Leeds Bradford Airport: Queues and staff shortages persist as bank holiday travellers face 'significant delays'

It comes as airports across the country struggle to deal with the rise in passenger numbers returning to pre-pandemic levels.

With many staff having been let go at the height of the pandemic the airport is now in a race against time to hire and train up new staff.

Passenger numbers in March and April were almost three times greater than in January and continue to grow.

Frustrated travellers took to social media to detail their own experiences.

"Literally every significant delay I've experienced has been related to Leeds Bradford Airport, where there are no staff to run anything because of covid outbreaks." tweeted one user.

"This "living with it" is going great."

While another user compared their experience at LBA with that of their holiday destination.

"Leeds Bradford Airport security took an hour and a half to get through, compared to Rome Fiumicino which took a maximum of 5 minutes." they said.

Other travellers advised future holidaymakers to leave themselves plenty of time following bad experiences.

"If you are flying from Leeds give yourself at the very least 3 hrs pre flight. Trust me." tweeted one.

Meanwhile another user detailed how one person was left checking passengers through security.

"If you are travelling through LBA please give yourself plenty of time. There is one person checking thousands through security." they tweeted.

"Yes, you heard that right. One. Queues are miles long."

Officials at Leeds Bradford are confident that with additional staff being recruited the situation will return to more normal queuing times in the coming weeks.

Queues are said to intensify during peak travel times between 5am and 9am in the morning and late afternoon.

In a statement provided to the YEP, a spokesperson for LBA, said:

"We would like to apologise to those impacted and we’re working hard to overcome these challenges with ongoing recruitment and training activities and more staff being released to the operation from training each week.

"Unfortunately, these current challenges are an industry wide problem, caused by the speed of withdrawal of travel restrictions and testing which has led to the rapid recovery of international travel.

"We are actively managing queues to pull people to the front as their flights near departure, which ensures that very few passengers have missed flights."

LBA insist the majority of missed flights are those who arrive at the airport late or who have some form of security issue related to their bags.

The airport is recommending passengers:

Arrive early: Passengers are advised to arrive at the airport three hours prior to their flight departure time.

Prepare your carry-on baggage: Remove all large electronic devices, carry liquids and gels less than 100ml in a one litre zip lock bag.

Empty your pockets: Remove all items from pockets, remove any jackets or coats and remove any boots or high heeled shoes and put them and pocket contents through the x-ray machines.