I agree with you Dan Dare. I have worked in three different countries and four different airports and together with all of my colleagues we have always applied the common-sense and logical law of least average delay, where no one aircraft is overly penalised or delayed, regardless of nationality... unless, of course, there is an unusual situation or emergency that could jeopardise safety, and that aircraft(s) is unduly given priority.
Fokker1000 is not the only one who has complained here... there have been many, many similar complaints in the past, and not all at overworked and understaffed MAD or BCN... hence my apparent frustration. Don't get me wrong, I fully applaud AENA controllers for moving vast numbers of aircraft, as safely as they can, under such threatening and demoralising conditions for many years now. But the instances of alleged "favouritism" seem to be a lot more frequent and coincidental than those (if any) from other countries. Judging by the posts on this forum alone, that cannot be denied.
Edit: Regarding the paranoia of speech in a foreign language, fokker1000's colleague was a Spanish native, so could obviously understand and was embarrassed at what was going on.
Last edited by Out The Gap; 8th Aug 2013 at 14:00.
Reason: Addition to post