“Chaos at Lisbon airport today. And I mean chaos. I stood in the longest line I have ever seen in my life (no joke),” wrote CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, in the caption for the clip she shared on Instagram on Tuesday. Ward, 46, explained that the delay “all because of the EU’s recently updated Entry/Exit System (EES), which requires biometric scanning for every non-EU passport holder”. She complained many Americans, herself included, were left stranded and missed their flights or connections, after airport
staff only allowed passengers boarding TAP (Portugal’s main airline) flights to cut the line. “Since the much-delayed rollout began in October, there have been similar scenes in many European cities,” Ward added. “Airlines are begging airports to suspend the new measures during peak summer travel. EU officials called this a ‘digital leap.’ From where I was standing, it looked more like a total cluster f*$k,” she said. The EES, which began last October, operates across the 29-nation Schengen area, encompassing 25 EU members as well
as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Authorities say the new system will allow the EU to better secure its borders, but frustrated travellers have reported travel chaos at major hubs across Europe. “Rather than a clean switch-on, the rollout is operationally patchy, with capacity still stabilising across parts of the network,” global immigration lawyer George Koureas told the New York Times. In the video, Ward filmed herself walking to the end of the extraordinarily long line, as she branded the new system rules a “disaster”.
Some tourists have been warned to wait “up to six hours upon arrival,” she added. “Truly, the system is completely broken,” Ward said as she walked her followers through the complicated process just to reach her boarding gate. “At this line, you have to use a machine, and then depending on the results of that machine, you get into another big line, or you go on to use yet another machine,” she said. “And now, yet another line, after giving fingerprints at that first machine.”
When Ward finally reached her gate, she said she had missed her flight and the next one wasn’t for six hours, but added that the story wasn’t just about her. “This is about thousands and thousands of people who are basically going through complete insanity,” she said. This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Lisbon airport, Entry/Exit System EES, EES rollout, biometric scanning, Schengen, TAP, Clarissa Ward, non-EU passport holders, border security
So they’re scanning passports now or what? Either way that line sounds brutal.
I saw a clip about this and honestly it’s the same thing every summer, airports act surprised. Why didn’t they pause it if it’s messing everyone up? Also why do Americans get stuck the most.
Clarissa Ward said it’s biometric scanning but like… aren’t they already doing that at airports? Maybe they’re just doing it wrong or it’s one of those “digital leap” things that sounds fancy but breaks in real life. If it takes 6 hours then that’s not “security,” that’s punishment lol.
Wait, they only let TAP passengers cut the line? That seems like favoritism. Also I saw this and thought it was some new TSA thing like in the US, so I was confused. The article makes it sound like the rollout is patchy, but like… why roll it out then? People barely even plan for delays like that, and missing your flight turns into missing your whole trip.