Hundreds of UK holidaymakers were left queuing for hours at Tenerife South Airport on Monday, with chaos and ‘inhuman’ conditions reportedly leaving kids and parents distressed
Brits caught in the chaos of Tenerife South Airport have described horrifying scenes as crowds wilted in the heat.
Last Monday night, coinciding with the school holidays in the UK, more than 500 people found themselves packed into a waiting area at the Canary Islands travel hub. They waited for hours to pass through the security as a bottleneck formed by two checkpoints, each staffed by two National Police officers.
Top Spanish officials will now hold an urgent meeting after the tourists faced “inhuman” conditions at the start of the school holidays. Many were held on a sweltering plane for 45 minutes, only to disembark and find broken escalators and lengthy queues for passport checks.
Becks Gravil was one of those swept up in the chaos. It took her family two hours to leave the airport after landing at 8.30pm. “Never in my life have I ever seen it this bad,” she explained.
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“There was fighting, people being sick, people fainting – all crammed in like sardines. What should have been an hour from landing to Adeje turned into four hours. What a day!”
Lourdes Torrecillas, who had just landed from Bristol, described the horror that unfolded in front of her after she disembarked following a long wait on the tarmac. “They kept us on the plane for 45 minutes without being able to leave, and when we arrived at the terminal, the escalators weren’t working. Retirees and entire families with babies had to cope as best they could, carrying their children and belongings in the midst of a huge traffic jam,” she told Diario.
“There were more than 500 people waiting standing, we couldn’t move our arms or even breathe, everyone was sweating; there were elderly couples and babies under a year old; some children were crying, others were screaming, and some parents were carrying them on their shoulders so they wouldn’t suffocate.
“Next to me was an elderly man with an insulin pump, and further away, a frantic family; I thought something serious could happen. There weren’t even bathrooms in that area.”
A taxi driver who picks up passengers from the airport claimed that such waits and crowds are a regular occurrence and that medical workers are often called on to care for unwell passengers who suffer fainting spells.
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Other Brits who had recently jetted out to Tenerife claimed they’d had similar issues on different dates. Lynda McLaughlin said: “It is nothing to do with half term. We landed on May 3 at 12.30pm and this is exactly how it was then. There was no organisation whatsoever. It is crazy.”
Another passenger who landed on the same day described it as “hell”. Carol Perry added: “The same happened to us three weeks ago, at the same time of night. There were only two passport control officers on and one person trying to sort out queues who didn’t have a clue what she was doing. It was bedlam. It wasn’t school holidays then either.
Tenerife’s ruling council, has called an emergency meeting in response to the incident, citing the recurring chaos during peak tourism periods. Dávila deemed the situation “unacceptable”, attributing it to inadequate staffing for border checks following the UK’s EU exit. If Labour is able to push ahead with its plans for UK passport holders to use queues for EU citizens only, this issue could be eased in coming months.
The situation at the airport was made worse on Monday when the automated check-in systems failed to recognise children’s passports, forcing families with their little ones and luggage to wait for hours under the scorching heat just to begin their holidays.
Expressing her frustration, the council’s President disclosed that she had reached out to mainland politicians but was met with lacklustre responses, lamenting, “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.
Tenerife Tourism Minister Lope Afonso expressed alarm at the first impression visitors receive, stating, “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 explained.
Additionally, Afonso issued a stark warning about the potential disaster awaiting summer tourists if improvements are not made urgently. He said: “We need immediate solutions to avoid this happening again, especially with the busy summer season ahead.”