EES hours-long – Delays tied to the EU’s Entry/Exit System are turning airport biometric checks into multi-hour ordeals at popular destinations, pushing some travelers to plan for up to six hours and raising concerns for airlines and tourism spending.
The first thing travelers see this summer may not be Europe—it may be the line.
Since the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) for non-EU travelers was fully implemented in April. passengers at busy airports across Europe have been stuck waiting for hours to pass through biometric screening. The process relies on face and fingerprint scans in place of manual passport stamps. and recent reports describe long queues that start before travelers even leave the airport.
In recent weeks. travelers passing through airports in Lisbon. Amsterdam. Copenhagen. and Milan have experienced waits of several hours at the EES biometric screening stage. British travelers have been advised to arrive at airports up to three hours early to account for long lines—but they’ve also been warned it could take up to six hours to make it through. One official told the public on Tuesday that it could take up to two years for the situation to stabilize. pointing to the difficulty some Schengen member states have had in adopting the new system.
The frustration is already showing up in vivid detail from travelers. In late May. Clarissa Ward. a reporter for CNN. described what she called “chaos” while traveling through Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport. In a video posted on social media. Ward said: “It is quite honestly astonishing and testimony to just what a disaster these new EES rules are regarding all passport holders who are not from the European Union. ” adding. “This system is completely broken.”.
That harsh assessment contrasts with the promise behind the rollout. The European Commission oversees the system and says there’s no way to bypass border checks altogether. It has pointed to an official Travel to Europe app that allows travelers to preregister their passport data and facial image. and complete the entry conditions questionnaire in advance of reaching a border crossing point. The Commission says the app “makes border crossing smoother and faster and more efficient.”.
Delays aren’t just an inconvenience for travelers—they threaten to ripple into airlines and the broader tourism economy.
Passengers missing flights due to long queues can create havoc for airlines, especially as carriers continue to deal with high jet fuel costs. Back in February, the International Air Transport Association warned that the new system could create “severe disruptions” during the summer travel season.
The World Travel & Tourism Council. released a report on Tuesday suggesting an economic cost if the delays persist: up to $45.4 billion in visitor spending could be at risk. The same report pointed to survey results showing that travelers may change plans. If they face a three-hour or longer delay, 39% of travelers from the U.K. and 33% of travelers from the U.S. and Canada said they would be much less likely to travel to Schengen countries or wouldn’t visit at all.
Not everyone is responding the same way—social media is filled with mixed accounts, and some travelers appear to be breezing through.
The experience, it seems, varies by timing and individual circumstances. People posting online have shared both “horrors and delights.” Some have even turned it into a flex, boasting that they got through EES lines in 30 minutes or less.
One Reddit exchange captured the range. When a user asked about wait times at the Barcelona airport. another user—identified by the username u/LPedraz—answered. “What time of the day?. You’ve likely heard mixed things because it varies massively. Anything from 10 minutes to 2 hours.” A similar unevenness appears to be driving the uncertainty for those heading to popular destinations.
Even so, there is one development travelers may be watching closely: the potential for a faster process over time.
A key factor behind the delays is that anyone who hasn’t visited Europe since EES was implemented must provide personal information to be enrolled. including the capture of fingerprints and facial images. After that initial enrollment, border crossings for enrolled travelers should become more efficient.
Uku Särekanno, a director of the EU border agency Frontex, said: “If a person is visiting the EU again, they don’t have to go through the same process, so they can have a more fast track of entry,” as reported by The Guardian.
For now, the queue remains the reality many travelers are trying to outpace—one biometric checkpoint at a time.
EES Entry/Exit System Schengen airport lines biometric screening Frontex visitor spending risk Lisbon Humberto Delgado Amsterdam Copenhagen Milan Travel to Europe app
So basically you gotta line up just to prove you exist?
I saw some clip where people were stuck forever and I’m like… why are they using fingerprints and faces at the airport?? Shouldn’t passports be enough? Also up to 6 hours is wild.
Wait, is this for like British people only or everyone? Cuz I read somewhere it was about Schengen and then it’s like “EU system” and “non-EU” but I don’t get it. If they’re scanning your face then how is that even not a privacy issue too.
Two years to stabilize?? That’s not a delay, that’s a whole new vacation plan. And the article says the lines start before you even leave the airport… like do you just get dropped at the terminal and slowly dissolve? I feel bad for airlines and tourists but also nobody can pretend this won’t happen again next summer. They should’ve tested it way more than “oops chaos in Lisbon.”