The other day I received a call from a reader. It was to tell me that Palma airport was a nightmare. Hundreds of passengers and just two National Police officers checking passports. Obviously, they couldn’t cope and soon long queues had formed. Since Brexit, British passports have to be stamped on arrival as a result of the 90 day rule. Unfortunately, the Spanish government failed to take this into account and there are only limited resources at the airport, in this case two officers for scores of flights.
Airport delays
Palma airport was not prepared for Brexit
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You decide to have Brexit, and you demand others to accommodate your nonsensical decision? To pay for costs that you mount up without cause and sense? Excuse me? We did not ask you to Brexit. You broke it, you own it. This sense of entitlement is unbelievable.
PMI has always had a customs procedure for those arriving from non-EU countries. Brexit didn't create that. But because the UK chose to leave the EU, arrivals from UK airports must now go through customs. Britain was never a Schengen subscriber anyway, so passport control is nothing new. If I recall, just 6 months ago, even the MDB was suggesting that British tourism was flat or declining. Then suddenly that all changed and Brits decided to travel anyway, and on some days, as many as 15 flights arrive at PMI in one hour's time, which causes queues at customs. Furthermore, there's chaos at UK airports to begin with, so arriving Brits are already unnerved by the time they arrive. I'd suggest that it's actually Britain that isn't ready for Brexit, not the other way around. That has famously been the case throughout the entire saga. On this side of the channel, there's no discernible consequence.