EES and Missed Flights

munchpot · 16 April at 3:28PM

Thanks all for the comments

Grumpy_chap · 16 April at 4:03PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965293#Comment_81965293

That happened to us on our first post-Brexit trip. Checked in as soon as the counter opened and moved straight through security and then to the queue to passport control. Took so long, we missed the gate.

Our package tour operator (which we don't normally do) provided alternative travel home very easily and without extra cost. I am unsure whether that was linked to what they would do anyway, or our ticket class, or our rewards status with the airline.

eskbanker · 16 April at 4:28PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965785#Comment_81965785

As well as the above discussion about whether or not package providers are actually legally obliged to make alternative arrangements in such circumstances, the actual response on the ground may differ according to the type of package provider, i.e. a 'proper' tour operator is perhaps more likely to go beyond their legal obligations than one of the bucket shop online agents who are just cobbling a trip together from different suppliers.

Grumpy_chap · 16 April at 5:13PM

I do feel, also, that there is a big onus on the airport operators and Governments to manage the system in a sensible way. Some of the inconvenience seems to be childish decisions to make things needlessly difficult.

We travel via Malaga relatively frequently. There were always masses of desks for EU travellers and a couple for non-EU. The division seems to be nothing more than Tensa-Barriers.

On our first trip after Brexit, there were still masses of EU desks and a couple for non-EU. The only change was at the entry to the EU queue there was an added Union Flag with a big cross stuck over it and at the entry to the non-EU queue, the sign said "non-EU including Morocco and UK". Long queues to the couple of desks with staff run off their feet at the couple of desks serving the non-EU queue and staff sitting idle at the EU desks.

We are now years after Brexit, there has been electronic e-gates for the past few trips but, still, an insistence that we then have to queue for an actual stamp. The same disproportionate allocation of desks remains as it for that first trip after Brexit.

If someone in authority actually wanted to solve this, it could be resolved by the end of today's shift. There must be someone at some level decidedly keeping it this way.

Doshwaster · 16 April at 5:27PM

One of the biggest causes of delays is when package operators bank their flights from regional airports so several arrive and depart within a couple of hours of each other in order to reduce staffing costs at airports. The low cost and scheduled operators are more likely to have flights throughout the day which spreads out demand.