Dusseldorf/Cologne/Bonn/Dortmund – They didn’t sleep, they left very early in the morning to be the first to pass the security check – in vain. Despite the hours of waiting, a number of passengers had to watch their planes take off.
video-heading">Horror waiting at the airport Long queue at security checkpoints!
Chaos at the start of the holidays in NRW!
If you wanted to start your holiday from Cologne/Bonn or Düsseldorf airport on Friday, you needed steady nerves. Already in the morning queues for baggage check-in and the security area were running in the terminals. Blame the state of emergency: Massive understaffing at security checkpoints, and airlines are also grappling with high levels of sick leave and strikes.
Incredible scenes at Cologne airport: the queue in front of security stretched almost the entire length of the airport
State of emergency at Cologne airport
In the afternoon, the queue extended to Terminal 2. Waiting time from there: about three hours.
Dennis (27) and David (29) are pissed and sad not to have gotten on the plane to Bilbao: “Our weekend is in the bucket”
That’s why many holidaymakers had to stay grounded, such as Dennis (27) and David (29) from Wolfsburg: “We wanted to go to Bilbao for a long weekend. After waiting hours at the security check, we arrived at the gate on time. At the last second, Ryanair swapped the gates.When we arrived, we weren’t allowed to board the plane.” For a night detour via Palma, the boys would now have to pay an extra 240 euros.
When architect Christian Scheck sees the XXL queue, he gives up. “First I’ll have a Kölsch”
Architect Christian Scheck (49) was also unlucky: “I hadn’t considered the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia. We no longer stand in line because we are guaranteed not to fly to Munich.”
Long queues formed in the Düsseldorf terminal early in the morning
There is also a run to Düsseldorf Airport
In Düsseldorf the Tewesens were already at the counter at 9: “We’re going to Alicante. Boarding isn’t until 12.10, but we didn’t want to stress ourselves.”
Pasa (48), Sude (18) and Ebru (46) Suzan have been queuing for hours hoping to catch the flight
Dirk Buchholz (44) and his work colleagues David (19), Martin (22) and Jannes (21) from Emden had it. Despite arriving early and carrying only hand luggage, they didn’t make it to the gate on time. Yesterday the four said: old town instead of Alicante. “We look for a swimming pool to cool off and then go for a beer,” says Dirk Buchholz. The new flight should depart today. “We’ll be back at the airport by midnight.”
Old town instead of Alicante! Dirk Buchholz (44) and his colleagues David (19), Martin (22) and Jannes (21) made the best of the situation and headed for the old town. I hope they fly south on Saturday
However, it can be safely doubted that things will be more relaxed at the NRW hubs on Saturday. In Düsseldorf alone, 11,000 travelers are expected by 8 in the morning. Cologne/Bonn Airport expects around 150,000 passengers by Monday.
The situation at the small Dortmund airport was very different from that of Düsseldorf or Cologne: no long waiting times, few queues – this is how a holiday should start!
