage reclaim for further information. »
X user Louise, (@Loubie2302) shared a video showing scenes very similar to those described by other holidaymakers at Faro Airport, with many people standing in a queue.
She added: « @jet2tweets it’s been nearly five hours since we landed and still not anywhere near going through passport control! Just gets worse everytime we come to Faro! »
A representative of the airline told her, seemingly confirming Mr Stelling’s report regarding a lack of staff: « Hi Louise, we apologise for the long queues on arrival today, which is beyond our control. This is due to the lack of local immigration staff at Faro Airport, please see a member of our friendly http://Jet2.com team who are on hand to assist. »
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