# Malaga Passport Control



## fhanrah (Feb 16, 2017)

Evening all,
We are flying into Malaga this Sunday, needless to say I've been reading about the long delays around Europe, Has anyone flown into Malaga this week or know what delays I should expect when we arrive. I need to plan for 2 children just incase :fingerscrossed:


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Have no idea so not much use, but I always planned for delays with children


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

The situation is that there is a new directive meaning that instead of purely doing a visual check of your passport to make sure it's you, the authorities now scan each passport. This obviously takes a lot longer for each passenger. If you want to have an idea how long you will be waiting there are two theories. Firstly there are set target times as to how long it should take a passenger to get through passport control so you shouldn't have to take longer than that. In Manchester it's 25 minutes for EU nationals and 45 for non EU I believe. However, as this directive appears to have caught the Spanish authorities by surprise, they are badly understaffed which is what's causing the delays. And it's also the same with outgoing passengers. The UK authorities don't scan going out but the Spanish do. So given that, at the moment, there appears to be a staffing issue with the CNP, your best chance to see how long you're going to be held up is to check the AGP arrivals schedule and see how many flights are due in at the same time as yours. I'm not sure if there's a different queue for internal flights or not but either way if there's only one flight due then it will obviously be less than if there are 20. At least this way might give you some basic idea though. Palma, by the way, is one of the busiest in Europe so it's no surprise that there are huge issues there.


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## mecanico (Nov 21, 2016)

*Delays*

Hi, this is nothing new!
The last time I flew into Malaga was in May this year.
3 flights from the UK had arrived within minutes of each other & everyone had a long wait, at least 45 minutes.
The delay was due to the fact that the airport had installed 4 of the new Passport scanning machines, these take a photo, then a fingerprint, it takes several minutes if the machine works, if not much longer!
The machine my wife used came up with an error, she was directed to an old style booth with a somewhat overworked man inside, he was obviously getting frustrated & just waved her through!
So much for new tighter security! She was allowed into Spain with no passport check being carried out!
The checks before flying back to the UK took seconds.

Hope it all goes smoothly


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We had a text from the airline last week advising us to arrive three hours before take-off. Not Malaga, but the same thing is happening everywhere.


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

It all sounds like pot luck. I flew into malaga from marseille last weekend and was straight off the plane and out the door with no checks.


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## cermignano (Feb 9, 2017)

They are also checking Interpol for wanted offenders and for anyone who they believe to be dodgy. Simon Calder says that everybody knew about these new controls coming in to force but failed to recruit more staff and general penny-pinching on hew passport scanning controls on some terminals means this is how it will continue to be. Also that the skies are too packed and air control takes longer during school hols.


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## emmastyles (Mar 5, 2014)

Justina said:


> It all sounds like pot luck. I flew into malaga from marseille last weekend and was straight off the plane and out the door with no checks.


Surely that's in the Schengen Area.No passport controls when leaving the airport.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Justina said:


> It all sounds like pot luck. I flew into malaga from marseille last weekend and was straight off the plane and out the door with no checks.


The advantages of Schengen!


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## cermignano (Feb 9, 2017)

I flew to Rome in last month. Edinburgh airport was packed at 4am Long queues for the bag drop. Then long queues at security. Very thoroughSame coming back. Won't be travelling in July or August again. Going to Macedonia from Inverness via Luton. They are not in Schengen either. Will let you know how that goes. Love tiny Inverness airport


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## DonMarco (Nov 20, 2016)

Some of my family members (two adults, two children) flew into Malaga from Prestwick Scotland last Wednesday. No passport control at all and it took the usual half hour to get to the greeting area after landing.


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2017)

emmastyles said:


> Surely that's in the Schengen Area.No passport controls when leaving the airport.


Ask at the Quebin Area


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> The advantages of Schengen!


Yes really great if you want to pop over from Brussels to Paris to commit a terrorist attack. Or as today where a German reg car was found loaded with explosives in Brussels. Who needs borders


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

This is the irony really. All that is not controlled yet thousands of holiday makers are put through hell. They really should make an informed security assessment on how likely an easyJet flight full of passengers (who have already been security cleared at point of departure) are to commit an atrocity!


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