There’s nothing quite like the thought of a well-deserved holiday, but it’s no secret that the journey to your dream destination can be anything but relaxing.

This week, social media has been full of videos capturing hordes of tourists trapped in seemingly endless queues at Tenerife South Airport. The passport control chaos has emphatically been branded an “awful” experience.

Security screening is mandatory for all outbound travellers from Tenerife Sur, involving an airport metal detector and possibly an additional check with a handheld device. Passport control, however, has recently become notorious for its incredibly long queues.

Footage circulating online shows countless passengers lined up, awaiting their turn, as the queue crawls at a snail’s pace.

For TikTok influencer Claire Walters, known by her handle @walters101515, the situation represents a shocking failure in efficiency. Another TikTok user, Scott Story, shared similar frustrations in his footage from the destination.

One dismayed traveller commented: “Just came back today and half the plane was empty due to people being stuck in the queue. Absolute joke.”

Someone else said: “We were fortunate enough last Friday to get through just before our plane left. What happens if you don’t get through on time? How do you arrange another flight and do you have to pay?”

A third replied: “We had this a few weeks ago. Stood in that queue for an hour-and-a-half.”

Not everyone shared the same views though, with one person noting: “This must depend on the time of your flight. I flew home yesterday and we were the only people there. Maybe 40 minutes or so before our flight boarded.”

In a similar vein, another traveller observed: “I fly to the UK and back once a month. This is not the norm – far from it.”

Back last year there were reports of “chaos” at the south airport, a situation that has been partially attributed to Brexit ramifications. During the fracas, exasperated tourism chiefs on the island denounced passport control at the bustling Tenerife Sur as “nonsense”, and called for immediate measures to curtail the one-hour queues through passport checks.

Tourism authorities conceded that this conundrum had persisted for several months, significantly affecting droves of British holidaymakers. Current talk indicates that this may seem to be a problem that hasn’t gone away.

The team at Tenerife Sur have been asked to comment about queuing issues.