EXCLUSIVE: British passengers are forced to stand in FOUR-HOUR queues, with children fainting after Portuguese passport workers called unscheduled strike, ‘leaving just two staff…who both went to lunch’
- Hundreds of tourists stood in four-hour long queues at Faro airport in Portugal
- The situation is so dire that a child fainted while waiting in the queue today
In scenes every tourist dreads when they go abroad, scores of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour long queues in a hot and stuffy airport in Portugal.
Video shows hundreds of disgruntled holidaymakers standing tightly packed together in front of passport barriers at Faro Airport after airport staff called an unscheduled strike.
The situation is so dire in the airport that a child fainted while waiting in the queue before being attended to by paramedics.
Sam Jones, 36, from Essex, tells MailOnline he has been stuck in the queue – which saw people lining up the suspended escalators and stairs – for nearly four hours after landing at Faro airport at 10.55am this morning.
Jones, a plumber, said the crowd were becoming increasingly ‘agitated’ after the striking passport workers only left two border control officers to deal with the influx of tourists. And Jones said he was ‘pretty certain’ those two staff members have ‘just gone for lunch and left us all here.’
In scenes every tourist dreads when they go abroad, scores of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour long queues in a hot and stuffy airport in Portugal
Video shows hundreds of disgruntled holidaymakers standing tightly packed together in front of passport barriers at Faro Airport after airport staff called an unscheduled strike
The situation is so dire in the airport that a child fainted while waiting in the queue before being attended to by paramedics. Pictured: Chaotic scenes at Faro airport
Jones, who flew from Stansted airport to Portugal with 12 of his friends for a weekend playing golf, said as soon as they landed at Faro airport, they were met with huge queues after the passport workers called an unscheduled strike.
Horrific footage shows a scene of chaos, with a crowd of dismayed passengers standing in a queue that was not moving. The footage pans round to show hundreds more tourists, with no space between them, queuing up the stairs and an escalator.
‘People are shouting and getting agitated and it’s very hot,’ Jones said, adding that he was told he could be there for up to four hours and he was separated from most of his friends.
‘There’s only two people open, and we’re pretty certain that they’ve just gone for lunch and left us all here.’
He added: ‘At this rate, I don’t think I will make it to the golf course before I am fly home Monday. I can’t imagine we are going anywhere soon.’
Sam Jones, 36, from Essex, (pictured on the right with his friend) tells MailOnline he has been stuck in the queue – which saw people lining up the suspended escalators and stairs – for nearly four hours after landing at Faro airport at 10.55am this morning
In scenes every tourist dreads when they go abroad, scores of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour long queues in a hot and stuffy airport in Portugal
Horrific footage shows a scene of chaos, with a crowd of dismayed passengers standing in a queue that was not moving
The footage pans round to show hundreds more tourists, with no space between them, queuing up the stairs and an escalator
Horrific footage shows a scene of chaos, with a crowd of dismayed passengers standing in a queue that was not moving
Jones said staff began handing out passengers who had been standing for hours in the sweltering heat of the airport, adding that paramedics treated a child who had fainting due to the heat.
Last year, there were chaotic scenes at passport control at Lisbon airport, with tourists queuing for hours.
Portuguese authorities blamed the chaos on the ‘exponential’ increase in arrivals at airports in the country as well as shortages in staff, as travel has boomed after the Covid-19 pandemic.