\n Passengers getting to grips with the new EES machines.
\nCredit: Emily Italyheaven X <\/p>\n
New border controls have totally changed arrivals into Schengen countries as the Entry\/Exit System (EES) went live and compulsory on Friday, April 10<\/a>. Biometric data, including facial scans and fingerprints, now replace old passport stamps for all non-EU visitors. Modernisation efforts and improved tracking of stays have been behind the change to better security and efficiency across Europe.<\/p>\n Mixed reactions emerge from real passengers across European airports<\/p>\n British and European travellers have been posting immediate feedback after encountering the system during its phased rollout and full launch. Experiences vary strongly by airport size, staffing management and whether travellers are registering their biometric details for the first time.<\/p>\n Frustrations mount at busy airports<\/p>\n UK sports presenter Jacqui Oatley reported<\/a> shocking queues at Frankfurt for Brits heading home. \u201cFrankfurt queues for us Brits to come home recently were shocking. Yet Germans land at Heathrow and whizz through our E-gates.\u201d<\/p>\n Most Read on Euro Weekly News<\/p>\n Stephen Street queued<\/a> for half an hour at Geneva. \u201cQueued for half an hour to enter data at the EES machines at GVA only to queue again to give fingerprints and have passport stamped at manned station. What is the point?!\u201d<\/p>\n Gary Fowler missed his return flight<\/a> after chaos at Geneva passport control. \u201cWent to Geneva for a one-night stay, 5\/6 November. It turned into a 2-night stay after we missed our return flight because of the chaos at passport control. Fingerprints were being taken on exit, as well as entry.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig Cockburn<\/a> saw a different side to the implementation at Hamburg this week. No wait at border control. 2 mins to get set up on the system. Piece of cake.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave on X despaired<\/a>. \u201cIn Verona airport last week all EES machines were covered up, and the 3 passport machines were not working. This left 3 harassed border guards to process all 150+ passengers on our plane. After 45 minutes 2 of the guards gave up on the EES and just stamped our passports as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bruce Medway\u2019s experience has been quite the contrary. \u201cI have recently travelled to Seville, Copenhagen and Milan-Malpensa and have experienced zero delays passing through immigration\/border checks.\u201d<\/p>\n Is this a political problem?<\/p>\n Pat Yale puts the EES in a political light. \u2018Ryanair\u2019s Michael O\u2019Leary thinks 4 hr waits for Brits at security at some airports as EES is introduced are \u2018a punishment for Brexit\u2019. On the contrary, they are the consequence of Brexit\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Layne says it\u2019s a disaster for business travellers. \u201cEU people go through with a wave of a passport or ID card. The rest of us queue with the rest of the world\u2026 slow at some places, dreadful at hubs in Portugal and Spain. Bearable for holidayers, a complete nightmare for business.\u201d<\/p>\n Ewe, from Yorkshire, says, \u201cPeople of all nationalities were in the same queue for check-in yesterday! \u2026 2 hours to board 200 people\u2026 Honestly, it\u2019s useless!\u201d<\/p>\n Mixed views, divided experiences<\/p>\n All in all, of the hundreds of comments people posted about their experiences with the introduction of the new system, the problems, delays and missed flights appear to stem from a lack of adequate management at certain airports not managing the queues efficiently<\/a>, a lack of systems and information, and faulty equipment at airports like Geneva, Malaga, Alicante and Frankfurt. In comments, Sevilla, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Lanzarote all came out as positive experiences.<\/p>\n