Lisbon arrival today – 2.5 + hours to clear non EU passport control FYI
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As per my previous warnings I posted on this a few weeks back – today is an update via /from a friend who flew in business with carry on only – first flight in with BA 7 15am ex LHR – mayhem again (Just as at Faro recently) – it beggars belief – the Tourism agency in Portugal and Govt locally allow this to continue after months, I hope BA have made representation too – I have avoided Portugal until this is fixed and like most use Gib’ where needed – the return passport control is still over 2 hours according to people in the queue today – if you have small children I would serious avoid this…..My friend hopes to clear passport control in 3 hrs….this really should be bigger news than it is……..it is simply terrible – the flight time today was 2 hrs 20mins ! …and please no sarky comments saying you ‘ flew there last week and got through in 15 mins..’….you are one of the few, lucky ones!’
I don’t see this as un-typical of lots of airports, it’s not a problem unique to Portugal.
Man has 2+ hour queues for immigration at times, US airports, 2-3 hour queues are normal. I arrived in Vie at 10pm and queued until way after midnight. FUE used to have 3-4 hour queues for checkin and security. Some of these have improved but there are always bad days when not enough staff are rostered or a bug hits them.
How easy do you think it is to recruit and train border control staff on low wages for an exceptionally boring job? When MAN had major staffing issues post pandemic the wages they were paying were about 70% of those you’d get for working in a supermarket, and you didn’t have the unrecoverable travel costs out to the airport plus the hassles of actually passing security on site (unpaid) to begin your shift.
Not sure why you think BA should complain, they’ve done their job when you hit the tarmac.
I avoid morning departures these days – I’m convinced the problem lies to a certain extent with the sheer numbers of passengers travelling before noon (especially on the prime holiday routes) compared with later in the day. Not being sarky but one of the reasons I’m planning another trip to Spain and Portugal next summer is because flying in the late afternoon and early evening has been so queue-free!
Ryanair has been banging the drum about the issues in Portugal (and Spain) – there is even a banner on their website urging passengers to complain about the delays!
Well you are going to get the “sarky comments” (although not actually sarcastic) anyway, as this forum is a useful place for people to exchange information about these issues.
I cleared Customs and Immigration in Faro in under 15 minutes when I arrived about 19:00 on a Sunday in June, and there were no queues to exit at about 14:30 on a Tuesday.
The situation will be worse if you are travelling with children, and unable to use the e-gates.
So I think Northern Lass’s advice about avoiding early departures is sound.
And its not just PT. Someone posted the other day about long delays at Schipol.
Yes I waited 50 mins at AMS last week.
BER can also have long wait times as well. I’ve waited an hour there before.
It just depends what other flights arrive in front of ours and where they arrive from.
Land immediately after a flight from an exotic one and the wait will be longer as passports and documents etc will be carefully checked and sometimes photos and finger prints taken and so on.
There aren’t many exotics going into AGP, FAO, etc, just hordes of young families who can only travel in school holidays – and presumably find a 3 am start more appealing than a late arrival at their holiday accommodation!
My advice would be – book a later flight. Have a drink (or 3). Stay at the nearest hotel to the airport on your first night. Get up rested and relaxed the next morning and collect your hire car before the marauding masses start to arrive mid-morning!
@sxparkin, I wonder how the upcoming changes agreed by Spain and Gib are going to impact GIB and the numbers arriving/departing? It’s obviously in a very prime position for resorts west of Marbella.We’re heading to Lisbon in a couple of weeks on the 10am flight from Heathrow. I will report back on the experience.
AGP had a B773 arrive from Kuwait just before an easyJet from MAN today. Flightradar24 is your friend.
I flew to Lisbon last month and it was definitely very disorganised on arrival in the morning around 11am. I was flying business on an Irish passport and it was unclear which queue I needed to join either for priority / EU. Eventually I found an EU one but to a manned desk rather than scanner and still took about 45 mins to get through. The non-EU queue appeared to be moving very slowly.
Coming back on an evening flight, there was no queue at passport control whether EU or non-EU.
@Richie, that was just unlucky, there still aren’t many. I think the odd US and other ME departure IIRC, but it’s not exactly on a par with MAD or LIS.
My OH was through the non-EU queue faster than me at MAD a couple of weeks ago because typically I tried to use a scanner which wasn’t working and it took me a couple of minutes to realise while the wheel of doom spun round and round endlessly!
Never been part of a marauding mass before! I’ll let you know what it’s like.
Ha, it was a figure of speech; I was part of the masses on plenty of occasions before I saw the light on departure times. It shouldn’t be too bad in a couple of weeks, though as the UK schools will have started to return. (I found out recently that Portuguese children have mid-June to mid-September as their summer holidays! It must cause all sorts of issues for the parents).
A bit like London Heathrow, Lisbon operates at capacity. Hence whenever there are small hold ups/delays, everything grounds to a halt!
Timing really is everything, especially vs arriving at the same time as the abundance of flights from South America, North America and Africa. The car hire desks can be as equally chaotic as immigration.
Were the egates open? I had a 2 hour wait when I arrived in June, but that was because the egates were closed.
Ha, it was a figure of speech; I was part of the masses on plenty of occasions before I saw the light on departure times. It shouldn’t be too bad in a couple of weeks, though as the UK schools will have started to return. (I found out recently that Portuguese children have mid-June to mid-September as their summer holidays! It must cause all sorts of issues for the parents).
Based on recent observations, I’m not sure that term dates have much impact on when British children travel. It’s no wonder many of them seem to leave school knowing little. Still, they will be qualified to vote for our next Government.
If we had knowledge qualifications to vote, the voting populace would be considerably smaller.
A bit harsh!!
Some of the most knowledgeable kids I know/have met have been home schooled whilst on the road travelling and experiencing different cultures and languages with their parents. Education isn’t just about sitting in a classroom for all the days the school/local authority dictates.
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