{"id":14703,"date":"2026-04-30T18:14:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T18:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14703\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T18:14:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T18:14:32","slug":"spain-under-pressure-to-scrap-new-border-controls-causing-a-travel-nightmare-for-britons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14703\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain under pressure to scrap new border controls causing a travel nightmare for Britons"},"content":{"rendered":"

While airlines and tourism bodies continue to lobby European countries over easing the new EES<\/a> entry\/exit system for non-EU residents, in particular British tourists<\/a> and travellers and there appears to be a legal question hanging over the new border control system, Ryanair<\/a> has sounded the alarm over what may happen at Spanish airports this summer.<\/p>\n

The airline has warned the Spanish government that the situation will become chaotic if the new border control system (EES) is not suspended. It is therefore calling for the measure to be postponed until September. \u201cDespite having known for more than three years that the EES would become fully operational from 10 April 2026, the Spanish authorities have failed to ensure adequate staffing, system readiness or the installation of kiosks,\u201d the airline has said, according to reports in Preferente.<\/p>\n

This situation is already leading to long queues at passport control<\/a> and, in some cases, missed flights. \u201cWaiting times are already exceeding one to two hours at the airports of M\u00e1laga, Alicante, Lanzarote, Tenerife South, Gran Canaria, Reus and Fuerteventura, where staff shortages and system crashes continue to cause disruptions,\u201d it warns.<\/p>\n

Ryanair highlights that \u201cother EU countries are adopting a more pragmatic approach, such as Greece, where the government has suspended the EES until September to manage queues during the peak of the summer season\u201d making travel much easier for Britons.<\/p>\n

The Irish low-cost carrier has written to the governments of the 29 Schengen Area countries, including Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, urging them to suspend the Schengen Area until September to ensure the smooth running of airports this summer.<\/p>\n

Jet2<\/a> has praised the Greek authorities for its approach to working with the industry and putting customers first, and has urged other authorities to follow their leadership position, after the country announced the suspension of biometric checks for UK holidaymakers travelling to Greece under the EU\u2019s new entry and exit scheme (EES).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While airlines and tourism bodies continue to lobby European countries over easing the new EES entry\/exit system for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[596,6943,1254,2000,6944,1391,8625,6942,7072,598,1392,599,600,1393,2875,602,17,357],"class_list":{"0":"post-14703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-airport","9":"tag-airport-queues","10":"tag-balearics","11":"tag-border-controls","12":"tag-british-passports","13":"tag-british-tourists","14":"tag-ees","15":"tag-eu-entry-exit-system","16":"tag-flight-disruption","17":"tag-holiday","18":"tag-jet2","19":"tag-majorca","20":"tag-mallorca","21":"tag-palma-airport","22":"tag-passport-control","23":"tag-ryanair","24":"tag-spain","25":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}