Unhappy customers have criticised Bristol Airport as "above-average" delays continue to affect passengers at the airport today (May 9).
People flying from Bristol have experienced lengthy queues on more than once occasion in the last week, with a spokesperson for the airport saying that staff shortages and increased demand have created problems. And several disgruntled passengers took to social media to complain in the early hours of this morning.
Bosses at Bristol Airport have apologised for the lengthy waits and blamed staff shortages for the delays.
Read more: Bristol Airport ranked as worst in UK in new study
Lots of people took to social media to complain about the issues. Darryl Rees wrote on Twitter at 1.59am: "Bristol Airport is a joke at the minute. Landed 0030, 20 mins for a bus to get off plane, over an hour and still no sign of luggage, all budget airlines that landed after us unloaded".
And Ollie Yorke wrote that his experience was a "shambles" and said: "Landed an hour ago and bags still aren’t off the plane. 1:40am in the morning. How can you be so incompetent?!"
Another person reported "huge" queues by 4am, luggage belts not working, one check-in counter open for hundreds of TUI passengers, fire alarms ringing, and customers waiting on the tarmac for two hours while bags were loaded.
Have you been affected by the recent queues? Tell us in the comments section.
Last week on May 4, the airport apologised as customers experienced "above-average" queue times, and one passenger complained that there was "chaos" after an IT failure on May 1, with self-service check-ins caused long delays.
Bristol Airport was also ranked as the worst in the UK in a recent study. Meanwhile, at Birmingham Airport, thousands of passengers have been forced to wait in long queues outside for several hours today.
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said: "We apologise to customers impacted by above-average queue times early on Monday 9 May. We work closely with airline handling agent business partner to ensure staffing levels are sufficient to provide a good service to passengers.
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"However, on some occasions staff shortages can impact on waiting times and service standards. We constantly review resourcing across all areas and adapt plans to meet demand and build in resilience where possible.
“We have seen a strong increase in passenger numbers since the end of all COVID-19 travel restrictions. There is a huge pent-up demand for travel which has built up over the past two years during the pandemic and we are expecting a busy summer.
“The airport has been working hard over the winter season to prepare for the spring and summer season with various ongoing development projects in the terminal which are due to be completed over the coming weeks and months. The work includes a £2.6million investment in the enhancements of the commercial amenities in the departure lounge to provide a greater experience for customers before boarding their flights.
“Whilst recruiting and training new colleagues for the airport can take time, the Bristol Airport team and business partners will be working hard to ensure all customers have a smooth and easy journey through our terminal. We advise all customers to arrive in the terminal a minimum of two hours before scheduled flight departure time to allow sufficient time to complete all the necessary check-in, bag-drop, security, and boarding processes ahead of their flight."
