Passengers are queuing for up to four hours at some airports in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Holland in order to fly to the UK.

In some cases they are queuing for longer than their flights will be in the air.

 

Thousands of flights already have been delayed because of tighter checks at EU airports on passengers from countries outside the 26-nation Schengen border-free zone.

 

The Airlines For Europe (A4E) lobby group said: "This is ruining the start and end of people's vacations. It also means a high risk that people will miss their flights."

 

A4E cited delays of up to two hours at Majorca and three-to-four hour delays in Amsterdam.

 

As MICE BTN reported last week, the problem is made worse by too few air traffic controllers for French air space and congestion at London airports. 

 

In addition, some airlines have had to cancel flights, meaning growing backlogs of passengers at affected airports.