Traffic jams return to Barajas: "Hundreds of passengers and only 10 employees serve us"

"To go to Bogota?"

“The tail on the right.

"And for Tel Aviv?"

“Always to the right.

A couple of weeks ago the traffic jams returned to the M-30 at rush hour, and with the opening of the air border with the United States this Monday, the queues at the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport have also returned. “I fly to Madrid continuously, and since the pandemic I have never found myself in a situation like this,” says Thais Vera, 39 years old. She is Spanish, but she lives in Berlin, and before arriving to check in her bags she had to wait an hour and a half, even though she was in the priority queue because she was traveling with children. "This cannot be, hundreds of passengers and only 10 employees serve us," she adds.

Since one in the afternoon, there have been 60 departure flights from the Iberia company from Terminal 4 in Barajas with destinations all over the world. Even the United States, which this Monday has reopened its borders to Spain after 20 months. All passengers have had to stand in the same queue to check in and leave their bags in the hold, waiting in some cases for up to three hours. There are those who try to skip the turn, and those who, due to a linguistic misunderstanding, make a mistake in good faith. Hundreds of people who, due to lack of space, are unable to keep a safe distance, despite the reminder that resounds from the airport loudspeakers.

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Rafael Pajarón travels to Boston with his wife for their honeymoon. They went to Barajas three hours in advance and he got into the correct queue thanks to the instructions of the other passengers. "You look at the panels and it seems that all Iberia flights are checking in at the same place," he says with amusement. He is right. The first scheduled flight is destined for Gran Canaria, and takes off at three in the afternoon. The last one was going to Paris, at 6:05 p.m.

The only indication to differentiate the rows is if the destination of the trip is within or outside of Spain. "Domestic flights to the left, international flights to the right," shouts an Iberia employee, in a vain attempt to organize the people waiting. It is almost impossible to hear it, among the voices of hundreds of people trying to get information.

The lack of clear signage and the increasing concern of passengers does not help the situation improve. Some worry about not being on time and missing their flight, while others aren't sure if they're in the right queue. José Mulet has come to the counter after waiting two hours and having passed through three different queues. He travels with his family to New York for tourism and, just an hour before the plane takes off, he still can't get through security. “They've told us we're missing a company form, but they don't even know which one, and they can't find a supervisor to ask,” he says desperately.

Something similar has happened to Lara Sánchez, who travels to London. Her partner and her daughter accompany her to the airport, although she travels alone for work reasons. "I had to stand in line for an hour, even though I suffer from sciatica, and when I got to the counters they couldn't explain to me in English how to pay the extra baggage fee," explains the woman, originally from the United Kingdom. She has had to leave the queue to find an employee capable of attending to her. "I can't find anyone, there is a lack of personnel to serve this number of people," she adds.

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