BOSSES at Scotland's busiest airport are under pressure to resolve a computer glitch which caused massive tailbacks in the security hall as it prepares for its busiest weekend of the year.

 

Passengers complained of waiting more than an hour and missing flights as a result of huge queues for the baggage checks and body scanners on Monday as Edinburgh Airport grappled with "IT issues" in its new £25 million security area.

It comes as the airport, which handled a record-breaking 10 million passengers in 2014, gears up to its busiest weekend of the year so far as thousands of holidaymakers jet off for the start of the Scottish school holidays from Friday.

Travellers branded the security hall a "complete shambles" and "the worst check-in experience ever" on Monday, amid reports of so-called "fast track" queues stretching back to the food hall and waits of more than an hour.

One passenger, Andrew Finnie, complained about his experience on the airport's Twitter feed.

He wrote: "I was waiting for over an hour I the queue [on Monday] morning. You should be ashamed. A total joke. Embarrassment."

Others said it was ruining the capital's reputation.

The airport acknowledged that this was "unacceptable", but a spokesman said there had been no significant delays on Tuesday.

The Monday morning rush hour, between 4am and 8am, is typically the busiest period of the week for passenger traffic, with the airport also expecting to be busy on Thursday afternoon with families making an early getaway.

A spokesman for the airport said: "Sadly on Monday we experienced IT issues which led to queues for security. We are working as hard as we can to resolve these and our operations have not been affected at all today [Tuesday].

"We apologise for the frustration and inconvenience the queues have caused our passengers.

"This weekend looks set to be our busiest this year so far and we are calling on passengers to be prepared for security and allow extra time. It's so important to be ready for security so please make sure you comply with the liquid rules.

"We know that many travelling will be parents with children and to help them we'll have a dedicated family lane where they can prepare.

"We'll have all hands on deck this weekend to ensure our passengers have a good experience of Edinburgh Airport."

The new security hall, which was designed to offer passengers faster and more streamlined transit through the airport, opened at the end of last year as part of a multi-million pound expansion of the terminal.

However, airport bosses have conceded that there have been problems with bottlenecks at peak times and passengers having to queue "for longer than is acceptable".

In February, passengers faced giant security queues amid reports that 13 of the airport's 14 security staff had called in sick.

Passengers have also complained about the new security hall on air travel review website, airlinequality.com.

John Garden gave the airport a 1/10 rating and said: "Edinburgh has clearly invested heavily in upgrading the airport to cater for increased volumes.

"But rather than going to school on recent airport security design disasters, they have delivered a complete abomination of a passenger security facility.

"The poor staff are trying their hardest to make the best of this shambles but it is a complete mess."

Fiona Wemyss branded the service "dreadful and shambolic".

She added: "I arrived two hours ahead of my UK flight taking off. The queue at security was so long that I wasn't going to make it to the gate before it shut."