EXCLUSIVE: British passengers are forced to queue for FOUR HOURS as children pass out after Portuguese passport workers call an unscheduled strike, ‘leaving just two staff…who both went to lunch’
- Hundreds of tourists queued for four hours at Faro airport in Portugal
- The situation is so bad that a child passed out while waiting in the queue today
In scenes every tourist dreads when traveling abroad, dozens of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour queues at a hot and stuffy airport in Portugal.
Video shows hundreds of disgruntled holidaymakers huddled together outside passport barriers at Faro airport after airport staff called for an unscheduled strike.
The situation is so serious at the airport that a child fainted while waiting in the queue before being taken care of by paramedics.
Sam Jones, 36, from Essex, told MailOnline he was stuck in the queue – which saw people lining up escalators and hanging stairs – for nearly four hours after landing at the Faro airport at 10:55 this morning.
Jones, a plumber, said the crowd was growing “more restless” after striking passport workers left just two border control officers to deal with the influx of tourists. And Jones said he was “pretty certain” those two staff members had “just gone to lunch and left us all here”.
In scenes every tourist dreads when traveling abroad, dozens of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour queues at a hot and stuffy airport in Portugal.
Video shows hundreds of disgruntled holidaymakers huddled together outside passport barriers at Faro airport after airport staff called for an unscheduled strike
The situation is so serious at the airport that a child fainted while waiting in the queue before being taken care of by paramedics. Pictured: Chaotic scenes at Faro airport
Jones, who flew from Stansted airport in Portugal with 12 of his friends for a weekend of golf, said as soon as they landed at Faro airport they were faced huge queues after passport workers called an unscheduled strike.
Horrifying footage shows a scene of chaos, with a crowd of dismayed passengers standing in a queue that did not move. The footage rotates to show hundreds more tourists, with no space between them, queuing up the stairs and an escalator.
“People are screaming and fussing and it’s very hot,” Jones said, adding that he was told he could stay there until four o’clock and was separated from most of his friends.
“There are only two people open, and we’re pretty sure they just had lunch and left us all here.”
He added: “At this rate, I don’t think I’ll make it to the golf course until I get home on Monday.” I can’t imagine we’ll be going anywhere soon.
Sam Jones, 36, from Essex, (pictured right with his friend) tells MailOnline he was stuck in the queue – which saw people lining up escalators and hanging stairs – for almost four hours after landing at Faro airport at 10:55 a.m. This morning
In scenes every tourist dreads when traveling abroad, dozens of British tourists have been stuck in four-hour queues at 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 did not move
The footage rotates 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 did not move
Jones said staff began handing out passengers who had been standing for hours in the sweltering airport heat, adding that paramedics treated a child who passed out from the heat.
Last year there were chaotic scenes at passport control at Lisbon airport, with tourists queuing for hours.
Portuguese authorities have blamed the chaos on an “exponential” increase in arrivals at the country’s airports as well as staff shortages, as travel boomed following the Covid-19 pandemic.
