I read that there are planned strikes in Portugal airports starting the day before I’m supposed to fly into Porto. How long do these strikes typically last? Do they affect international flights? How should I prepare?
Thank you in advance for your help! I couldn’t find much information on Google.
This is the best information I’ve found on the airport strikes: https://www.portugalresident.com/new-airport-strikes-loom-for-portugal/
I, too, am traveling to Portugal during this time frame.
From what I understand, your experience will depend on your flight itineraries. If upon arrival in one of the affected airports, first having already gone through passport control at another European city in a Schengen country (like Paris, Madrid, or Amsterdam), getting through your arriving Portuguese airport should be fairly easy. You’ll only have to go through customs, with nothing to declare.
If, however, you are flying into one of the affected airports without connecting at another Schengen airport first, you’ll have to go through passport control at one of the Portuguese airports, which is where it gets sticky. You can expect long delays.
Flying out of Portugal is a similar scenario. If you’re not connecting elsewhere in an airport in a Schengen country, you’ll likely encounter long delays at the airport, especially if it’s Lisbon.
Now, you know about as much as I do. 😕
The article is the best I can find, too. The significant thing to remember is that the strikes will occur only on the specified days and times. If you arrive outside of those days and times, you should be fine. Especially if late in the evening.
In case you are arriving during those times and days, it won’t be good. The best thing to hope for is they settle before the days of the strikes.
Also, make certain to go through the electronic gates at the beginning of passport control. It is much faster during non strike times but may get backed up during strikes. And, don’t get in the All Passports section.
We're back in the US now but I am curious about the electronic gates at Lisbon since we were directed to go to All Passports by an airport employee when we were leaving Portugal.
Do you need to be enrolled into some program to be able to use those gates?
Thanks
The electronic gates are for certain passports. The list fairly recently was expanded to include US passports. In the past, they were only for EU.
I flew into Lisbon today and cleared passport control in 10 minutes using the electronic gates, even with only 3 of the 8 gates working.
