Judith Coates tells her Europe-bound clients to pack a little extra patience these days, but luckily, they haven’t needed it while navigating the EU’s new Entry‑Exit System (EES), at least not yet.
“I asked all of them to let me know if they experienced any holdups at the airports, and so far all of them have said it’s been clear sailing,” said the Wired for Travel founder and long-time advisor.
The EES replaces traditional passport stamps for non-EU travellers entering any of the 29 countries that make up the Schengen area, which has open internal borders, for less than 90 days, including those from visa-exempt countries like Canada.
The digital system was first introduced at select airports last October and became fully operational in early April. However, reports of long lines and lengthy waits immediately followed.
Earlier this week, CNN’s chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, made an Instagram post documenting “chaos” at Lisbon’s international airport, writing, “from where I was standing, it looked more like a total cluster f*$k” after missing her flight.
Anecdotally, Portugal has emerged as having the longest EES delays.
“My clients that travelled to Lisbon in April said it was a two-hour lineup upon arrival,” said Beth Beier Tomalty of TierOne Travel, adding that “we haven’t even hit the summer peak.”
Open Jaw contributor Karen Dahdah recently returned from Portugal and noted that EES kiosks at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport had issues reading passports, meaning information had to be manually submitted by passport control, resulting in additional delays.
Describing the process as “very disorganized,” she said better signage would help travellers navigate the system.
British publications have also pointed to issues at Paris Charles de Gaulle, with one man telling The i Paper that his family had to navigate the EES twice after system delays caused them to miss their flight.
“The queues for passport control were all the way into duty-free,” David Newton told the publication. “No one was actually coming out and explaining what was going on or that there was going to be delays. It took about five hours to get through passport control.”
He said about 25 of the EES registration kiosks were not working, and only a third of the personnel stations were staffed. Some airlines, including Ryanair, have called on EU nations to scrap biometric requirements for Britons this summer, something Greece had promised to do before backtracking yesterday.
Lesley Paull, founder and co-owner Paull Travel, is advising her clients to get to the airport early, noting facial scanning and fingerprinting seem to be the issues slowing the EES system down.
“No more last-minute show up at the airport,” Paull said, but she also offered some perspective, noting the worst lines she’s experienced weren’t in the EU, they were in the US.
