British Airways customers faced chaos when Spanish police caused a disruption on the runway, leading to the cancellation of a flight. On Wednesday, October 9, adverse weather forced a BA Gibraltar-bound flight to be re-routed to Malaga airport, prompting the return service to depart from there instead.
Spanish border officials then denied Gibraltar passengers entry into Spain, leaving passengers stranded. Despite prolonged negotiations between Gibraltar and Spanish officials, no resolution was found and stranded passengers were put up in hotels in the Rock and offered alternative flights for Thursday, reports Express.co.uk.
Spanish Policia Nacional officers at the border separating Gibraltar from La Línea argued that these travellers could not provide conclusive evidence-despite having a flight ticket in their name-that they intended to take the BA flight and would not remain illegally in Schengen territory. This move contradicted established protocols between Spain and Gibraltar allowing such passengers to cross during diversions with appropriate documents.
No.6 Convent Place told the Gibraltar Chronicle: “The Spanish Policia Nacional Inspector on duty refused access to third country nationals, contrary to established protocols and the proper application of the Schengen Border Code, in what appears to have been a unilateral action not supported by the Interior Ministry in Madrid.
“The established protocol involves supplying a new boarding card showing the flight now leaving from Malaga, and providing a passenger list to the frontier authorities.”
Express.co.uk has contacted BA for comment.