Laurence Dollimore
BRITISH expats have warned tourists from the UK of the best and worst times to arrive at the airport.
It comes as multiple people have taken to social media over the past week to complain of ‘horrific’ queues at passport control.
One Brit claimed she was waiting for more than 90 minutes after arriving at Malaga airport on Sunday morning.
In a post on an expat Facebook group, she shared a photo of a snaking long queue behind the passport desks.
She wrote: “Arrival hall at Malaga – lots of hot, angry tourists… three passport desks open, one-and-a-half hours from leaving the plane to getting through passport control.”
Her post was met with hundreds of comments, with some blaming the delays on Brexit.
Since the UK left the EU, Brits now have to go through passport control with other ‘third’ nation countries.
Their passports need to be – in theory – individually checked for stamps to ensure they have not exceeded the 90 in 180 day limit.
In reality, very few passports are checked as this would simply take up too much time.
According to expats in the group, the delays are actually caused by a lack of staff at certain times and on certain days.
One commenter said that early morning arrivals are ‘cheap flights for a reason’, adding: “I flew in on Friday, landed at 8pm and out in 15 minutes.”
Another said: “It’s normally busy on the deadly hour flights. We take afternoon flights and always get through without any waiting.”
Airports like Malaga usually see a large number of flights arriving from the UK in the mornings.
One expat added: “Arriving at the same time as four other planes makes it busy, the issue is not enough desks manned for the amount of people arriving.”
Others claimed Sunday was also one of the worst days to arrive as there are typically much fewer staff available.
