An OMAAT reader asked me about a situation he faced where he missed a flight due to excessively long security lines, only to then be forced to buy a new ticket. Is there really no recourse in these situations?! Let’s take a look.
In this post:
Long Lisbon security lines cause missed TAP flight
An OMAAT reader shared the following experience with me, about a recent transit at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS):
I wanted to share an interesting thing that recently happened to me at the Lisbon Airport. I’m not sure if I did something wrong, TAP did something wrong, or it’s just an unfortunate situation, but considering how regulated European aviation is, I feel like I’ve been wronged.
On 26-MAR I was flying BRU-LIS-RAK on a business class fare paid in cash. My fiancee was traveling on the same flights, in the same class, on an Aeroplan award. The BRU-LIS flight on Thursday even went off without a hitch. We had an overnight layover in Lisbon.
The following morning, our scheduled departure time to Marrakech was 9:20, and we arrived at the airport at about 7:00 AM, a little over 2h before departure. We had boarding passes in hand, no checked baggage, and proceeded to fast track security, which we quickly cleared without incident.
Monitors were showing a 28 minute wait for non-EU passports, so we went straight to passport control. We were greeted with a massive, loud, and somewhat disorderly crowd. We assumed we’d be in line for a half hour, as advertised, but a half hour turned to an hour, which turned to 90 minutes, which became two hours…
As we sat in line, on several occasions we attempted to get the attention of airport staff to tell them of our approaching departure. We actually managed to team up with 7 other passengers on the flight, but they refused to let anyone move to the front of the queue (which in a sense I appreciate), until about 10 minutes before departure. At 9:10 we were stamped out of Portugal and ran to the departure gate only to see that it had been closed. About 5 minutes before departure time.
As we missed the flight, we were directed to exit the terminal and go to the ticket counter. The only accommodation TAP offered me, a paid business class passenger, was to purchase another ticket and fly out two days later. I wound up booking an EasyJet flight out later that afternoon and made it to RAK.
Coincidentally, the next TAP flight arrived 5 minutes before my EasyJet flight later that afternoon, and I saw several of the passengers that I met in the immigration line. The only option they were given was also to pay cash for a new ticket, and although they were all originally ticketed in economy, TAP only offered them business class tickets.
Look, I understand it’s the passenger’s responsibility to show up early enough, and the airline has no control over immigration. My question is, what is reasonable? I was at the airport over 2h before departure and went to the immigration line as quickly as possible. Clearly there is an issue in LIS because as I stated, 7 other passengers from my flight faced the same fate. Is there really nothing in TAP terms or EU regs that doesn’t require rebooking in a situation like this? US carriers have many deficiencies, but I’m certain I would have been rebooked in a similar situation.
The ticket agent told me I should have shown up earlier. I understand that in this isolated incident, but it just seems very unreasonable and very customer unfriendly.
Am I the one who is in the wrong here? I feel like I’m owed something, but I also understand the one-sided nature of contracts of carriage.
Anyway, I just thought I’d share. I guess maybe show up 5h early if you’re flying out of LIS in the morning.
Is there any recourse in a situation like this?
When I hear of people missing flights due to long security lines, it’s often because they didn’t plan sufficiently, and were unrealistic. For example, if you show up at the airport 40 minutes before departure and then miss your flight due to long security lines, it’s hard to feel too bad.
However, that’s not at all what happened here. The traveler showed up over two hours before departure with just carry-on bags, and that’s as early as anyone could possibly expect to arrive at the airport for a flight, short of some extraordinary event that the airline warned people about.
I don’t know what happened here that caused these long lines, but this definitely seems out of the ordinary, and not like something that’s acceptable. If these lines are going to be so bad, it also seems like the airline should’ve warned people in advance of the possibility of that.
I think that also leads to the frustrating lack of accountability here. Admittedly an airline can’t be responsible for long security lines, so the airline wouldn’t be on the hook for paying for things like EC261 compensation, since this is fully outside of a carrier’s control.
However, both the airline and airport are run by the government, and as I see it, the real issue here is how European airlines generally have a policy that if you miss a flight, you have to pay for a new ticket.
It seems borderline unethical for a carrier’s hub airport to have unacceptably long security lines, and for the airline to then charge passengers to rebook if they miss their flight. It’s one of the ways that aviation in Europe is very punitive, as it’s not like the United States, where you’re typically just put on standby for the next flight if you miss the one you’re booked on.
I totally agree with this reader that he didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s not unreasonable that he feels he’s owed something. As he concludes, though, he’s correct that this is one of those situations that reflects just how one-sided airline contracts of carriage are.
Airlines are rarely generous beyond their published contract of carriage, especially for customer service after the fact. So this might be one of those rare situations where I’m not sure there’s any good recourse, I don’t have any advice, and I also am not sure what the lesson is. I certainly wouldn’t recommend showing up well over two hours early for a typical flight from Europe, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
So do we just put this in the category of “if you travel enough things sometimes go wrong, and there’s nothing we can do about it?” Or is there another lesson?
Bottom line
A TAP Air Portugal passenger missed his flight due to very long security lines at Lisbon Airport. That’s super frustrating, since it’s not like he was cutting it close, so this could’ve happened to any reasonable person. While it’s frustrating to miss your flight in this situation to begin with, what makes it even worse is that he was forced to buy another ticket, since European carriers don’t generally just roll your ticket over to the next flight.
Is there any good advice that I’m missing, or what do you make of this situation?
Oh wait! a mostly socialist country with a state run airline (inefficient) with no customer protection culture, who would have thought? (Reminds me of Venezuela). So our full time TDS thought leader commenter who tells us every time that the US need to adopt the airline customer protections of the poor Europe was lying to us? I've encountered this situation many many times in the US and I never been remotely tried to be ripped off like this case.
I literally cancelled a trip to Portugal last month because I saw too many of these stories and was afraid of missing a connection to Madeira and getting stuck.
I was in Milan a few months ago and we had an exorbitant wait through immigration. We were ok but a lot of passengers were not and were very distressed. The staff let everyone with an imminent flight cut the line...EXCEPT Americans. Never experienced anything...
I literally cancelled a trip to Portugal last month because I saw too many of these stories and was afraid of missing a connection to Madeira and getting stuck.
I was in Milan a few months ago and we had an exorbitant wait through immigration. We were ok but a lot of passengers were not and were very distressed. The staff let everyone with an imminent flight cut the line...EXCEPT Americans. Never experienced anything like that before. On some level I get it but it made me sad. They were still working out issues with the E-gates which we did get to use and worked well if you got to them.
I'll probably avoid most of Europe for the rest of this year until they iron out all the EES issues. Once everything is up and running I think it will be ok but right now they are working out a lot of bugs.
My understanding is that TAP allows you to reactivate a ticket in the case of a no show by subtracting a fee. Then you can use the remaining credit toward a new ticket. If that wasn't offered to the passenger, he certainly should reach out to TAP because they should have at least offered him the remaining value of the ticket after the no show fee, toward a new booking.
“However, both the airline and airport are run by the government.”
This is wrong! The Airport is private owned since 2013.
Well. the fact that he says he was there two hours before the flight, does not provide any evidence of doing so. Seems like poor planning and bad luck.
That airport is horrible! It’s so over crowded! But it’s the city government and TAP problem as they refuse to build a new one years ago to keep TAP as the top airline.
Interesting. Assuming things happened the way the reader described, it is unlucky to spend nearly 2 hours at passport control but not unheard of - hey this happened to me over a decade ago in Houston connecting to Belize at the time...nobody allowed me to move ahead when I was waiting for immigration and I had to stay overnight in Houston.
If a passenger does not make it to the gate on time, he...
Interesting. Assuming things happened the way the reader described, it is unlucky to spend nearly 2 hours at passport control but not unheard of - hey this happened to me over a decade ago in Houston connecting to Belize at the time...nobody allowed me to move ahead when I was waiting for immigration and I had to stay overnight in Houston.
If a passenger does not make it to the gate on time, he or she is a no show. But I am surprised to read "TAP did not offer anything else except buying a new ticket". Even TAP's basic business class fare allows for changes in case of no show. Just make any flight simulation on TAP's website, choose business class, choose tariff conditions, and you will see that your ticket in business can be changed in case of no show and the penalty is 170 euros assuming you will conclude that process within 24 hours. that is way more flexible than any basic business class fare these days on any other airline whereby changes aren't even allowed. Even TAP's economy fares, with the exception of Discount, allow for ticket changes in case of no show. If there are no seats available that is a different matter, but something does not add up here. I do wonder if the passenger did everything he could as. Why would an airline say the only solution is a new ticket when fare conditions do allow changes in case of no show?
Ben - the Lisbon airport is now owned by or managed by the government. It is an actually a good example of an infrastructure which was privatised long ago and everyone today pretty much feels how bad that deal was.
Just count the number of international departures at that time in the morning and you will realise adding extra time for potential lines is not a bad idea.
In the Canaries, there aren’t enough machines yet. Insane queues and eventually staff just gave up and manually stamped everyone out instead.
The airline is not responsible for the lines at the airport. Therefore, TAP was not required to rebook them for free. However, they can assert claims against the Portugese government, as they are responsible for security and immigartion / emigration. That claim can be filed with the ANAC, Portugal's air traffic control authority.
This was an issue in some airports even before EES. I was in a 2 hr non-EU immigration line during a connection in BRU back in November and there were people in line who had missed flights the day before, people who checked in baggage at the earliest possible time and just barely made their flight, and I got to my gate during boarding despite my connection being well over the minimum connection time.
...
This was an issue in some airports even before EES. I was in a 2 hr non-EU immigration line during a connection in BRU back in November and there were people in line who had missed flights the day before, people who checked in baggage at the earliest possible time and just barely made their flight, and I got to my gate during boarding despite my connection being well over the minimum connection time.
The entire time there were multiple lanes for EU passports which were mostly idle. Absurdly inefficient. The only time I've experienced worse was a late night arrival into Luton many years ago where they didn't have any lanes open for non-EU/UK passports. They only processed EU/UK passports until the last flight in that night. There was almost a riot.
Ah, the British expecting pre-Brexit privileges to continue. What else is new!
I flew through LIS this week and received multiple text and email messages from TAP warning about unusually long immigration times because of new EU processes.
Inexcusable. Shows how government agencies have no accountability or transparency. This is immigration LEAVING Portugal not entering. A 2 hour wait to exit the country is ridiculous. Do they have eGates ? It should not be this long period. Tourists should stay away from Lisbon until Portugal gets its lazy ass act together.
I am not from the US but how there’s no exit formalities kinda make sense now (not making sense for ice and cbp now).
It doesn't make sense because it makes it a lot harder to trace visa overstayers as well as making it difficult (if not technically impossible) to separate departing pax in a way that facilitates international connections.
Super frustrating to miss a flight due to long lines. But honestly, cry me a river. The number of times I have missed connecting flights in the US following an international arrival due to hour long immigration lines. And try to ask if they care!
The funny/tragic thing is that US carriers have normalised that nonsense, accepting that it happens there every day, and it's very much part of the rationale due to which they routinely rebook without charge people who miss flights...so on the, rather rare, occasions when it happens elsewhere, American passengers are genuinely shocked that they're expected to fulfil the terms of the contract they signed up to.
Greetings namesake, I am flattered to be imitated. :)
Immigration in the US is a mixed bag, and can be remarkably sluggish. I have yet to miss a flight entering the US, but actually by observation I find that at a lot of entry points the staff minding the lines do actually care to try to help people with connections that are becoming critical. And even more so, I find US airlines to be very...
Greetings namesake, I am flattered to be imitated. :)
Immigration in the US is a mixed bag, and can be remarkably sluggish. I have yet to miss a flight entering the US, but actually by observation I find that at a lot of entry points the staff minding the lines do actually care to try to help people with connections that are becoming critical. And even more so, I find US airlines to be very helpful for missed connections, or the risk of missed connections. They just put you on the next one. I have even had AA move me to United, and United offering a Delta flight instead.
Our "own" airport is as bad as LIS at times for exit passport control for non EU passports. They even have e-gates but seemingly prefers not to use them.
Something very similar almost happened to me at FLR flying to LHR. Cleared security, and decided to wait in the lounge until it said “go to gate”. This was a mistake.
Eventually went to the gate about a hour before my flight, only to discover a queue of maybe 150 people for non-Schengen immigration, the vast majority of which were on a separate flight to LGW. One of the two immigration officers was busy dealing...
Something very similar almost happened to me at FLR flying to LHR. Cleared security, and decided to wait in the lounge until it said “go to gate”. This was a mistake.
Eventually went to the gate about a hour before my flight, only to discover a queue of maybe 150 people for non-Schengen immigration, the vast majority of which were on a separate flight to LGW. One of the two immigration officers was busy dealing with one passenger for basically the entire hour, so throughput was halved. It became clear there was no way we were getting through in time.
Thankfully, 10 minutes before our departure time, they shouted over the crowd asking if anyone was flying to LHR, and chivvied the 6-or-so of us that were to the front of the queue. Only time I’ve been the last person to board a plane.
Unfortunately the EES system has been implemented in shambolic fashion. I experienced it in Lanzarote recently… the machines were breaking down regularly during the 1.5 hours wait and the process involved 2 different queues when arriving... one to register then one to enter the country. Exiting was even more of a joke. No information, signs or people to tell you but once you got to the gate to scan the passport, you were told there...
Unfortunately the EES system has been implemented in shambolic fashion. I experienced it in Lanzarote recently… the machines were breaking down regularly during the 1.5 hours wait and the process involved 2 different queues when arriving... one to register then one to enter the country. Exiting was even more of a joke. No information, signs or people to tell you but once you got to the gate to scan the passport, you were told there is a separate bank of machines in another part of the airport to scan out of first. Massive queues, confusion and passengers still trying to board a minute or two before departure.
"However, both the airline and airport are run by the government..."
It's shocking that something went wrong.
Seems more like an issue for https://elliottadvocacy.org/ than for Ben, although this is a situation that it is for readers of a travel blog to be aware of.
I was all ready to side with the passenger here but then did a quick google search and came across countless articles stating arrived three hours before flight time for international flights from this airport. Sorry it happened to the passenger but they took a chance and lost. If they had been three hours early like suggested then I would be 100% on their side. The only thing I see in the passenger's favor here...
I was all ready to side with the passenger here but then did a quick google search and came across countless articles stating arrived three hours before flight time for international flights from this airport. Sorry it happened to the passenger but they took a chance and lost. If they had been three hours early like suggested then I would be 100% on their side. The only thing I see in the passenger's favor here is it is garbage that the plane pulled away five minutes early, especially because the airline would know about these long lines. If those five minutes would have made a difference then I don't see why the passenger should have to pay for another ticket. The plane left early and that should only happen if all checked in passengers have boarded. I also think the security is garbage for seeing that there are several people about to miss their flight and holding them to the point that they miss the flight. Sorry but that is not acceptable when people are in line for TWO HOURS. I could understand not letting someone through who shows up 30 minutes before flight time but when you have absurd delays like this an exception should have been made. All these people missing their flight just creates additional headaches for the airport, passengers and staff. What if somebody had checked their luggage already??? At the end of the day if passenger showed up the suggested three hours in advance it would have been fine. Sadly Portugal embarrasses itself by having such a poorly managed airport.
@Ben: as many pointed out, the line was for immigration, not security. Please fix the headline. This major inaccuracy is really not up to the usually excellent standards of your blog. I am sure I don't need to explain just how different immigration and security processes are in most airports.
I just returned from a short trip to Europe on a US passport. New e-gates were turned off in both AMS and FRA. AMS arrival...
@Ben: as many pointed out, the line was for immigration, not security. Please fix the headline. This major inaccuracy is really not up to the usually excellent standards of your blog. I am sure I don't need to explain just how different immigration and security processes are in most airports.
I just returned from a short trip to Europe on a US passport. New e-gates were turned off in both AMS and FRA. AMS arrival was completely business as usual - a few questions, passport stamp, then go.
FRA departure was a bit more interesting - new manned stations where they took a photo and scanned fingerprints. I can see how this process could create major delays in a place where the officers are not operating very efficiently.
Transit immigration checkpoint was also at a new location halfway along the super-long A/Z concourse of terminal 1 (the one with high gate numbers). There was absolutely no wait around noon. In the past, immigration lines when originating in FRA (rather than transiting) could be really long.
It has to do with the EES. LIS airport have always had to deal with long immigration lines during peak rush hours. The EES has made it eay worse. Like 7 to 8 hours waiting worse.
Possible solutions: fly to LIS via any other airport (OPO, MAD, BCN, PDL, FAO, CDG,FRA, MXP, FCO).
- avoid having to do immigration at LIS until they solve this issue
This is what has been happening in EU airports for non-EU passengers (usually timed around UK flights) but others get caught up in the BS.
The EU is bullying the UK to get back into the EU. "You left...this is how it is on the outside". I have seen this on numerous occasions. When UK flights land/dep, they have one or two border control agent on...and the line is ALWAYS 2 hours minimum. Arriving or Departure.
No UK flights, its all fairly normal.
Wait, isn't passport control needed for all flights out of Schengen area? UK was never in it, so passport control was always there for flights to/from the UK. Or did UK passport holders go through a faster lane when UK was in EU?
Schengen is a common travel area, not a passport standard. All EU (and EEA) citizens can use the EU queues when exiting/entering the Schengen zone or other EU (and EEA) countries.
On the latter point, yes - they could use the line for EU passport holders.
I don't think it's intentional bullying though, just incompetence.
LOL of course the British think everything is about them.
I love the British people *except* when I'm in a passport control line leaving Schengen, you'll ever hear more bitching and whining and complaints of "anti-British racism."
Lisbon has had nightmare queues at exit immigration since the end of Covid, and the addition of the EES hasn't helped at all. They had to apply for a waiver to delay implementation because they had near-riot conditions in the terminal on a daily basis earlier this year.
Portugal has been trying to relocate LIS for the better part of sixty years and still doesn't really have much of a plan. There are a...
Lisbon has had nightmare queues at exit immigration since the end of Covid, and the addition of the EES hasn't helped at all. They had to apply for a waiver to delay implementation because they had near-riot conditions in the terminal on a daily basis earlier this year.
Portugal has been trying to relocate LIS for the better part of sixty years and still doesn't really have much of a plan. There are a lot of fancy renderings of a new airport at Alcochete (this decade's preferred site - wait a few years and it'll change) but, as ever, no shovels in the ground yet.
Hello all - we are flying JFK-LIS-WAW and our connection is extremely tight (like 80 mins!) after TAP rescheduled our LIS-WAW segment by ~30 mins. We'll be flying on Aeroplan issued award tickets, in J. Can someone suggest how to use E-gates with US passports? Thanks!
If you're arriving Portugal first, you're fine. You'll go straight to e-gates. The problem is if you entered Europe in a different country, then you are ineligible to use e-gates on departure. If you fly TAP home and exit Europe in Portugal you'll then be able to use e-gates on departure.
Hang on! This was not a Security Hold Up - he quite clearly states that he passed Security Fast Track quickly. It was at passports that this all fell apart. Someone from TAP should have been monitoring what was going on and ushered them through. This was the Portuguese police and as they are essentially military you are wasting your time. No one will ever sanction them. TAP would have known that there was a...
Hang on! This was not a Security Hold Up - he quite clearly states that he passed Security Fast Track quickly. It was at passports that this all fell apart. Someone from TAP should have been monitoring what was going on and ushered them through. This was the Portuguese police and as they are essentially military you are wasting your time. No one will ever sanction them. TAP would have known that there was a problem that there was a problem as there were so many no shows. They chose to do nothing about it and that is typical of them as well. They couldn't care less.
Oh TAP did care. Don't you see the game? They want to get these people to buy a whole other ticket! I don't think TAP should be allowed to do that when they leave the gate earlier than scheduled time.
Lisbon airport states on their website (https://www.lisbonairport.pt/en/lis/passenger-guide/what-you-need-to-know/check-in#) that for international (outside EU) flights you should check-in 3 hours before the flight and points out that you need to go through security and passport control. Additionally there's currently a banner stating "Due to possible constraints on departures border control, longer waiting times are to be expected. Passengers to international (Non Schengen) flights please arrive early at the Airport."
So arriving only two hours before the...
Lisbon airport states on their website (https://www.lisbonairport.pt/en/lis/passenger-guide/what-you-need-to-know/check-in#) that for international (outside EU) flights you should check-in 3 hours before the flight and points out that you need to go through security and passport control. Additionally there's currently a banner stating "Due to possible constraints on departures border control, longer waiting times are to be expected. Passengers to international (Non Schengen) flights please arrive early at the Airport."
So arriving only two hours before the flight is a bit brave.
Most recommended arrival times on airport websites are absurd to the point of being fake, though. Airports like JFK and Toronto Pearson recommend showing up 3 hours before international flights—even though the security checks for international flights are no different than those for domestic flights! These recommendations are almost always just CYA statements so the airport can say "we told ya so" after six sigma events.
Those recommendations for U.S. and Canada airports are ridiculous for the reasons you state. But a frequent traveler should know that the situation is often quite different in Europe and, especially with the new EES system, there can be major snafus.
Well said. I really dislike it when people mix up terms related to air travel, such as check-in and boarding, Ticket and Boarding Pass or security, immigration and customs.
Someone running an aviation blog, should get the terminology right, no?
I flew BOS-LIS in early December. I cleared immigration and noticed that there was a line that mist have been 300-400m long for exit immigration. It snaked through the entire terminal. This was around 12 noon.
I flew through LIS again in mid January and had to go through exit immigration for a flight to SFO and there was no wait at all am I was able to use eGates with a U.S. passport.
Don't layover in Portugal or the Middle East . Easy solution .
So, don’t… TAP that?
This is not just an LIS thing..it's happening across the EU. Check out this excerpt re: Brussels Airport from VisaHQ.com/news..."during a four-day pilot period almost 600 passengers—many on tight corporate itineraries—missed their flights because manual border checks could not keep pace with the newly required data entries. Departure queues stretched to two hours; arrival queues exceeded three. The airport recorded 21 hours of cumulative disruption, eroding minimum-connection windows for intercontinental traffic. While Belgium has now...
This is not just an LIS thing..it's happening across the EU. Check out this excerpt re: Brussels Airport from VisaHQ.com/news..."during a four-day pilot period almost 600 passengers—many on tight corporate itineraries—missed their flights because manual border checks could not keep pace with the newly required data entries. Departure queues stretched to two hours; arrival queues exceeded three. The airport recorded 21 hours of cumulative disruption, eroding minimum-connection windows for intercontinental traffic. While Belgium has now paused biometric capture, the airport noted that processing times remain elevated because all third-country nationals must still complete electronic registration. Travellers from the US, UK, Canada and Singapore are temporarily barred from using e-gates, forcing them into police-manned kiosks".
A few months back Lisbon passport check queues (Note: NOT security) were an unmitigated disaster (with up to 7 hrs for arriving passport holders from non-EU countries) that ultimately forced the Portuguese government to postpone the implementation of the new EU passport control system by a few months. What happens when this reprieve ends is anyone’s guess…
It was so bad, that at one stage I considered to have my wife fly to Portugal via...
A few months back Lisbon passport check queues (Note: NOT security) were an unmitigated disaster (with up to 7 hrs for arriving passport holders from non-EU countries) that ultimately forced the Portuguese government to postpone the implementation of the new EU passport control system by a few months. What happens when this reprieve ends is anyone’s guess…
It was so bad, that at one stage I considered to have my wife fly to Portugal via Spain and pass through EU immigration there.
It is not clear whether this passenger’s flight into Portugal and out of Portugal were on the same booking locator (PNR).
If not, for the airline outbound of Lisbon (LIS) you were a “local’ passenger, originating from Portugal, and as the passport fiasco was well publicized on the Internet, TV, and in the local press the airline may argue that the passnger should have been aware of the issue.
I would try to explain to the airline that you had arrived only the night before from BRU, spent the night in LIS, and living in Belgium had no knowledge of the severity of their problem.
Appealing to the reasonableness of the airline my prove to be an easier and cheaper path than the next step of going through Portuguese courts, which are not known for their swiftness.
My recommendation would be to contact PSP for a reimbursement of the cost. The passenger handled the situation perfect and even contacted staff about his departure.
Border control at the airport is under the responsibility of the PSP (Public Security Police):
PSP:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +351 218 444 530
Fax: +351 218 471 465
Location: Arruamento A, Edificio 11, 1700-008 Lisboa
Well, good luck with that!
Is there any documented case, where PSP actually reimbursed additional costs incurred in the described situation?
Yes. The passenger must pay for a new ticket which will then be reimbursed by the border Control.
Passenger must prove that he/she arrived 2h before departure and document the long wait (e.g. photo documentation).
Border control will not pay if delay was caused by the passenger (e.g. wrong visa, carrying illegal goods etc.).
"wrong visa" . . . border control, THIS was departing, NOT arriving at an airport.
Border control is responsible for entry and departure only in case of overstay, criminal records or search lists from Interpol maybe, Visa requirements at departure is the airlines responsibility!
Hi STEFFL,
It’s a generic example. But you missed the point. The POINT IS THAT PSP IS ON THE HOOK FOR THE EXTRA COST.
Yes. The passenger must pay for a new ticket which will then be reimbursed by the border Control.
Passenger must prove that he/she arrived 2h before departure and document the long wait (e.g. photo documentation).
Border control will not pay if delay was caused by the passenger (e.g. wrong visa, carrying illegal goods etc.).
A quick Google for "EES Chaos" tells me that this is in no way isolated, and makes me glad I have no plans to visit continental Europe this spring/summer.
It should be easy and possible even fairly cheap (despite the Persian Gulf / Strait of Hormuz) fiasco) to cross the Atlantic this year.
There are quite a few Europeans who do not wish to fly to the US given the circumstances. And from above comment I gather there are at least some Americans who do not wish to travel to Europe this year.
I remains to be seen whether the latter group is smaller...
It should be easy and possible even fairly cheap (despite the Persian Gulf / Strait of Hormuz) fiasco) to cross the Atlantic this year.
There are quite a few Europeans who do not wish to fly to the US given the circumstances. And from above comment I gather there are at least some Americans who do not wish to travel to Europe this year.
I remains to be seen whether the latter group is smaller or larger than the group of Americans who visit Europe this year trying to find out how it would be to live far removed from the current administration in a country where it is easier to get healthcare and more difficult to get handguns.
There is of course a simple solution to avoid such a situation. Simply book a flexible ticket. This will look mote expensive but you can see it as an insurance.
Or just buy a cheap travel insurance policy to cover this instead of an extra $600 for the flexible ticket.
Wild. Was expecting this story to be about TSA in the US, but turns out, construction in Europe. Note to self, avoid LIS until finished.
Speaking of TSA, CLEAR+ PreCheck TouchlessID under 10 minutes this morning at JFK T4. General looked brutal.
Unless you’re a diplomat or wheelchair, seems like no workaround in LIS; basically, for mere business class, ‘your money is no good here.’ Bah!
It's not a question of money, it's one of passport (of course, the wealthy have access to multiple nationalities should they want them). I had a very smooth experience at LIS in the middle of December (people already travelling for Christmas) on a super cheap fare to MAN, *G status took care of the security and lounge arrangements.
“ A TAP Air Portugal passenger missed his flight due to very long security lines at Lisbon Airport.”
That is incorrect I guess, the line was for immigration. So the passenger missed the flight due to long lines there. That makes a difference: the airport is responsible for smooth security (and can be hold accountable). But immigration is not offered by the airport, it’s border control. Guess it’s much harder to hold them accountable.
“To hold them accountable “: the issue is that 99% will not even try.
It's definitely the new EU ETIAS rules.
We were flying out of Malaga recently and there was only one passport officer doing manual checks. The electronic checkpoint was failing passengers who were already ETIAS validated about everything tenth time, after which your only recourse was the manual line.
We arrived 3 hours early for our flight and went immediately to the line as advised by the check in agent (which tells you how...
It's definitely the new EU ETIAS rules.
We were flying out of Malaga recently and there was only one passport officer doing manual checks. The electronic checkpoint was failing passengers who were already ETIAS validated about everything tenth time, after which your only recourse was the manual line.
We arrived 3 hours early for our flight and went immediately to the line as advised by the check in agent (which tells you how often this is happening). All but one of our party made it through the electronic system's machines, and that person joined the line 2 and half hours before departure.
At 30 minutes until departure, the line still had approximately 80 people ahead of them in it. They and others on the verge of missing flights asked airport police minding the line if they could be served more urgently. An officer scoffed and said they should have come earlier.
ETIAS isn't working properly, and airports struggle but also won't admit that's the issue and properly staff up for manual checks.
ETIas hasn't started yet. They have just implemented EES, the electronic entry/exit system. Once EES is working properly, then the EU will start ETIAS.
I live in Lisbon and am used to the long immigration queues but never had one of 2 hours. The challenges are normally in the morning as most Brazilian and US flights leave 10am-1pm making the queues ridiculous. I avoid flying during those times. I never trust the screens showing the wait times as the e gates close regularly forcing everyone into the manual lines. They used to call out flights getting close to boarding...
I live in Lisbon and am used to the long immigration queues but never had one of 2 hours. The challenges are normally in the morning as most Brazilian and US flights leave 10am-1pm making the queues ridiculous. I avoid flying during those times. I never trust the screens showing the wait times as the e gates close regularly forcing everyone into the manual lines. They used to call out flights getting close to boarding but don’t do that anymore. TAP are also a poor airline for customer service so it doesn’t really surprise me they say it’s not their fault but a 2 hour wait for immigration is ridiculous and planning around that is challenging.
It’s sad and boring that these situations happen, but end of the game it’s the passenger’s fault.
The airline doesn’t have to warn the passengers daily because it isn’t the only airline flying from LIS (although the one with most non-EU flights by far).
And just a small correction: LIS airport isn’t owned by the government as the airline.
Jorge, I know you are a tuga.
Don’t try to protect a lousy service that Portugal has been offering for ages. Even id you work for the government, the PSP or AIMA.
It is terrible and no amount of blind nationalistic shittiness help .
That's what travel insurance is for. By the way, revenue tickets in TAP Executive, and non-discount ones in Y, all allow changes for a reasonable fee before departure. They already were airside - they only had to send one of the seven pax into the TAP Schengen lounge and ask for staff assistance - either with the queue or with rebooking.
While I do empathise with the predicament of the pax here, I appreciate the...
That's what travel insurance is for. By the way, revenue tickets in TAP Executive, and non-discount ones in Y, all allow changes for a reasonable fee before departure. They already were airside - they only had to send one of the seven pax into the TAP Schengen lounge and ask for staff assistance - either with the queue or with rebooking.
While I do empathise with the predicament of the pax here, I appreciate the clarity of the rules. I'm all for employee empowerment, but giving that sort of discretion to underpaid, overworked frontline staff is both going to put some passengers at a structural disadvantage (because of cognitive biases suggesting that e.g. someone old is less capable of getting to the gate quickly) and almost guarantee to put the employees themselves in a difficult position when they do decide to refuse a customer request.
Which insurance policy will cover delay arising from immigration queue?
Most standard travel insurances will where I am from. If you show up reasonably ahead of time (or have booked MCT +1 on separate tickets) and miss your flight due to circumstances outside of your control, you are covered for new tickets. This is even the case for Visa/Mastercard travel insurances (although those only cover new tickets in economy), which are complementary on their platinum cards.
I currently live in the UK where this...
Most standard travel insurances will where I am from. If you show up reasonably ahead of time (or have booked MCT +1 on separate tickets) and miss your flight due to circumstances outside of your control, you are covered for new tickets. This is even the case for Visa/Mastercard travel insurances (although those only cover new tickets in economy), which are complementary on their platinum cards.
I currently live in the UK where this seems close to impossible to find in travel insurances, so obviously big differences by country.
how u will prove it to the insurance?
@angry pax , you could take photos of the queues, witness statements from fellow pax and/or timestamps from security control.
@Scandinavian traveler, that's exactly it. I chose my insurance provider precisely because they have a crystal clear term covering missed connections between public transport, including flights on separate tickets.
The staff in the lounge will do nothing of the kind - they will send you back downstairs to a TAP ticket desk to deal with any ticketing issues.
I think they'd at least be able to ring and summon someone who could have helped reason with the people managing the queue. No guarantees obviously.
I think you misrepresent the situation in the article title. The line they got stuck at was not the security line, but the passport line. LIS is known to have really bad passport lines, I try to avoid it at all costs.
Plus they also happened to be foreigners and they wouldn't have had an issue had they been EU citizens. I'm definitely not saying that the airport covered itself in glory, but a bit of contingency planning doesn't hurt in those situations.
In the US, it's been recommended to show up 3 hours before departure for an international flight. That's been the standard for as long as I can remember.
Gray area for this customer but I would try to go through a credit card dispute. TAP ain't gonna budge.
The security queues at Lisbon are also poorly marked and configured, As a US passport holder you can use a egate but it’s not exactly clear how you get to that egate as the non EU passport queue takes you to the manned gates. Once we figured out how to get there, it probably saved us an hour.
This is where US airlines ARE better. The ‘flat tire’ rule still seems to be in force...
The security queues at Lisbon are also poorly marked and configured, As a US passport holder you can use a egate but it’s not exactly clear how you get to that egate as the non EU passport queue takes you to the manned gates. Once we figured out how to get there, it probably saved us an hour.
This is where US airlines ARE better. The ‘flat tire’ rule still seems to be in force if you miss a flight whereas other airlines will often make you rebook a new flight and refuse to reaccommodate you when you have elite status.
This seems to be related to the recent new EU border checks for non EU citizens and Lisbon seems to have especially been struggling with handling the new requirements. There was a similar article in the British press about a family flying back to the UK from Málaga who faced a 3 hour departure immigration queue and missed the flight home. Although they were at the airport 3 hours early, easyJet baggage drop only opened...
This seems to be related to the recent new EU border checks for non EU citizens and Lisbon seems to have especially been struggling with handling the new requirements. There was a similar article in the British press about a family flying back to the UK from Málaga who faced a 3 hour departure immigration queue and missed the flight home. Although they were at the airport 3 hours early, easyJet baggage drop only opened 2 hrs before departure and so they never made it through immigration in time and had to buy new tickets for a later flight. Not sure that the answer is when the customer did nothing wrong but the airline won't budge.
It actually is probably worth getting to the airport significantly earlier than 2 hrs before departure if you are a non-EU citizen, at least for the next few months. The introduction of the new EES system is causing huge delays. We haven't seen it too badly so far but at winter ski airports like Geneva at some times of day the queues at immigration on arrival have reached 3 hours.
But as pointed out in another post, if you have luggage to check in then some airlines are opening baggage check 2h before departure when there is over 3h queue for security! When questioned the airline did not see it as their problem and instead offered a "rescue" fare back to the UK for 1000 pounds.
I've had that problem at CDG. The airline wouldn't accept bags until two hrs pre-flight, and the security line took a little over two hours. My wife and I made the flight only because it was delayed. If passengers should get to the airport three hours pre-flight, bags should be accepted three hours pre-flight.
We had that issue at DUS for an Aer Lingus flight. We waited in line for desk to open to check our bags, then barely made the flight because immigration line was so backed up. I.e., getting to the airport earlier would not have helped. Some people tried to cut the line, but agents sent them back. Airlines need to open their check-in desks earlier if their solution is for passengers to arrive earlier.
Yeah if the airline isn’t going to rebook passengers that miss their flights due to passport control, it’s kind of on them to keep tabs on the wait and open their bag drop earlier if necessary.
I’ve never missed a flight in the EU, except for missed connections that were due to the airline or weather so they rebooked me on the next flight. I didn’t realize it was common practice to make you...
Yeah if the airline isn’t going to rebook passengers that miss their flights due to passport control, it’s kind of on them to keep tabs on the wait and open their bag drop earlier if necessary.
I’ve never missed a flight in the EU, except for missed connections that were due to the airline or weather so they rebooked me on the next flight. I didn’t realize it was common practice to make you pay for rebooking missed flights like that. In the US they just let you standby on the next flight going to your destination.