Behind The Scenes At Palma Airport | Holiday Airport E1 | Our Stories

the island of mallorca and the chosen destination of two million british holidaymakers every year but when they all arrive through the same airport things can get a little out of hand [Applause] she's got chicken pots now the water takers [Applause] [Music] airport built only four years ago at a cost of 165 million pounds it's an architectural marvel just one drawback with three miles of corridor you've got to move fast if you want to get your plane off the ground what's happening british midlander boarding at the same boarding gate as we are and if i don't get there before them we'll lose it a boarding gate has been assigned to two different airlines british midland and air 2000 whoever wins the gate will be first off the ground it's the escobar family who are responsible for getting air 2000 flights out on time directing operations his eyes and ears out in departures our wife anita and daughter caroline just survive and you try just to cope i think in english it's called cope to cope with the problem we are always running running in the middle of the pack taking the back routes on her scooter caroline reaches the gate first [Music] the woman from british midland may have arrived but that doesn't mean she's won the gate until help arrives [Music] british midland wants to close our gate down now because they say that this gate is theirs which is true but iron operations has given this gate we've started and they've gotten they're not taking me they're not getting me out of here so it was really shitty on the telephone to me finally backup arrives in the form of mum i think we're winning we are winning we've won we've got them in here east midlands eastman a small battle won [Applause] air 2000 makes its slot and as for the british midland it left 40 minutes later we won we won we won we didn't win he won i won he won i won but he said he won the company yeah yeah you did but you went up that fight with the president you know and i told her you know just to choose to put to to give it again that's right did you exactly well there you are then yeah you would be careful what you were talking about you be careful would you minimize you know my my your authority your authority and my capabilities i wouldn't do that i wouldn't do that anita escobar has worked in the airline trade for over 20 years but nothing has quite prepared her for the challenge of palmer airport this looks nice just try working in it these plans apparently what i heard whether it's true or whether it isn't were actually the original plans they did for miami airport miami threw it out and i think we had an architect walking along one day and they found him in the bin he thought oh what they'll do for palmer this is where we lose everybody the duty-free the boarding gates are down here security's down here but nobody actually that this is where they first stop and we just lose them what it means if you're sitting in duty free and your flight is cold you've got to get to boarding days to get to your boarding gate in time you've got to run and run and run nearly 2 million british tourists will land at palmer airport every year and whether they're rich poor young or old all of them will have to make that walk come here [Music] but if you can make it to the other side you'll reach the welcoming arms of the holiday reps [Applause] okay [Music] every type of passenger gets their own breed of rep over here how are you baby b20 b21 you together okay [Applause] i mean you see some of the reps down here i feel sorry for them we've got glasses and bandages wrapped around the heels of the shoes they're in agony in the airport lipstick or a comb through the hair they've no idea well you've got to be here and you don't people don't want to come on holiday and just see someone going they want to get into the mood especially hour long especially 18 to 30 good time yeah you with us love which one the passwords are coming out legless from side to side no way you know get out the way please riffraff dawn flint is in her first season as a rep for virgin's son to me this is the downer of the job because i don't know i'm i'm much more assures the t-shirt sort of person and he was all a bit sort of hello how are you and you know that sort of thing and i'd rather i'd much prefer it in resort when people are just chatting to you and being friendly too and you're having a laugh with them and you're going on party night with them and they're liking you whereas now they don't know who you are you just hello you know the crucial job for every rep is to get the clients to the coach without them getting lost okay it's through uh door eight which is just down here it's on the left-hand side as you walk out the door okay you're gonna go through door eight it's coach number 100 all right thanks but when you have a coach park the size of europe that's easier said than done i don't know where everybody is angie there's like five people on my coach yes i have nobody i don't know where they're all gone a hundred yards away some rather lost souls have started to emerge out of the wrong gate it's the perfect mismatch coach without passengers passengers without coach 30 of people missing where'd they go i haven't got a clue there's been a i've been made a triangle happening in the middle of the palmer airport in the end it takes a holiday maker to point out the mix-up it's all everybody's been told number one we haven't got a coach wow i was going mad i thought i'd lost the plot because i went to my um coach hi everybody i'm terribly sorry there's been an escape well whoever told you to come to gate one they were wrong i'm so sorry it said door number eight i'm so so sorry it's 98 those of you going to santa panzer if you'd like to follow me i'm really sorry it's like we get told all these like the coach numbers and where they're where they are and if one of us gets it wrong and then tells all the guests that then and it's obviously that somebody has got it wrong but we don't go here in departures anita has a problem well if the spots are out it's not contagious well who doesn't say who the captain of an air 2000 is refusing to take a sick child get on top of the frequency get onto the frequency and speak to the captain and apparently she's got chickenpox and it's a contagious wall they say it's contagious and there might be a possibility of after being offloaded off the aircraft so i'm just going to sort of try and find out what's happening the everett family from leeds have been offloaded we're going to take you over to the terminal building who's got the chicken box baby it's not even coffee yeah it could be mosquito bites couldn't it who said it was chickenpox we'll take you over in the car and see if we can get you on something this afternoon it's standard practice for all airlines not to carry passengers with contagious diseases but anita decides to argue the case with the captain um that baby's not contagious well according to our customer services department people they're just taking your work your work for it but we've we've put in the past i mean i'm on with myself and i know i've got children once the spots are up they're not contagious uh somebody in air 2000 has said a definite no down a fitness to fly because they're just covering their own backs we've been honest we got on that player don't shoot with this she's got chicken pots now they're watertechers but how many people are starting up playing i've said nothing they've got diseases but honestly you get penalized these eases up but it's not looking good for the evidence dad craig is asked to identify his own luggage all right first of all i'm going to take you out the heat and take you over to the terminal building let's go back yeah in a moment so your horse's casing now i want to take you over to the terminal building with the uh the air 2000 leaves minus a family of three yeah queer street i should have been at the bank at two o'clock at some papers the everett still expect to fly out on a later plane but they haven't allowed for one person the airport doctor with the evening come more flights and delays start to mount for all the airlines in the office of air 2000 ramon has to deal with one of his pet hates passenger complaints this place is delay is delay just exactly one hour one hour 30 minutes and already just already we got a couple of passengers asking something to eat this is disgusting don't you i mean they're winding us backwards and forwards we're going to give you food they're not and now we can't even hear what they say in england never happened i repeat what i said before in england you know you got two hours delay and you know they give you a coffee and a bomb how do you call this a sponge sponge cake you're not just in chockies or whatever no well no well i don't is the typical thing not just in a container that is on a store paper did you make it in the a muffin a muffin they told us there were refreshments down there at section b when people walked down there to get them they were just refused and sent back again and i promise you i saw the muffin the muffin was older all the charles the first delay delay means food and if you go to any airport you will find you know that delay means food this is strange it's strange it's half an hour since the everetts went to see the airport doctor she can't fly yeah they're not gonna let it go the mother's terribly upset so what do you think sorry well they're going to take her up to a clinic they're going to take her up to a clinic in palmer the doctor have looked her up there but no girl the family have been grounded for at least three days getting home now depends on the state of amy's spots after the break a fire in jingo's walkabout well the aircraft's not going to wait for the fire brigade so we're going to get a coordination we're going and the everett's problems just get worse i can't go down to the pool and also just stay in room all day the problem with working in a holiday airport is that half your passengers still think they're on the beach alice apparently he found it and he wants to check it in maybe he wants to hang it on his wall or something i'm going home on saturday and i've got a pretty strong night please mum doesn't know yet nothing wrong with having a laugh unless you've got to make it through palmer airport and its three miles of corridor [Music] they've changed the boarding gate from b34 to b32 and between there and here we've lost 60 people so they've given four five announcements already and we're still missing 60. so we go and give a little call in the duty free shop or the cup price shop anybody on the air 2000 flight to gartwick at 2000 to gatwick anybody with the air 2000 306 to get away anybody on the other 2 000 flight to gatwick yeah but 306 no amm 306 no you're not that one valley we're missing 12 now anybody on the air 2306 to gatwick a 2 000 catwalk anybody on the three of six or two thousand to gatwick falten cuatro five minutes to go and they're still missing four i don't know oh you're not going to oh you're not going to get out copenhagen this is gatwick yeah copenhagen there when you start telling me about what you're going to do we're going to have to offload the bags if they're not here within the next five minutes we're going to have to offload bags and that means um otherwise the captain's going to lose his slot and he's got to start calling for clearance now because he's he's supposed to be airborne at 58 so he's got to start calling for clearance now these two look as if he could be coming over here i think we've got the last two ombre finger yes girl yeah we're correct we've got them all oh i'm too old for this oh i want to give it up there must be easy ways to earn a living isn't anybody rich you can look after me and and i'll say well i'll give it up it's left to daughter caroline to see them off a hotel in santa ponza and the perfect place for a family holiday unless of course you've been stuck in a hotel room for three days getting warmer first charge the tour operator may be paying the bills but amy's chickenpox is proving tough to budge you can't go down to the pool a lot so just sat in a room all day three days just start working do you know really i mean obviously it's up to the doctor oh yeah i mean we could go back tomorrow and we've to go back to one of mine and a clock for doctor to look again i mean we could say no craig is a self-employed lorry driver and was supposed to take delivery of a new truck worse they're missing an important celebration [Applause] we had to get back flamey's birthday which was on 26 years today it's so what would she what would you be doing celebrating at home what would you we just bought a bouncy castle and a big swimming pool to extend onto it so we're gonna have a big party for her which you're about to cancel now okay then sink out here stuck in there tell them back at the airport anita is missing someone else this time slightly more important caroline [Applause] the fire brigade haven't arrived yet obviously no they haven't arrived yet no fire brigade means no fuel i'm still waiting on this fuel how long did you think well there were going to be 10 minutes before when we just asked for them okay we can't miss this spot we need the fire brigade before the fuel man will start putting the fuel onto the aircraft and he won't put the fuel on sometimes they'll sort of do it on the qt but this guy won't and if we don't start calling for our slot in maybe five minutes and we're going to lose it my bet is they're either on their shift change they're having their lunch or they're playing a game of cards or they could be having a quick siesta at the fire station there's a deathly quiet [Music] right well they were having a dinner they said that they hadn't received the facts but they're on the way around now a fire engine is dispatched across the tarmac heading for the air 2000. they say it's better to phone at this time so i said why you said because we're having our dinner oh they're so sweet you can't shout at them you've got to be really careful on this so this little bit over here tell me now the tank is there the tank is but we still haven't got the fire brigade the fire engine just kept on going towards another aircraft with a minute to go before departure anita heads for the handling agent's head office bomber nothing haven't arrived yet they said that as soon as possible they're on the way and europa's told me that they've already doing refueling another three flights so that means they can't refuel another one can't refill more than three flights at the same time that's about it once they finish with one of them which i don't know when they'll come over well the aircraft's not going to wait for the fire brigade so we're going to get a coordination going the captain has enough fuel to make the flight and decides not to risk losing his slot by taking extra fuel on board [Music] anita has seen off 32 flights in one day only one plane delayed more than an hour it's a team effort with the whole family pitching in to help but still quite an achievement for the girl from birkenhead when i first started working i used to work as a rep and it was never going to be permanent you can't get much more permanent this 27 years later the secret to a family business is to stick to your own job my husband in the office oh i'd lost a week or he'd last a week one of you have to go yeah and it wouldn't be me well ramon five years ago i had a heart attack um i don't think it was a serious heart attack well he was in intensive care for a week so i suppose it must have been quite serious but he's he's just he won't slow down and he reckons his way of thinking his logic had he been smoking he wouldn't have been stressed so what happens after the heart attack he starts smoking again but that's the way he is at night palmer takes on a different character with the cheaper flights come the younger passengers and a whole different attitude to air travel [Music] on hand to keep the peace for air 2000 is joel bowes hi gents here right there just speaking to the young man from cosmos the rep um we're getting a few complaints about the language you're using and it's coming down boys of course you know we it's a family occasionally somewhere let's keep it cool down for this especially for the plane yeah if you don't mind chaps okay okay okay cheers excuse me the beer yeah let's go go now please if you don't mind now now now please thanks he wants to take beer on board but he can't show it when he's going through like that because putting his back out of everyone's way so i'm not probably going back but they'll be all right right now yeah they're fine all right as long as they're coherent sober i mean this is a problem look boisterous there's nothing wrong with this all right it's not only a bit of voice just harmful fun feeling distinctly unboisterous is the fisher family they've lost a bag containing all their passports and tickets somewhere on the way from the coach kind of find the bike just hope somebody's took the money and the valuables and left to rest tickets everything right are you coming to the coach which are fighting what numbers are coaches 43 43 f 43 in november meanwhile an unusual figure has appeared at check-in ramon has run out of cigarettes and the last thing on his mind is a missing bag in the coach park it's not looking good for the fishers they've searched the luggage compartment but it looks as if the bag has been stolen the bag's not there so i can't be traveling because normally we need clearance from uh immigration in glasgow and also the confirmation of the police are letting them travel but i know it takes time unfortunately we don't have a lot of it the fishers prepare to bed down for the night but help may be at hand from a surprise quarter ramon has found a cigarette and is suddenly feeling very energetic how many tickets do you need six you're supposed to put the provide ticket tomorrow one or two one or two and wait over there i will provide you with a piece of paper no one is quite sure what his plan is but when you've worked in an airport for 30 years problems can disappear in mysterious ways thanks very much we can't have the immigration the big boss theoretically you know this fellow is supposed to ring us upstairs she doesn't understand a word he's saying and nor did we but immigration allowed the fishers to travel without passports and they flew out that night on a later flight after the break it's decision time for the everett family ramon tries telling his wife what to do teaching this granny to suck eggs i will have the fifty percent of the population just thinking ah chauvinistic spaniards palmer hospital and it's crunch time for the everett family after three days in a hotel room it's the moment to find out if they can go home [Music] is [Music] okay uh in uh in one week normally with like with chickenpox within one week it's not infectious anymore okay so you've had seven days so you should be clear completely okay so you should be able to fly yes the doctor signs the certificate to fly the everett's can go home we can go home [Music] good morning ladies and gentlemen your attention please this is a departure away from all guests one of the roles of palmer airport is to link up with the cruise ships that ply the med forget the hassle of the airport cruise passengers can check in their bags at dockside [Applause] hayden chaplain two month two adams for sarah stevenson of first choice cruises it's the biggest day of the week challenge is to to get 850 people on board the ship so that it can leave by 11 30 this evening it's now eight o'clock in the morning and our first flight is going to be coming through fairly soon in about an hour or so we've got 19 flights today about 750 people coming through the airport another 100 arriving to the port we've got to make sure that all the flights tally together all the amount of passengers the suitcases are in the right places the right amount of coaches have been ordered and get everybody here before 11 30 so that the captain can get out on time but when you have 850 guests to welcome aboard life has a way of springing surprises at palmer airport anita is having a frustrating time with the locals the authorities have decided to do a spot of building work on one of the busiest saturdays of the year and they're holding up anita's passengers two thousand two eight seven six artwork anybody anybody on the air two thousand two eight seven can i have you with me anybody else on the air two thousand two eight seventy gathering just follow me all the passengers you know what we were doing last week they're putting these big beams across and they're retaining all the passengers where they're doing that at the other end of the bridge and they're letting them come in in groups of about 150. with only five minutes to go before the plane slot anita decides enough is enough [Music] when anita has a plane to dispatch it's best to stay out of the way as if by magic the barriers are lifted i was annoyed with them because they don't see the whole picture and they they said they're told to stop the passengers and that's just what they do they don't realize that the passengers are panicking i'm panicking everybody's panicking because they're going to miss their flight a frustrating morning and perhaps not the best time for your husband to call it a [Applause] ballet teaching this granny to suck eggs that's what he's doing teaching me to suck eggs men if a man or a man or man is telling the orders or telling information is the typical antagonism between males and females what is natural that happened since the stone ages he basically thinks that we're not doing anything so he has to keep us all under control make sure we're doing what he wants us to do do you think somebody takes pleasure about ordering his wife around on the uh walkie-talkie he tries to i switch him off yeah i will complain about my wife i will say just my wife is stupid and you will say for mine you know is a seagull or whatever you know but you know yes in front of television i will have the fifty percent of the population just thinking ah chauvinistic spaniard right and the other thing fifty percent you're oh this is spanish you know how they are they still you know just with that with a branch like a peanut after 20 years working in spain i'm still not used to them and i'm married to one of them i like it really down in arrivals sarah stevenson has hit a snag with one of the cruise flights right there's a flight that should have actually left palmer here um at 12 40 lunchtime it's got to go all the way to glasgow and come back again it was due to come back here at seven o'clock this evening it's now probably it still hasn't left um we thought it was leaving at 20 past five it still hasn't left and it doesn't look like it's going to get in any way before midnight so at the cruise ship sarah's colleagues have got a bit of persuading to do jackie to grant come in please i'm in jackie just arrived in reception can you take us up to see the captain yeah i'm here now thank you okay well we've been on top of it we've been on to ops control and there's not very many alternatives so we want to try and negotiate with him to hold the ship right okay it's trying to [Music] got a bit of a situation captain we need to please go over it with you yes we've got our 32 passengers who are arriving from glasgow and the flight's been delayed now at the moment it's estimated they're going to arrive into palmer at midnight which we're going to try and hurry them through the airport it means they're not going to get to the ship until at least quarter past one which means a 1 30 something there yes so if we leave at 1 30 if we leave one third past one that's alongside two o'clock right station help us one long time alongside two o'clock yes if we sail one o'clock we'll be at a final station one o'clock and alongside car past one is that sure sure with these seas and everything i check the weather report is about threefold three four that means we make a good speed so we're looking at delaying our arrival time into malta but it would be very nice to need to sail one o'clock latest harvest one right with excursions booked in malta for the other cruise passengers the ship cannot wait any longer at the airport sarah is given the deadline right we're we're okay for a 130 sailing but after that it's going to get very tight indeed okay well i've just heard from spanish at the moment um the flight is actually estimating 12 12 15. yes right okay can you keep us posted okay what's happened now um the captain's made his calculations and basically if the flight arrives here by midnight um the ship has to be out of palma by 1 30. if the plane the plane arrives here at midnight 30 it's going to have a severe impact on moulton we really have to think whether we're actually going to get these passengers on board the ship or not with nothing going wrong midnight midnight 15. so i've now got to go and make another phone call to the uk and um we're going to have to make some serious decisions i think now so this way the last flight of the evening for air 2000 anita can at last leave for home time perhaps for someone else to mend a few fences i need that rounds everywhere and everything completely all the business for that reason she is the boss she is completely the boss as he supposed to be [Music] you are not the boss i am not the boss i know exactly my position situation and status inside the company inside the house and inside the environmental area treat me well because i am your only husband it's just after midnight and captain christopher rides is making preparations to sail [Music] at the airport tensions rising spanish flight from glasgow still hasn't arrived just do what you can at the moment the important thing is that they get those labels where's the coach down there it's just part right down at the end in the normal car park it's the number seven to five baby on the right or the left i don't know right can you go and have a look down there while we're waiting right i'm gonna go through to the police control i think see if we can catch them as they come in [Music] i've got an hour to get the people from the point the plane lands um all the way through with the luggage and down on the coach out through the west bay and all the way along that chaotic front road before her post one and get them on board by a four-hour plus one pilot boat has been ordered for her first one so where's the plane hello yes [Music] um we think it's landed spanish seem to think it's down but the screens don't right you think it's down right so we believe it's on the runway but a plane on the runway is not the same as your passengers arriving [Applause] okay planes down can you tell the captain that it's down we reckon one hour 10 minutes and they should be here but it's on the wrong way um it normally takes one hour from the point of an arrival of an aircraft by the time the luggage has come through by the time you get everybody on the coaches and in the right direction it's normally an hour i've got 40 minutes to get them down to the port then at 12 50 something stirs i can see my bus i can see my people um hopefully all 32 of my guests will actually be on that bus now okay ladies and gentlemen anybody joining first toys cruises as soon as you have your suitcase because can you make your way out of exit b where we'll be ready to direct you to the coach she's on her way down out the door there she's got your cabin envelopes with you 20 minutes we've got to wait we'll do it wait a minute don't let them leave for another 20 minutes would you two like to come with me yeah let's go the coach sets off with everyone on board but the drama's not over yet at the port a taxi driver is warning of big delays on the coastal roads time for a final call to sarah a taxi just arrived at the dockside and it's taken him 25 minutes to go along the passio can you can you make certain that the coach takes the viscentura okay bye um [Music] now it's all down to the driver and the patience of the bolero captain back at the airport there's one final farewell of the night what's that it's a big warper can have another kiss draw see you soon i'll see you without your spots next time i'll see you later i'll see you soon all right then thanks a lot look after yourselves enjoy your bouncy castle [Music] it's 1 25 and the bolero captain is preparing to sail all my pilots partner pirates foreign the coach meanwhile is only minutes from the port [Music] midship [Music] the time is now 1 29 and i've been told the ship's going at 1 30. we're just going to see what happens when we come around the corner i've got butterflies in my tummy there she is it's gone 130 but captain christopher rides has decided to wait find that last step ladies all right okay anybody else oh it's moving [Music] another week another 859 passengers on their way to walter there she goes you

Channel: Our Stories

Views: 431,590

Keywords: Our Stories, Documentary, Observational Documentary, Real Stories, Full Episode, Full Length Episodes, Full Documentary, Fly On The Wall, Yearbook, Real Life, Documentaries, Real Lives, Behind The Scenes, airport, airline, airport documentary, airline documentary, angry passengers, airline passengers, airport staff, airline staff, check in, airport passengers, airport behind the scenes, holiday airport, holiday airline, airline tv show, airport tv show, palma airport

Id: SwZccDTzsK8

Length: 49min 17sec (2957 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022