Lengthy passport queues at European hubs are problematic for the trade

As a business trainer, I always say to my business partner: “As long as there is poor service or management, then there’s work for us.”

 

This philosophy has meant we have worked in every major business sector over the last 26 years, including travel. What this also means is that we are acutely aware when we witness service collapse from the customer’s point of view.

 

Over the last two years, I’ve flown into Berlin many times, as well as nine other European hubs. I work from Berlin occasionally and it’s a brilliant digital nomad city where English is the most common language, and you can work in cafes with several different businesses having Zoom meetings over great coffee and cake.

 

But the experience of arriving at Berlin’s airport has now become wearing in the extreme. The new entry system for the EU is actually not the problem; it is the lack of manned cubicles to check passports. By all accounts, this is not only a problem in Berlin, but it’s where I have experienced it.

 

On two recent trips, I have waited in the passport line (with no loo in sight!) for longer than the plane took to fly from London to Berlin.

 

EU members either go through the electronic gates or get special treatment at their manned kiosk, which is only available to us non-EU passport holders when there is no-one waiting in that queue.

 

The ‘All-passport’ holders – a multinational group of families, businesspeople, and singles from all over the Earth, feeling somewhat persecuted – edge forward slowly towards a single cubicle, manned by a dour, uniformed passport officer.

 

We look heavenwards every time we see the officer reach for his phone to query the entry of yet another person. You think, surely, someone – maybe two colleagues – will appear and quickly dispatch the queue. But no, it’s just one harassed person and we continue to edge forward.

 

Then another flight joins the queue, it stretches back, and people start talking. “I come in every week and it’s getting worse and worse,” one fellow Brit says. “I’m missing a meeting,” says another.

 

This is the point. Aside from the inconvenience, which is massive, this is so bad for business. The loo point is a serious one. After a 60-minute wait, you daren’t leave the queue to go and find one for fear of losing your place, so you’re forced to wait, parched and desperate, and the experience becomes something inhuman.

 

For years, Germans have had a reputation for efficiency. That seems to have ceased entirely when it comes to allowing tourists and businesspeople in who want to spend money in their country.

 

Imagine if you had popped over for a couple of nights, or a single night, for a concert or to go clubbing, and you spend around three to four hours in passport queues. You’d think twice about doing it again.

 

Some of you will be thinking: why didn’t you tweet a complaint to the airport? I did and got a reply a few hours later. Berlin Airport is not responsible for passport control – that’s the Federal Police.

 

What a handy buck to pass. It’s not good enough. Don’t tell me the airport cannot work with the Federal Police to increase coverage?

 

This poor service means we spend even less time in the airport once we get through. I tweeted the Federal Police; nothing. I tweeted the incoming PM Andy Burnham, pointing out that this situation (and we all know why this has happened) is utterly absurd and if he wants my vote, they need to sort it out, quickly.

 

Coming through Berlin to go home is nearly as bad – there are more people in the passport kiosks, but it’s still painfully slow. You now need to allow at least an extra hour, not to relax and spend money, but to stand in line.

 

My flight home last time was delayed because passengers were caught in that queue – between checking in and getting on the plane – a problem I know has been rife across Europe.

 

My middle-aged mind poses this question: surely it cannot be beyond the wit of mankind to create a faster, more secure system for everyone?

 

Security at airports has finally been sped up; we no longer have to remove laptops and liquids and take off half our clothing – why can’t passport control be revamped? My German girlfriend says: “This is so embarrassing for us, that our major airport, which cost so much money, is so poorly run.”

 

She’s right. She passes through Gatwick in seconds in the electronic line.

 

I’d love a response from the German government pledging an improvement, but I’m not holding my breath.

 

Look out for my next report on why easyJet’s ‘Speedy Boarding’ actually seems to mean nothing at German airports and you are better off just paying for a reserved seat...