Friday evenings Vueling flight from Barcelona to Almería arrived 20 minutes late due to bad weather.
Passengers disembarked as normal, and the people waiting for the return flight (107 of them) duly filed out through security onto the tarmac, into the rain, to board the flight.
Trouble was that the earliest the plane could be prepared to take off would have been 23.15, and the airport closes at 22:45.
Meaning everyone had to traipse back inside again and wait until this morning to take off.
AENA told the media this morning that Almería airport always closed at this hour, adding that on special occasions it could stay open later, if an airline so requested it.
But an “emergency” of this nature was not sufficient reason for keeping the airport open under AENA rules, and the lights were being flicked off as the last of the disgruntled passengers filed out of the main doors.