implementation of the EU’s new Entry\/Exit system (EES)<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe system, which replaces passport stamps with biometric checks, is designed to be more efficient, but teething issues are causing frustration for many passengers trying to return to the UK.<\/p>\n
Ms Bridgehouse said she arrived at the airport four hours early and had plenty of time before her 10.30am flight was assigned a gate.<\/p>\n
At 9.30am, the flight had been assigned a gate number, and she was told by a member of staff to join a queue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were stood in the queue for about an hour and a half\u2026 probably even longer,” she told ITV News, adding that staff kept calling people for London Gatwick and London Heathrow but not for Manchester.<\/p>\n
When Ms Bridgehouse and some other passengers went to ask for updates, she said staff told them: “Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not going to leave without you, it will stay here until you all board.”<\/p>\n
But as the queue slowly budged forward, the flight was no longer listed on the departure board, she said. <\/p>\n
She said: “After about half an hour, we asked again, saying, \u2018Why hasn\u2019t it gone on the board yet? Why haven\u2019t we gone through yet? It\u2019s about half 11, surely we\u2019ve missed the flight.<\/p>\n
“She came back to us and said, \u2018It\u2019s gone, so I said, \u2018What do you mean it\u2019s gone? I need to be on that flight, I have work tomorrow I have kids I need to get home to\u2019.<\/p>\n
“They said, ‘There\u2019s nothing we can do, it\u2019s gone, you need to come out of the queue'”.<\/p>\n
Ms Bridgehouse said she struggles with anxiety, making her ordeal all the more difficult.<\/p>\n
She said she started “getting really panicky” when customers were led all the way back through departures and told to go down some stairs and outside, adding: “I was a mess. I was terrified.”<\/p>\n
Passengers were eventually ushered to an easyJet desk where they were handed a sheet of paper confirming that their flight had been cancelled, Ms Bridgehouse said.<\/p>\n
The earliest flight she could find to Manchester was four days later from Milano Malpensa Airport, which she booked.<\/p>\n
Her partner was staying in Milan for business, so she took a bus back into the city to stay with him.<\/p>\n
After a lengthy call with easyJet’s customer service, she was told she’d have to pay \u00a352 to switch to the Thursday flight. <\/p>\n
However, she said that does not make up for the extra expenses she has incurred staying in Milan, nor the four days of missed work for which her employer says it cannot pay her.<\/p>\n
EasyJet told ITV News they refunded the alternative EasyJet flight Ms Bridgehouse booked, including the cancellation fee. <\/p>\n
“While the issue was due to delays in EES processing, which is outside our control, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused,\u201d easyJet said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to urge border authorities to ensure they make full and effective use of the permitted flexibilities for as long as needed so our customers\u2019 travel plans are not impacted,” they added. <\/p>\n
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter<\/a> for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n“It\u2019s made me really nervous to return, going to that new airport, because I\u2019m thinking it\u2019s just going to happen all over again and I\u2019m going to be stuck here even longer. It has really knocked my confidence,” she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want someone to take accountability for it, apologise, and promise that it\u2019s not going to happen again, or that they\u2019re going to have things in place moving forward to make it easier.”<\/p>\n
ITV News has contacted Milan’s Linate Airport for comment. <\/p>\n
From Westminster to Washington DC – our political experts are across all the latest key talking points. Listen to the latest episode below… <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An easyJet customer has told ITV News she missed her flight home from Milan due to EU border…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-531191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}