Customers stuck in fresh airport chaos say there's no room to breathe or sit at Bristol Airport this morning.
A total of ten flights in or out of the West Country travel hub have been cancelled so far today.
A combination of cancelled flights and passengers arriving early to beat the queues led to mammoth lines forming, the Bristol Post reports.
The issues with security seemed to have eased by mid-morning, although delays at baggage collection persisted once they'd cleared.
Travellers have turned to social media to express their frustration, with one comparing the airport to a "zoo".
Another one wrote too many people were trying to "squeeze through a tiny terminal".
Bristol Airport has previously said it is working round the clock to improve the situation, and that the queues at security have eased in recent weeks as they are able to recruit more staff.
One man who is flying to Menorca said there were 'far too many people' in the airport's terminal.
William Stone said: "Baggage drop was out the terminal door. Security was very busy but moved quickly. Once into the terminal - horrific.
"It isn’t a staffing issue as they keep saying - it’s a space issue. There were FAR too many people. You literally couldn’t sit or walk anywhere without hitting someone.
"Every shop had a ridiculous queue. It’s frustrating to hear them blame staff when that isn’t the case - it’s just far too many people stuffed into the airport at once. Just a general feel of poor organisation also.
"Once some flights started to depart - it started to quiet down. But the amount of people in the airport this morning was completely ridiculous and unacceptable. No room to breathe!"
One traveller says there was no room for holidaymakers to sit down near the gates this morning.
He said: "There isn’t room to even sit down anywhere. People are sat on floors. This ain’t a staffing issue - it’s a space issue. The airport has too many flights."
Earlier this week Bristol Airport held a jobs fair to try and fill 150 vacancies that have appeared post-Covid and post-Brexit.
Also this week a TUI flight from Cape Verde 'bounced' off the airport's runway and had to be diverted to Birmingham after an aborted landing.
A Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “We appreciate the frustration experienced by customers early this morning and whilst the terminal was busy, security queue time did not exceed 30 minutes.
“The Bristol Airport team and our business partners are working hard to ensure all customers have a smooth and easy journey through the terminal. Each day over 80% of our customers experience less than a 20-minute security queue time, and a majority of customers wait an average 30 minutes for luggage it is only during peak flight operations we extend beyond this – we are focussed on improving the service levels to our customers.”
