Frustrated passengers found themselves stuck in massive queues that snaked outside the terminal building at Bristol Airport this morning.
One irate traveller said he had found himself in "the longest queue" he had seen in his life, while another described the scenes as "absolute chaos".
The queues have now calmed down a little after the early morning rush, but the situation forms part of a pattern that is emerging at the West Country airport.
Earlier this week people were left to wait for hours to collect their bags after more lengthy lines at the weekend.
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It comes amid an exceptionally busy month for the airport as Brits pack their bags and head on holiday after two years dominated by coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Josh Newton, who is going to Dubrovnik, in Croatia, got to the airport at 5.30am and spent 80 minutes queueing.
The Bristol man has used the airport many times and said that today is the busiest he has seen it by far.
"It is organised chaos, it is very busy but well handled," he told Bristol Live.
"I have had worse in Israel. The staff were really good and kept people informed. People who had close flights were sent ahead.
"I wasn't worried I would miss the flight, but I would have been if I didn’t arrive very early."
Beth Annan got herself to the airport early as advised by her airline, only to be confronted by big queues regardless.
"Email from @Ryanair yesterday saying due to delays arrive 3 hours early, which we done," she tweeted.
"Go to baggage drop can’t take our bags until 2 hours before the flight. Queue for security at Bristol Airport currently over 75 mins snaking out the door. Great planning Ryanair."
Shortly after 5am another Twitter user wrote: "This is madness Bristol Airport. Something needs to be done to minimise the impact of staff shortages as people are having a hell of an experience when trying to catch their flight.
"At the airport since 4am and still haven’t passed security controls."
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport apologised for the delays.
"The maximum queue time at check-in did not exceed 43 minutes and security queue time did not exceed 90 mins, no delays were experienced at bag-drop desks," they said.
"We work closely with all business partners and airline handling agents to ensure staffing levels are sufficient to provide a good service to passengers.
"We constantly review resourcing across all areas and adapt plans to meet demand and build in resilience where possible.
"We appreciate the frustration experienced by customers currently and please be reassured our teams are working exceptionally hard to assist customers throughout the airport journey.
"All business partners are continuing to recruit and train new colleagues, but this takes time. We advise all customers to check with the airline when their check-in/ bag drop desk opens and arrive in the terminal at this time – do not arrive too early as customers will not be able to check-in."
Bristol Airport is not alone when it comes to issues with queues so far this year.
Passengers at both Manchester and Birmingham airports have endured several months of long waits to get through security, as low staff numbers struggle to deal with the bounce-back post-lockdown spike in demand.
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