Originally Posted by
bobbytables
you seem to have misunderstood - OP is talking about exit immigration (the Spanish border police in this case), not the airline. The airline has an interest in making sure OP can enter the destination country. Spanish border police do not, but as OP discovered, they are quite flexible with the rules. OP is exactly right that an EU national ID is perfectly valid for both entering and exiting. The airline’s passport check is completely separate to that.
Precisely. The fact that they can scan a non-EU passport that has never been scanned/entered Europe before and stamp it with an exit stamp makes me think EU border controls are a joke. Not to mention that if I was wanted for anything within Europe, I assume it would be tied to my European profile and not a random third country one.