Air passengers face more long passport queues
PASSENGERS flying into Manchester Airport have reported long queues at passport control... again.
It was just a fortnight ago that the Observer last reported on this problem – but the issue is understood to have continued over the weekend and into this week, when some travellers claimed they waited for over an hour.
One passenger, who asked not to be named, captured this picture.
Having flown into Terminal 3 at around midday on Monday from Wroclaw, Poland, he claimed he waited ‘longer than an hour’ to get through immigration.
However, Manchester Airport has disputed this figure, saying the longest wait for an EU passenger on Monday was 28 minutes. But the passenger said: “The airport at Wroclaw is about a tenth of the size of Manchester Airport and they can adequately and competently process passengers.
“We were queuing over an hour and then there were issues with the biometric verification booths as they weren’t recognising people. I find they rarely work.”
The passenger said it’s even worse for families because children can’t use the automatic booths.
He added: “I travel a lot through the airport and while delays are customary at Arrivals it’s getting worse. It’s a bigger problem for parents with kids and the elderly. There’s no allowance for them and there should be. After the delays getting though passport control the bags weren’t even on the conveyor belt. Something is failing and has been for a while.”
He wasn’t the only passenger to be foiled by queues. And other passengers complained of waiting for an hour at other times over the weekend.
The Home Office, which runs passport control, said wait times at the weekend were affected by ‘high volumes of internationally arriving non-EU students’ and the fact some flights arrived outside their scheduled times.
Chris Housecroft, 23, flew into T3 at around 12.30pm last Friday.
Chris, from North Wales, had been on holiday to Toulouse in France with his family. He says he waited in the queue for an hour and 15 minutes – nearly as long as his flight.
The software consultant said: “It was a nightmare. It’s the longest I’ve ever queued in any passport queue. They were letting babies through but not young children, there was a lot of screaming as you can imagine. Then when we got to the front someone asked a staff member if they thought it acceptable and they were sarcastic. She asked to speak to their manager and they said ‘what manager?’”
The Home Office’s agreed service standards are to clear UK and EU passengers within 25 minutes, and non-EU passengers within 45 minutes, 95 percent of the time.
The Home Office said they work hard to plan for arrivals and allocate resources to reduce pressure, with ‘all desks and all available gates open during the times in question.’
A spokesman added: “The vast majority of people who arrive at Manchester Airport get through the border within our service standards 95 per cent of the time.
“But we understand the frustration for those who have experienced longer waits and remain fully committed to working with our partners to reduce waiting times as far as possible.”
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “We are disappointed that some passengers were queueing for passport control due to an increased number of non-EU passengers leading to some buildups in the immigration hall.
“We continue to work closely with UK Border Force to make the process as efficient as possible.”