A Lancashire reality television star said she was left queuing for hours at Manchester Airport as travel disruption at the site continues.
Zaralena Jackson, from Preston, was travelling from Manchester Airport to Dubai yesterday (April 4), and shared pictures and updated of her experience to her 220,000 Instagram followers.
Hundreds of travellers have been left exasperated by long queues at the airport in recent days, with the airport saying rising passenger numbers and recruitment issues leading to the problems.
Former Ex on The Beach star Zaralena said: “On route to airport – pray for me travelling alone with all the madness happening there.”
Zaralena, 30, shared pictures of the airport’s winding queues and said she was left waiting hours just to get through check in and security.
The picture was captioned: “The queue to the check in desk at Emirates… not left the entrance in 15 minutes.
“Haven’t even gotten into the main room yet. Queued for 30 minutes for case drop and now this.”
In another update, Zaralena told her fans that she has “finally made it through baggage and security”.
However, it took her nearly three hours after arriving at 11am and getting ready to board the flight at nearly 2pm.
Speaking from her hotel room in Dubai, she said travellers arriving hours early to the flight may have been linked to the issue.
She said: “Made it to Dubai for a well needed break. If you’re travelling I don’t even know what to say.
“I don’t even know whether to tell people to get there early because that’s the problem… people getting to the airport too early and it’s causing a backlog of people there all at once.”
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Passengers at Manchester Airport, and others across the country, have reported long queues in recent days, with many taking to social media to warn fellow flyers.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport says staff shortages coupled with the Covid pandemic are to blame for the lengthy queues.
They said: “Manchester Airport apologises to passengers whose experiences this weekend have fallen below the standard we aim to provide.
"We want to assure customers and colleagues that their safety and security will always be our first priority.
“Our whole industry is facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges at present, after the most damaging two years in its history.
"The removal of all travel restrictions after two years, coupled with the start of the summer travel season, has seen a rapid increase in passenger numbers, which is putting an enormous strain on our operation.
"We are doing all we can to recruit the staff we need to meet this demand, but this is taking time due to the lengthy vetting and training processes involved.
"That is why we have been advising travellers there may be, at times, longer queues than normal.
"Whenever this is the case, we do all we can to redeploy resources and prioritise passengers within queues as best we can.
"We are also aware that partners working on our site, such as baggage handling agents, are facing similar challenges. We will continue to support them in any way we can to deliver the best possible experience for customers during this challenging time.”
Manchester Airport has advised customers to arrive at the earliest time their airline recommends – which is usually when check-in for their flight opens.
They also recommend customers to re-acquaint themselves with hand luggage rules and what can or cannot be taken through to reduce the number of delays.
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