Holidays

Anyone heading to the Algarve, choose your flight times carefully. Passport control at Faro was absolutely horrendous. Never seen anything like it. 2 hrs 15 mins it took us to get through. Scrum like queuing system until the last 30 mins. Awful.

5 staff dealing with at least 1000 people and taking ages with each one. They then closed one queue whilst 20 people were in it and at least 500 still behind with more flights due in.

When we went home, we saw the queue for the incoming flights and it was even worse with the queue at the top of the stairs. At least 3 hours from there I would guess. Reading reports it has been as long as 5 hours! Ridiculous. The EU queue was no better either!
 
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Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Anyone heading to the Algarve, choose your flight times carefully. Passport control at Faro was absolutely horrendous. Never seen anything like it. 2 hrs 15 mins it took us to get through. Scrum like queuing system until the last 30 mins. Awful.

5 people dealing with at least 1000 people and taking ages with each one. They then closed one queue whilst 20 people were in it!

When we went home, we saw the queue for the incoming flights and it was even worse with the queue at the top of the stairs. At least 3 hours from there I would guess. Reading reports it has been as long as 5 hours! Ridiculous. The EU queue was no better either!

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Talked to security last week about this, nothings changed since last year, not sure if you noticed all the e gates closed with a Red cross. Security told me that the union are pushing back on opening the e gates due to the effect of job losses that they will create.
 
east2 said:
Talked to security last week about this, nothings changed since last year, not sure if you noticed all the e gates closed with a Red cross. Security told me that the union are pushing back on opening the e gates due to the effect of job losses that they will create.
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Yes they were all closed. A lot of people in the queue were first time visitors to the Algarve. I doubt they will be heading back anytime soon.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Anyone heading to the Algarve, choose your flight times carefully. Passport control at Faro was absolutely horrendous. Never seen anything like it. 2 hrs 15 mins it took us to get through. Scrum like queuing system until the last 30 mins. Awful.

5 staff dealing with at least 1000 people and taking ages with each one. They then closed one queue whilst 20 people were in it and at least 500 still behind with more flights due in.

When we went home, we saw the queue for the incoming flights and it was even worse with the queue at the top of the stairs. At least 3 hours from there I would guess. Reading reports it has been as long as 5 hours! Ridiculous. The EU queue was no better either!
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I'd agree with that description, we took 1 hour 30 minutes to get through and that was after I requested to be fast tracked as my transfer advised he was leaving and wouldn't wait any longer. The EU queue was very short in comparison
 
Going to be “interesting” to see what the queues at security will be like after November when everybody will have to have a photo and give a fingerprint :)
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Anyone heading to the Algarve, choose your flight times carefully. Passport control at Faro was absolutely horrendous. Never seen anything like it. 2 hrs 15 mins it took us to get through. Scrum like queuing system until the last 30 mins. Awful.

5 staff dealing with at least 1000 people and taking ages with each one. They then closed one queue whilst 20 people were in it and at least 500 still behind with more flights due in.

When we went home, we saw the queue for the incoming flights and it was even worse with the queue at the top of the stairs. At least 3 hours from there I would guess. Reading reports it has been as long as 5 hours! Ridiculous. The EU queue was no better either!
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Been hearing this all summer, the most infuriating thing is for about 2 years now we've been able to use the E-Gates, yet they don't even bother turning them on. I'm pretty sure the border guards are doing it on purpose, whether its part of their strike action dispute I don't know, but it will quickly put off a lot of weekend visitors.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
Probably Morocco as I enjoyed the food more but Tunisia was also an enjoyable holiday. It's a shame that the terrorist Port El Kantaoui beach shootings in 2015 put a lot of holidaymakers off going and the Tunisians I met were generally friendly and I felt safe there.
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Really like tunisia.
Been 2 or 3 times going again in June next year.
Beaches are fantastic
 
I haven’t been away this year but I might try Germany (Düsseldorf or Berlin) this side of Christmas.

It’ll otherwise be Malaga around my birthday in January 2025.
 
Bluesince1979 said:
Weve booked for malta for boxing day.

Anyone been before in dec? Wondering if every where will be closed up? Weather chilly?
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I went Christmas 1980, first time I'd ever flown, just me and my best mate. His parents had died in the Tenerife Air Crash on the 25th April the same year, it was his first time flying after he lost his mum and dad.

We went away because he didn't want to face Christmas due to what had happened. I was bricking it, my Dad dropped us off in the dark at Ringway, it was freezing and the flight was delayed due to ice on the runway. We had a couple of drinks and away we went, I was sat next to an old girl who asked me if I was alright, I was clearly looking worried, when I told her I was a "flight virgin" she held my hand whilst taking off, she even bought us a drink on the plane, fantastic old lady.

We stayed in Sliema where my mate met this Maltese girl in a bar, he said he was taking her to the Movies the following day (Saturday) and asked me to come along as I might get a blind date. . So, we met in the morning and the girl my mate was going on a date with turned up with her younger sister and brother who were no more than 8 years old.

I ended up babysitting two kids sat on the front row at the flicks watching Popeye (made in Malta) played by Robin Williams along with a full row of kids all shouting with delight when they showed parts of Malta they recognised.

Good holiday under the circumstances. The Popeye Village is still going as a tourist attraction, don't know if we got lucky but the weather was great for the time of year.

You'll enjoy it, people were very friendly.
 
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