THE new EES travel requirement is causing chaos at many European airports from three hour-long queues to missed flights.
From Portugal to Spain and Poland, here’s where Brits have been held up since the full rollout of the new travel rules.
New travel rules require all non-EU nationals to register their biometrics instead of having their passport stamped at border control, but it has held up travellers for hours.
Portugal
At Lisbon Airport, one passenger wrote on X yesterday (April 13), that he had been queueing for two hours to get through the airport.
Over the weekend, Lisbon as well as airports in Porto and Faro actually stopped EES registration because of excessive passenger wait times.
This was on the morning of April 11 and later restarted in the afternoon.
Spain
At Palma Majorca Airport in the capital of the island, there were reports of queues “between two and three hours” at passport control on April 11.
This was in a joint statement from Airports Council International Europe (ACI-Europe) and Airlines for Europe (A4E).
They added that some UK-bound aircraft left half-empty after boarding gates closed while passengers were still stuck in the immigration line.
On the same day, there were long queues in Tenerife South Airport – one passenger took a short video of the line.
She wrote on Facebook: “Tenerife South Airport departures for the passport stamp before boarding. I do worry about summer which is going to be another record breaker. What is the solution? The new EES system just isn’t good enough.”
Belgium
Delays at Brussels Airport on April 10 even caused passengers to miss their flights.
The Airports Council International reported that in one instance there weren’t any passengers on a plane when the gate closed.
It said one flight from Brussels to the UK was missing 51 passengers at departure.
And then, “another flight had zero passengers on board at gate closing time, and 90 minutes later, 12 passengers were yet to reach the gate”.
Italy
At Milan Airport 100 people were left stranded when an easyJet flight to Manchester left without them.
The delays due to the new EES checks meant travellers were waiting in lines over three hours long.
Some passengers left in the airport were throwing up and passing out due to the heatwave over the weekend.
easyJet spoke to The Sun and said: “While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
Netherlands
Other passengers reported delays at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
One took to social media and wrote that hardly any passport gates were open, leaving older travellers and families with young kids stuck in lines.
Poland
In Poland, there were also problems. One traveller described passport control as a “shambles” at Krakow Airport.
They said: “Arrived an hour 10 minutes ago. Yet still have this queue to get through. I estimate another hour at least.
“Avoid Krakow if you want to: save your sanity/make a meeting/have a connection/enjoy your holiday.”
Head of Sun Travel Lisa Minot explains what EES means for you…
THE Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained everything you need to know about EES…
The new system – designed to strengthen the European borders – requires every passenger to have their biometrics recorded.
Every traveller has to scan their passport and have a facial biometric before providing prints from the four fingers on their right hand.
Children under 12 have to do the biometric but do not have their fingerprints taken.
All then have to answer four questions about their reason for travel. Both fingerprints and facial biometrics are required the first time a traveller uses the system, and then just one of the two for every subsequent trip.
Then every three years, you are expected to go through the full process again.
While airports across Europe have the space to add this additional process, it is adding a huge amount of extra time to the customs checks.
Although it removes the need to have stamps in your passport, everything still needs to be checked either by a border officer or an e-gate.
If you’re heading abroad soon, here are our seven tips for the new EES rules.
And this travel app could help you avoid massive airport queues caused by EES.