Reports of ‘chaos’ and hours-long queues at Malaga Airport have been doing the rounds again this week – but passengers on the ground are painting a very different picture.
A string of recent traveller accounts suggests that, far from meltdown, many Brits are now breezing through border control in minutes, even during busy periods.
One passenger said they got through the airport ‘in 10 minutes’ during a lunchtime rush, while another described the process as ‘a breeze’ after arriving three hours early for a flight.
Others reported clearing passport control in under 25 minutes, with one even comparing the terminal to the ‘Marie Celeste’ due to how quiet it was.
The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which introduces biometric checks including fingerprints and facial scans for non-EU travellers, initially sparked disruption when it began rolling out.
Early teething problems, combined with patchy communication, helped fuel headlines predicting travel chaos across southern Europe, particularly in hotspots like the Costa del Sol.
The first few weeks were no doubt chaotic, especially as ground staff had no idea what the rules were, in particular involving expats with TIE cards (which the Spanish Eye first got clarification of following our insistent reporting).
But on the ground, the reality now appears far more nuanced.
A system people are getting used to
Passengers who have already been registered in the system are now moving through e-gates quickly, avoiding the longer manual checks that first-time users face.
As more travellers pass through the system and become ‘known’ to it, processing times drop significantly – something that is already being reflected in recent experiences at Malaga.
Even first-time users are reporting relatively smooth journeys, with waits far shorter than initially feared.
The queues never went away
There’s another important point often missing from the debate, which is that Malaga Airport has always had queue problems.
Long before Brexit or EES, passengers regularly complained about delays at passport control during peak travel periods, particularly Easter, summer holidays and bank holiday weekends.
Staffing shortages, flight clustering and the sheer volume of passengers passing through one of Spain’s busiest airports have historically created bottlenecks.
As one traveller bluntly put it: the airport has been ‘one of the worst in Spain’ for queues for years, with passengers often arriving hours early even before Brexit came into force.
Peak times still a pressure point
That’s not to say delays have disappeared entirely.
When multiple flights land at once – especially with a high proportion of non-EU passengers needing full checks – queues can still build quickly.
However, they are not solely down to EES, with Malaga’s staffing rota having a lot to answer for.
What’s emerging is a more balanced reality than the viral horror stories suggest.
Yes, the introduction of biometric border checks has added an extra layer to the process. But as the system beds in and more travellers become registered, throughput is improving, not deteriorating.
However, as ever, whether you are stuck in painfully long queues appears to be down to a myriad of different factors – including whether the systems are working properly, staffing levels, passenger numbers and ultimately, luck.
For now, the advice remains to allow extra time for your journey, especially during peak periods.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
