Overview
- The easyJet flight EJU5420 from Milan Linate to Manchester, which departed Sunday, took off with only about 34 of 156 booked passengers after hours-long queues at passport control.
- ITV reported that 122 people missed the flight as the EU’s Entry/Exit System, launched on 10 April, required first-time biometric registration with fingerprints and a face photo.
- EasyJet said it held the plane for nearly an hour, then departed when crew neared legal duty limits, and it offered free flight transfers to customers who missed boarding.
- Stranded travellers described three-hour lines in hot conditions with fainting and vomiting and said they paid hundreds to thousands of pounds for new flights, hotels and taxis.
- Airports and authorities have not announced an immediate fix, and travel bodies advise arriving much earlier and going straight to passport control as experts warn delays could worsen before staffing and systems bed in.