Several UK-bound Ryanair passengers missed their flight due to chaos at passport control across Europe.
Around 30 travellers due to fly from Milan Bergamo to Manchester last week were not boarded following “passport control delays”.
Travellers heading to Europe have faced disruption and confusion following the rollout of the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES).
Long queues for the input of biometric data have caused serious teething problems for EES – a system that was planned to be fully applied by every Schengen area frontier for non-EU citizens, including Britons, since 10 April.
A Ryanair spokesperson said in a statement: “Due to passport control delays at Milan Bergamo airport (16 April), a number of passengers missed this flight from Milan to Manchester.
“Should these passengers have presented at the boarding gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded this flight.”
Adam Hassanjee, an 18-year-old from Bolton, told BBC News that passport control queues at Milan Bergamo were “complete chaos”.
He said: “We were waiting for an hour and a half and weren’t moving.
“Then we see the plane leave and got told we have to go and book our own flight back.”
According to the airline, Ryanair passengers who miss a flight are offered the option of a £100 “missed departure fee” to be moved to a new departure.
It also noted that once boarding is closed, a legal report of the manifest – the document detailing onboard passengers and crew – is signed and sent to the captain. After this point, boarding cannot be reopened.
It’s one of several airlines to encounter delays due to the enforcement of the EU entry-exit system this month.
A family travelling with easyJet were forced to spend £1,600 for a connecting flight via Luxembourg after their plane departed without them.
The Hume family from Leeds queued for nearly three hours at Milan Linate airport’s passport control due to the chaotic enforcement of EES.
Speaking to The Independent‘s travel correspondent Simon Calder, Mr Hume said he felt “gutted, upset, let down, absolutely shattered and poorer – much poorer”.
Of the 156 passengers said to be booked on easyJet flight 5420 to Manchester, only 34 boarded – leaving 122 behind in Italy.
EasyJet said it is “sorry for any inconvenience caused” and that stranded passengers will be offered free transfers to alternative flights.
Read more: EasyJet leaves 122 passengers behind due to EU entry-exit system chaos
