Latest news with #airportchaos
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Airport chaos forces British families to 'lift children on to shoulders to stop them suffocating' amid 'inhuman' conditions as hundreds are trapped in overcrowded passport control in Tenerife
Airport chaos forced British families to 'lift children onto their shoulders to stop them suffocating' after hundreds of holidaymakers were trapped in an overcrowded passport control in Tenerife. Officials called an emergency meeting after passengers raged at the 'inhumane' conditions that saw them packed together 'like cattle' as they waited in line on Monday. The nightmare unfolded after several UK flights arrived in quick succession and caused severe delays. More than 500 people were left waiting for over two hours in sweltering conditions, as just two passport control booths staffed by four officers attempted to process the entire crowd, according to Canarian Weekly. Lourdes Torrecillas, a Tenerife resident returning from Bristol, described the situation as 'claustrophobic' and 'third world'. She told local media that passengers were made to wait 45 minutes on the plane before being allowed to disembark to passport control, only to find the airport's escalators out of service. 'Families with babies and elderly passengers had to carry their children and luggage through a packed terminal. 'Once inside, we couldn't move our arms, we could barely breathe, and people were sweating. Some parents lifted their children onto their shoulders to stop them from suffocating,' she said. 'There were no toilets, and people were visibly distressed.' Ms Torrecillas, who frequently travels to the UK, said the conditions were unacceptable, adding: 'This was an inhumane wait. 'These are people who've paid to enjoy a few days of sunshine, they shouldn't be treated like cattle.' She also raised concerns about the lack of medical support, claiming that airport staff told her similar scenes occur nearly every night - with passengers regularly fainting or experiencing serious health problems while waiting. The President of Tenerife's ruling council, Rosa Dávila, has called an emergency meeting following the incident, with chaos often ensuing during peak tourism periods. Dávila called the situation 'unacceptable' but blamed it on the continued failure to provide sufficient staff for border checks ever since the UK left the European Union. She added: 'This is a structural issue. We can't continue to operate with the same staffing levels we had pre-Brexit.' A major issue facing travellers on Monday was the inability of the airport's automated checking systems to check children's passports. This lead to families having to queue with children and baggage for hours before they could being their holidays. Dávila said she had written to mainland politicians, but received no satisfactory response. 'There's a serious lack of respect towards Tenerife. We're managing essential services locally, but without state support, we're being left to fail,' she said. Lope Afonso, Tenerife's Tourism Minister, warned: 'This is the first impression our visitors get. After hours on a plane, they're met with long waits and no explanation. It's not acceptable, and it's hurting our brand as a quality tourist destination,' he said. 'Tenerife competes globally. Other countries have adapted their systems since Brexit. Why haven't we?' He also had a warning for summer travellers, if mainland politicians don't take action, saying: 'We need immediate solutions to avoid this happening again, especially with the busy summer season ahead.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Viral video shows Frontier Airlines reps' airport meltdown that left passenger stunned
Chaos erupted at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina when two Frontier Airlines representatives screamed at a paying customer and barred him from checking in for his flight. The interaction between the unnamed customer, a 45-year-old married father of three, and the Frontier representatives began shortly before he started filming last Friday, according to the New York Post, which obtained the video that millions have viewed on social media. He reportedly showed up at the airport 50 minutes before his flight but had not checked in online. He missed the electronic kiosk's 60-minute check-in deadline, and when he approached the agents, they told him he needed to pay a $25 late check-in fee. Real Id Documents Held Up In Mail According To Americans Who Enrolled Before Deadline "They all kind of started chiming in, 'Well, you should have checked the website,' like, not in a professional or polite way," the man told the outlet. "They were like, 'It was your fault for not checking the website. Sorry, it's on you,'" A back-and-forth with the agents ensued over the fee and lasted for about 20 minutes before he decided to pay it, the customer said. Read On The Fox News App "I'm never flying this sh---y airline again," he admitted to saying before he began filming, setting the agents off. "Oh, you're going to check me in," the agent said, apparently quoting the customer's words back to him. "I bet you was wrong." Newark Airport Disruptions Leave Airline Flyers Scrambling As Experts Share Tips For Not Being 'Stranded' "I paid for a ticket," the man said in the video. "And you didn't pay $25 for an agent assist fee," the agent says. "And you thought you was going to check in three hours later, hello?" "And you thought you was going to get on your flight?" the agent repeatedly asks while filming the customer and snapping her fingers. Meanwhile, another agent can be heard laughing. "Because it's a policy, we don't control that," the other agent said. The customer was reportedly traveling from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Boston. "Make me check you in," the first agent says several times. "You literally work for an airline that I bought a ticket for," the customer says. The man vented his frustration to the New York Post. "What was remarkable to me also is that not one person on their side took the professional route or the high road," he told the outlet. "Listen, it's my money at the end of the day, and when somebody is caught off guard with a charge that they feel is in some ways unfair or unreasonable, of course they have a right to express themselves," he said. The New York Post reported that he ended up paying $500 for a JetBlue ticket to get home. "It's not OK to be disrespectful of somebody for no reason, but I was not being disrespectful to them personally, in my opinion," he said. "I thought that they were being disrespectful to me out of the gate because I was complaining about a fee that I was completely caught off guard by." Frontier said it has cut ties with the representatives, who were not directly employed by the company. "We are aware of what occurred and have been directly in touch with the customer," a spokesperson for the airline confirmed. "The individuals in question, who work for a third-party contractor, are no longer associated with the Frontier account."Original article source: Viral video shows Frontier Airlines reps' airport meltdown that left passenger stunned
