June 17, 2025, 8:27 am | Read time: 5 minutes
You are excited about your booked trip and arrive at the airport well ahead of time. However, there’s a staff shortage, leading to unexpected delays, and the worst-case scenario occurs: you miss your flight. TRAVELBOOK explains what rights you have in this situation.
Many people prefer to be at the airport well ahead of time, accepting long waits at the gate to avoid unexpected surprises. However, this doesn’t necessarily prevent missing a flight. This is exactly what reportedly happened to numerous passengers recently: According to the British newspaper “The Independent,” around 270 booked Ryanair passengers at the Portuguese airports of Lisbon, Faro, and Porto waited more than two and a half hours at border controls between May 26 and June 9—and missed their flights. The reason cited is an acute staff shortage. But what does this mean for those affected?
Overview
Beforehand: How to Avoid Missing a Flight
As a general rule, travelers are responsible for arriving at the gate on time. To ensure this, one should plan ample time—including for potential delays on the way to the airport (such as in public transport or due to traffic jams) and for long waits at security and passport controls. What exactly “on time” means can vary slightly depending on the airport and airline. “Generally, most airlines recommend being at the airport at least two hours before departure,” explains the legal portal “Flightright.” Additionally, it’s important to consider that long walks or queues within the airport can easily take up 30 minutes.
In the aforementioned case, however, travelers waited more than 2.5 hours—a time span that is hardly foreseeable. Even with a generous buffer, passengers likely could not have made the flight under these circumstances.
Missed Flight Due to Staff Shortage: What Are My Rights?
If you miss a flight due to staff shortages at the airport, the first question is: Who is actually responsible? Here, the assessment of Jan Bartholl, a travel law attorney, is helpful. “Check-in staff are provided by the airline. Therefore, the airline is liable for problems there.” It’s different with border controls. The state is responsible for them, the expert explains, “specifically the federal or border police, who often subcontract this work.” In Germany, for example, this also applies to security checks at the airport.
In the case of the Portuguese airports, it was a state failure, not the airline’s fault. Ryanair responded accordingly: COO Neal McMahon urged the Portuguese government to urgently address the situation. “Portuguese families should no longer have to endure 2.5-hour queues to go on their well-deserved vacation,” he appealed.
What Travelers Need to Know and Do
What does this mean specifically for affected passengers? If the state is responsible for the problem, theoretically, affected individuals would have to sue the Portuguese government. This means they would need to hire a local attorney and file a lawsuit against a state institution. A rather cumbersome undertaking.
In urgent cases, affected individuals can try to get support from the airline. According to Jan Bartholl, airlines often show goodwill and rebook travelers on the next flight. However, they are not obligated to do so if the failure is not their responsibility. There is a chance that one might have to buy a new ticket and possibly arrange accommodation for the night. “These costs could be claimed in a successful lawsuit,” says Bartholl. But that involves significant effort. Particularly frustrating: “You have paid for the corresponding service.” This is listed separately on every flight ticket, sometimes as a tax, sometimes as a surcharge.
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When the Airport Operator Is to Blame for the Missed Flight
Besides the airline and the state, the airport operator can also share responsibility if travelers miss their flight. For example, the processes at the boarding gates and transportation within the airport grounds, such as with shuttle buses, as well as the technical handling of baggage loading and the cooperation of ground staff, fall under the airport’s jurisdiction. If there are significant delays in any of these situations that lead to a missed flight, affected travelers can derive a claim. However, holding the airport accountable can be similarly challenging. Without legal assistance, such proceedings are generally unlikely to succeed but are time-consuming.
The Situation Is the Same in Germany
The principle is transferable: If, for example, you missed a flight at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport due to staff shortages, you would also need to identify the specific responsible party—and possibly file a lawsuit.
It would be easiest for affected travelers if the airline is responsible for the missed flight. Especially for package travelers, comprehensive legal grounds are available through travel contract law, which makes the tour operator responsible for everything “in the package,” explains Jan Bartholl. Individual travelers, on the other hand, must laboriously deal with the respective opposing party. “In the discussed ‘Portugal case,’ this opposing party would be the Portuguese state,” the expert emphasizes once again.