iStockHolidaymakers are being warned not to arrive early for their flights as long queues were seen stretching back to the car park at Glasgow Airport.
Images posted on social media showed “crazy scenes” at the airport before the security barrier on Tuesday morning, with lines of passengers “snaked back into the car park”.
With Covid restrictions eased, and the Jubilee weekend ahead, the airport said it is busier than it has been for more than two years.
Growing airline cancellations and staff shortages have also contributed to the chaos and travellers showing up to the airport early to beat the queues could in fact be worsening the situation.
Passengers in Glasgow are not the only ones who have been faced with chaos, images posted on social media at major airports around the UK have shown lengthy check-in and security queues, some which are reported to be more than an hour long.
This week, airline operator Tui issued an update to customers about arrival times and stated on their website: “We’d like to remind customers not to arrive at the airport too far in advance of their flight, as this can contribute to terminal queueing delays.”
Airport bosses have also urged passengers to arrive at the airline’s stated time rather than too early.
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: “This morning’s average queue time at security was longer than usual, however, passengers moved through at a steady pace to reach their flights.
“The airport is busier than it has been for more than two years as passenger demand continues to increase.
“Our teams are working extremely hard and we would ask passengers to ensure they come prepared for security inspection and, crucially, arrive at the airport as per their airline’s stated check-in opening time and not before.”
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank our passengers for their patience.”
Elsewhere, a passenger at Edinburgh Airport also posted an image of an early morning queue outside of the terminal for the Ryanair bag drop on Tuesday morning.
However, the queue was found to be an isolated incident caused by a number of check-in desks opening at the same time, and two self-service machines going down. The issue was fixed and it is understood security queues at Edinburgh Airport lasted around ten minutes which is “normal”.
An Edinburgh Airport spokesman said: “An airline handling agent opened up a number of flights at the same time for check-in this morning instead of staggering them and that resulted in a build-up of people.
“We also had two self-service check-in machines going down but they were quickly brought back online and helped to clear queues quickly.”
No issues with lengthy queues or disruption have been reported at Aberdeen Airport.
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