Travel chaos at major UK airport as passengers forced to queue for hours
Families trying to get away for half-term breaks are reportedly stuck in hours-long queues at Birmingham Airport.
Passengers said delays at security were causing long waits in high heat to get to departure gates.
Staff were said to have been seen pulling people out of queues and taking them to the front to save them from missing their flights.
Snaking queues stretched all the way from the security hall to an outdoor area in front of the departures lobby, forcing passengers to wait in the sun.
Hannah Wright, a mother from Peterborough, told The Mirror: ‘We’ve been waiting an hour to fly to Majorca. Our son is claustrophobic so it’s hard for him.
‘It’s put a dampener on the start of our holiday. There is nothing in place for children who might struggle in situations like this.’
The airport is currently carrying out work to finish a ‘state-of-the-art’ upgrade to the security hall.
Reports suggest wait times have been consistently higher than usual while the works are under way.
The upgrade will allow customers to carry liquids up to a certain volume inside their baggage without having to remove them for X-ray scanning.
The limit is currently still set at 100ml but plans are in place to increase it to 2 litres.
Families returning from half-term getaways via Heathrow Airport are in for further chaos due to planned strike action.
Border force staff at terminals 2, 3, 4, and 5 will walk out from Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2.
Monday’s delays followed travel chaos in several parts of the country over the bank holiday weekend.
Attempts to steal signalling cables on the West Coast Main Line forced cancellations and long delays on trains from five different operators on Friday.
Meanwhile, fans driving to the FA Cup final at Wembley were held up by traffic jams caused by a major incident on the M1.
One fan posted a picture on X of people standing outside their cars on the M1, writing: ‘Little warning to those heading down to Wembley on the M1. Been stuck at Leicester for 30 minutes. Looks like a major incident.
‘Nothing coming northbound, either. Huge queues. City and United fans out of their cars trying to figure out what’s going on.’
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