EasyJet flight chaos: More than 100 passengers stranded in Milan as EU entry-exit system causes major delays
A family from Leeds spent more than £1,600 to get home after easyJet took off from Milan without them and more than 100 other passengers who were stuck in passport control queues due to the newly launched EU entry-exit system.Max Hume, 56, his wife Lynsey, 46, and their 13-year-old son Archie arrived at Milan Linate Airport about three hours before the Sunday morning flight to Manchester. He had good reason to come early. On their way to Italy a week ago they had already spent more than an hour in passport control queues. This time he reached with much time but still missed his flight.Only 34 of the 156 passengers booked on easyJet flight 5420 to Manchester boarded. The remaining 122 remained in Italy.The trouble started when the family reached passport control at 9.15 am. Frontier officials refused entry to Manchester-bound passengers because their flight had not yet been allocated a gate. Passengers flying to London on British Airways and another easyJet service were waved away during the same period, while the Manchester group waited in a standing queue in the heat. Lynsey Hume almost fainted. Another passenger was ill.When processing finally began authorities demanded full biometric registration from each passenger, including fingerprint scans and facial recognition, despite the fact that the same data had already been collected upon arrival in Italy the previous week. EU rules state that once both biometrics are registered only one should be required at subsequent crossings. Two officers worked with a single machine while 16 nearby automatic machines remained idle.By the time the family cleared passport control the plane was gone. At the gate they were told that a bus would take them to their luggage and arrangements would be made for hotel accommodation. There was no employee waiting at baggage claim. When Lynsey Hume contacted the easyJet desk she was told the family had been logged as a no-show and nothing could be done.EasyJet’s live chat told Max Hume that what happens at passport control is not the responsibility of the airline. The only option offered was to pay £110 per person for the next available flight to Manchester, five days away.The family explored alternatives. Each train ticket cost £500 for an all-day journey. A one-way car fare came to £5,000. Ultimately they booked connecting flights via Luxembourg with an overnight hotel stay at a combined cost of around £1,600. Max Hume has a credit card reaching its limit to cover expenses.He said he felt disappointed, broken and very poor. He said about 100 stranded passengers have told him they will never use easyJet again.EasyJet said it advised passengers to allow extra time at the airport and staggered flights where possible to give people more time to clear the queues. It said affected passengers have been offered free transfers and described delays at the border as being beyond its control.The EU entry-exit system was launched on Friday. It requires non-EU travellers, including British citizens, to register biometric data at European borders. Airlines for Europe told border officials the same day to suspend the system entirely when queues reached unacceptable levels.The Association of British Insurers warned travelers that standard travel insurance is unlikely to cover losses caused by EES-related delays and advised anyone affected to first contact their airline.