An OMAAT reader asked me about a situation he faced where he missed a flight due to excessively long security lines, only to then be forced to buy a new ticket. Is there really no recourse in these situations?! Let’s take a look.
In this post:
Long Lisbon security lines cause missed TAP flight
An OMAAT reader shared the following experience with me, about a recent transit at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS):
I wanted to share an interesting thing that recently happened to me at the Lisbon Airport. I’m not sure if I did something wrong, TAP did something wrong, or it’s just an unfortunate situation, but considering how regulated European aviation is, I feel like I’ve been wronged.
On 26-MAR I was flying BRU-LIS-RAK on a business class fare paid in cash. My fiancee was traveling on the same flights, in the same class, on an Aeroplan award. The BRU-LIS flight on Thursday even went off without a hitch. We had an overnight layover in Lisbon.
The following morning, our scheduled departure time to Marrakech was 9:20, and we arrived at the airport at about 7:00 AM, a little over 2h before departure. We had boarding passes in hand, no checked baggage, and proceeded to fast track security, which we quickly cleared without incident.
Monitors were showing a 28 minute wait for non-EU passports, so we went straight to passport control. We were greeted with a massive, loud, and somewhat disorderly crowd. We assumed we’d be in line for a half hour, as advertised, but a half hour turned to an hour, which turned to 90 minutes, which became two hours…
As we sat in line, on several occasions we attempted to get the attention of airport staff to tell them of our approaching departure. We actually managed to team up with 7 other passengers on the flight, but they refused to let anyone move to the front of the queue (which in a sense I appreciate), until about 10 minutes before departure. At 9:10 we were stamped out of Portugal and ran to the departure gate only to see that it had been closed. About 5 minutes before departure time.
As we missed the flight, we were directed to exit the terminal and go to the ticket counter. The only accommodation TAP offered me, a paid business class passenger, was to purchase another ticket and fly out two days later. I wound up booking an EasyJet flight out later that afternoon and made it to RAK.
Coincidentally, the next TAP flight arrived 5 minutes before my EasyJet flight later that afternoon, and I saw several of the passengers that I met in the immigration line. The only option they were given was also to pay cash for a new ticket, and although they were all originally ticketed in economy, TAP only offered them business class tickets.
Look, I understand it’s the passenger’s responsibility to show up early enough, and the airline has no control over immigration. My question is, what is reasonable? I was at the airport over 2h before departure and went to the immigration line as quickly as possible. Clearly there is an issue in LIS because as I stated, 7 other passengers from my flight faced the same fate. Is there really nothing in TAP terms or EU regs that doesn’t require rebooking in a situation like this? US carriers have many deficiencies, but I’m certain I would have been rebooked in a similar situation.
The ticket agent told me I should have shown up earlier. I understand that in this isolated incident, but it just seems very unreasonable and very customer unfriendly.
Am I the one who is in the wrong here? I feel like I’m owed something, but I also understand the one-sided nature of contracts of carriage.
Anyway, I just thought I’d share. I guess maybe show up 5h early if you’re flying out of LIS in the morning.
Is there any recourse in a situation like this?
When I hear of people missing flights due to long security lines, it’s often because they didn’t plan sufficiently, and were unrealistic. For example, if you show up at the airport 40 minutes before departure and then miss your flight due to long security lines, it’s hard to feel too bad.
However, that’s not at all what happened here. The traveler showed up over two hours before departure with just carry-on bags, and that’s as early as anyone could possibly expect to arrive at the airport for a flight, short of some extraordinary event that the airline warned people about.
I don’t know what happened here that caused these long lines, but this definitely seems out of the ordinary, and not like something that’s acceptable. If these lines are going to be so bad, it also seems like the airline should’ve warned people in advance of the possibility of that.
I think that also leads to the frustrating lack of accountability here. Admittedly an airline can’t be responsible for long security lines, so the airline wouldn’t be on the hook for paying for things like EC261 compensation, since this is fully outside of a carrier’s control.
However, both the airline and airport are run by the government, and as I see it, the real issue here is how European airlines generally have a policy that if you miss a flight, you have to pay for a new ticket.
It seems borderline unethical for a carrier’s hub airport to have unacceptably long security lines, and for the airline to then charge passengers to rebook if they miss their flight. It’s one of the ways that aviation in Europe is very punitive, as it’s not like the United States, where you’re typically just put on standby for the next flight if you miss the one you’re booked on.
I totally agree with this reader that he didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s not unreasonable that he feels he’s owed something. As he concludes, though, he’s correct that this is one of those situations that reflects just how one-sided airline contracts of carriage are.
Airlines are rarely generous beyond their published contract of carriage, especially for customer service after the fact. So this might be one of those rare situations where I’m not sure there’s any good recourse, I don’t have any advice, and I also am not sure what the lesson is. I certainly wouldn’t recommend showing up well over two hours early for a typical flight from Europe, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
So do we just put this in the category of “if you travel enough things sometimes go wrong, and there’s nothing we can do about it?” Or is there another lesson?
Bottom line
A TAP Air Portugal passenger missed his flight due to very long security lines at Lisbon Airport. That’s super frustrating, since it’s not like he was cutting it close, so this could’ve happened to any reasonable person. While it’s frustrating to miss your flight in this situation to begin with, what makes it even worse is that he was forced to buy another ticket, since European carriers don’t generally just roll your ticket over to the next flight.
Is there any good advice that I’m missing, or what do you make of this situation?
Yes. The passenger must pay for a new ticket which will then be reimbursed by the border Control.
Passenger must prove that he/she arrived 2h before departure and document the long wait (e.g. photo documentation).
Border control will not pay if delay was caused by the passenger (e.g. wrong visa, carrying illegal goods etc.).
Yes. The passenger must pay for a new ticket which will then be reimbursed by the border Control.
Passenger must prove that he/she arrived 2h before departure and document the long wait (e.g. photo documentation).
Border control will not pay if delay was caused by the passenger (e.g. wrong visa, carrying illegal goods etc.).
A quick Google for "EES Chaos" tells me that this is in no way isolated, and makes me glad I have no plans to visit continental Europe this spring/summer.
There is of course a simple solution to avoid such a situation. Simply book a flexible ticket. This will look mote expensive but you can see it as an insurance.
Wild. Was expecting this story to be about TSA in the US, but turns out, construction in Europe. Note to self, avoid LIS until finished.
Speaking of TSA, CLEAR+ PreCheck TouchlessID under 10 minutes this morning at JFK T4. General looked brutal.
Unless you’re a diplomat or wheelchair, seems like no workaround in LIS; basically, for mere business class, ‘your money is no good here.’ Bah!
“ A TAP Air Portugal passenger missed his flight due to very long security lines at Lisbon Airport.”
That is incorrect I guess, the line was for immigration. So the passenger missed the flight due to long lines there. That makes a difference: the airport is responsible for smooth security (and can be hold accountable). But immigration is not offered by the airport, it’s border control. Guess it’s much harder to hold them accountable.
It's definitely the new EU ETIAS rules.
We were flying out of Malaga recently and there was only one passport officer doing manual checks. The electronic checkpoint was failing passengers who were already ETIAS validated about everything tenth time, after which your only recourse was the manual line.
We arrived 3 hours early for our flight and went immediately to the line as advised by the check in agent (which tells you how...
It's definitely the new EU ETIAS rules.
We were flying out of Malaga recently and there was only one passport officer doing manual checks. The electronic checkpoint was failing passengers who were already ETIAS validated about everything tenth time, after which your only recourse was the manual line.
We arrived 3 hours early for our flight and went immediately to the line as advised by the check in agent (which tells you how often this is happening). All but one of our party made it through the electronic system's machines, and that person joined the line 2 and half hours before departure.
At 30 minutes until departure, the line still had approximately 80 people ahead of them in it. They and others on the verge of missing flights asked airport police minding the line if they could be served more urgently. An officer scoffed and said they should have come earlier.
ETIAS isn't working properly, and airports struggle but also won't admit that's the issue and properly staff up for manual checks.
ETIas hasn't started yet. They have just implemented EES, the electronic entry/exit system. Once EES is working properly, then the EU will start ETIAS.
I live in Lisbon and am used to the long immigration queues but never had one of 2 hours. The challenges are normally in the morning as most Brazilian and US flights leave 10am-1pm making the queues ridiculous. I avoid flying during those times. I never trust the screens showing the wait times as the e gates close regularly forcing everyone into the manual lines. They used to call out flights getting close to boarding...
I live in Lisbon and am used to the long immigration queues but never had one of 2 hours. The challenges are normally in the morning as most Brazilian and US flights leave 10am-1pm making the queues ridiculous. I avoid flying during those times. I never trust the screens showing the wait times as the e gates close regularly forcing everyone into the manual lines. They used to call out flights getting close to boarding but don’t do that anymore. TAP are also a poor airline for customer service so it doesn’t really surprise me they say it’s not their fault but a 2 hour wait for immigration is ridiculous and planning around that is challenging.
It’s sad and boring that these situations happen, but end of the game it’s the passenger’s fault.
The airline doesn’t have to warn the passengers daily because it isn’t the only airline flying from LIS (although the one with most non-EU flights by far).
And just a small correction: LIS airport isn’t owned by the government as the airline.
That's what travel insurance is for. By the way, revenue tickets in TAP Executive, and non-discount ones in Y, all allow changes for a reasonable fee before departure. They already were airside - they only had to send one of the seven pax into the TAP Schengen lounge and ask for staff assistance - either with the queue or with rebooking.
While I do empathise with the predicament of the pax here, I appreciate the...
That's what travel insurance is for. By the way, revenue tickets in TAP Executive, and non-discount ones in Y, all allow changes for a reasonable fee before departure. They already were airside - they only had to send one of the seven pax into the TAP Schengen lounge and ask for staff assistance - either with the queue or with rebooking.
While I do empathise with the predicament of the pax here, I appreciate the clarity of the rules. I'm all for employee empowerment, but giving that sort of discretion to underpaid, overworked frontline staff is both going to put some passengers at a structural disadvantage (because of cognitive biases suggesting that e.g. someone old is less capable of getting to the gate quickly) and almost guarantee to put the employees themselves in a difficult position when they do decide to refuse a customer request.
Which insurance policy will cover delay arising from immigration queue?
Most standard travel insurances will where I am from. If you show up reasonably ahead of time (or have booked MCT +1 on separate tickets) and miss your flight due to circumstances outside of your control, you are covered for new tickets. This is even the case for Visa/Mastercard travel insurances (although those only cover new tickets in economy), which are complementary on their platinum cards.
I currently live in the UK where this...
Most standard travel insurances will where I am from. If you show up reasonably ahead of time (or have booked MCT +1 on separate tickets) and miss your flight due to circumstances outside of your control, you are covered for new tickets. This is even the case for Visa/Mastercard travel insurances (although those only cover new tickets in economy), which are complementary on their platinum cards.
I currently live in the UK where this seems close to impossible to find in travel insurances, so obviously big differences by country.
how u will prove it to the insurance?
I think you misrepresent the situation in the article title. The line they got stuck at was not the security line, but the passport line. LIS is known to have really bad passport lines, I try to avoid it at all costs.
Plus they also happened to be foreigners and they wouldn't have had an issue had they been EU citizens. I'm definitely not saying that the airport covered itself in glory, but a bit of contingency planning doesn't hurt in those situations.
In the US, it's been recommended to show up 3 hours before departure for an international flight. That's been the standard for as long as I can remember.
Gray area for this customer but I would try to go through a credit card dispute. TAP ain't gonna budge.
The security queues at Lisbon are also poorly marked and configured, As a US passport holder you can use a egate but it’s not exactly clear how you get to that egate as the non EU passport queue takes you to the manned gates. Once we figured out how to get there, it probably saved us an hour.
This is where US airlines ARE better. The ‘flat tire’ rule still seems to be in force...
The security queues at Lisbon are also poorly marked and configured, As a US passport holder you can use a egate but it’s not exactly clear how you get to that egate as the non EU passport queue takes you to the manned gates. Once we figured out how to get there, it probably saved us an hour.
This is where US airlines ARE better. The ‘flat tire’ rule still seems to be in force if you miss a flight whereas other airlines will often make you rebook a new flight and refuse to reaccommodate you when you have elite status.
This seems to be related to the recent new EU border checks for non EU citizens and Lisbon seems to have especially been struggling with handling the new requirements. There was a similar article in the British press about a family flying back to the UK from Málaga who faced a 3 hour departure immigration queue and missed the flight home. Although they were at the airport 3 hours early, easyJet baggage drop only opened...
This seems to be related to the recent new EU border checks for non EU citizens and Lisbon seems to have especially been struggling with handling the new requirements. There was a similar article in the British press about a family flying back to the UK from Málaga who faced a 3 hour departure immigration queue and missed the flight home. Although they were at the airport 3 hours early, easyJet baggage drop only opened 2 hrs before departure and so they never made it through immigration in time and had to buy new tickets for a later flight. Not sure that the answer is when the customer did nothing wrong but the airline won't budge.
It actually is probably worth getting to the airport significantly earlier than 2 hrs before departure if you are a non-EU citizen, at least for the next few months. The introduction of the new EES system is causing huge delays. We haven't seen it too badly so far but at winter ski airports like Geneva at some times of day the queues at immigration on arrival have reached 3 hours.
But as pointed out in another post, if you have luggage to check in then some airlines are opening baggage check 2h before departure when there is over 3h queue for security! When questioned the airline did not see it as their problem and instead offered a "rescue" fare back to the UK for 1000 pounds.