News / Bristol airport
Scenes of ‘utter chaos’ at Bristol Airport during half-term getaway
Passengers at Bristol Airport have described scenes of “utter chaos” on Friday morning as holidaymakers made a half-term getaway.
One passenger emailed Bristol24/7 from a flight on the runway to say that his children were scared as thousands of people “all crammed in”.
“There were hardly any staff, and those that were there had no idea what was going on,” said Simon Smith, who was flying to Ibiza with his family on a Tui flight.
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“These are the scenes from Bristol Airport this morning (Friday),” Smith said, referring to the photo he took above.
“Utter security chaos, 1000s of people all crammed in, loads outside, my children were totally scared.
“Swissport, Jet2 and Tui all saying it’s the airport security is the issue, I blame them all.
“This is a fire and security risk as people were pushing through security with minimal checks being done.”
In his email sent at 7.40am, Smith added: “Our flight to Ibiza is being delayed as there are still 25 people stuck in security, Swissport have no idea what is going on in security, there is no communication between the them.
“Our Tui flight is on the apron with people on it at present.”
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In a statement, a Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “The security queues in the early morning [21/10/22] were unacceptable and we apologise to all customers who were impacted.
“Far fewer security staff were working than planned. We’re urgently discussing the issue with our security business partner so passengers receive the service levels they rightly expect.
“The queues at security have now returned to normal. Our advice for passengers flying later today is unchanged – we recommend you arrive at least two hours ahead of your scheduled time of departure”
Main photo: Simon Smith
Read next:
- Queues stretch outside Bristol Airport as flyers arrive five hours early
- UK’s first ’emission-free’ test flights to launch from Bristol Airport
- Anger at Bristol Airport decision to scrap free bus travel for pensioners
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