Chaos at Tenerife airport as passport machines fail and passenger trapped in gate

Tenerife’s busiest airport has been thrown into utter mayhem after passport machines broke down, with one passenger getting her arm trapped in the security gates

Tenerife’s busiest airport has been plunged into mayhem after passport machines broke down, with one traveller getting her arm caught in the security gates. The airport faced calls to “get its act together” as tourists were left standing in enormous queues for biometric passport checks.

British holidaymakers flying back to the UK from Tenerife moaned that a bank of passport-reading machines were “useless” and either weren’t functioning or kept rejecting legitimate passports.

One woman even found her arm wedged in the glass barriers when they snapped shut too quickly behind her, requiring rescue by a solitary staff member who was attempting to manage hundreds of people.

The complaints came on top of recent warnings from airlines, including Ryanair, which emailed passengers to arrive at the airport early and “not bother the shops or duty free” as there would be lengthy delays getting through manual passport controls, reports the Mirror.

This was blamed on staffing shortages. One Ryanair traveller said of the situation: “Ryanair was right. The lone member of passport checkers only got into their booth an hour before our flight, by which time the queue must have had 150 people in it. It took about an hour to get through and this was before the so-called improvements.”

Brits are set to face even longer queues as Tenerife airport begins to implement the new EU entry-exit system, which requires them to have their photos and fingerprints taken the first time they use the new procedure. The British Embassy has acknowledged that there will be initial hiccups and delays at all Spanish airports, not just Tenerife, due to this change.

At Madrid, where the new system is already in place, people are reportedly queuing for over an hour.

The woman who had her arm trapped in Tenerife’s biometric readers said: “It was an absolute farce and the airport needs to get its act together and improve the situation. There was a massive queue to get through the machines which were either broken or not working properly.

“My friend’s passport was rejected twice, despite everything being in order. And when I finally got through, the gates suddenly closed on me, trapping my arm!”

Holidaymakers say the overall situation at Tenerife airport is completely unacceptable for an island that aims to continue attracting millions of tourists “but is giving little back.

“It’s just not good enough,” another British holidaymaker complained. “These biometric machines are supposed to save time, not create chaos. They simply don’t work and it is causing massive anger among passengers who are stuck in the queues.”

Tenerife’s island government recently acknowledged that the service delivered at Tenerife south airport fell short of standards and vowed to take action, including bringing the biometric machines online.

“Obviously that hasn’t worked!” said another traveller.