British flight passengers have branded their first experiences with the EU’s new digital border system at airports as ‘pure chaos’ – with one traveller saying he watched as frustrated passengers almost came to blows with border guards.
The European entry/exit system – commonly called the EES – is an automated digital border system for non-EU nationals, including UK citizens, entering the Schengen Area, which includes most of the EU plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Travellers are now required to register biometric details including fingerprints and photographs. The roll-out began on October 12th but airports and ports have until April to introduce the technology, when it will become mandatory.
UK consumer group Which? sent writers to test out the system, after reports of long delays at European airports, including Malaga, Prague, Dusseldorf. Earlier this month, travellers in Spain shared videos showing long queues at Alicante and Malaga airports.
Those investigating have sent back a dismal picture for tourists heading to the region anytime soon, with one writer trying to depart Gran Canaria almost missing their flight home because of faulty scanners.
Staff charged with overseeing the fingerprints-based border system appear equally unimpressed, say Which?, with a border guard in Alicante telling one reporter they’d experienced major problems while testing the technology: saying: ‘It’s terrible, it has a lot of problems’.
The EU’s new digital border system will become mandatory in April 2026 at ports and airports in the Schengen Area which includes most of the EU plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland
The Spanish Ministry told Which? they had experienced no major problems so far.
Many airports have yet to introduce the technology and, while the Port of Dover was set to launch the EES for car passengers at the start of this month, delays mean it’s unlikely to be introduced for those heading across the Channel until early next year.
Which? content lead Jake Massey endured a disastrous first encounter with the new borders system.
Upon his arrival in Gran Canaria, Massey says EU passport holders were able to use a ‘separate, faster queue’ while tourists, the lion’s share of the arrivals, were asked to join queues for four gates with the new scanners.
The journalist said that while the queues were initially short ‘it felt like each person took about five minutes to get through’ as they uploaded fingerprints and photographs were taken.
The situation became even more frustrating when two of the four gates were closed because of faulty technology, with the journalist asked to go to the back of the line of one of the remaining two queues.
Eventually, the frequent traveller was forced to join a different queue to have his passport manually checked.
The flight home? Even worse, says the journalist. Despite leaving lots of time and his flight being delayed, huge queues had already formed at border control.
He says: ‘The queue for passport control was wrapping around numerous times, like a line at a theme park.
‘It was pure chaos. The EU queue just whittled down normally but the queue for UK passport holders was moving at a snail’s pace. It must have taken about 45 minutes to get to the part of the queue where I could see the gates.’
He adds: ‘Then it was havoc. One of the flights made a last call and people started pushing to the front. I was literally watching people getting pushed back by airport security as they were trying to push past.’
The situation deteriorated quickly, with passengers ‘shouting and crying’ as it became clear they wouldn’t make their flights.
Massey explains: ‘They were pointing at the EU queue, saying “I need to catch my flight – just let me go over there!”.
‘And security said, “no, not only can you not go over there – now you need to go to the back of the queue.” There were people shouting and crying.’
Which? reporters tested out the technology at airports where the EES has already been introduced, including Alicante (pictured)
Once again the journalist was asked to join a queue for a manual passport check – with around 75 per cent of his fellow passengers in the queue asked to do the same.
He says: ‘I always expect the chance of a long wait to get through passport control but there was no indication that it was going to be that bad. Until they released the gates, it felt like the crowd was ready to erupt.
‘It was a big relief when they gave up on the new gates but I’m certain a lot of people missed their flight.’
Which? says it also sent writers to airports at Amsterdam, Alicante, Barcelona, Croatia, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Vienna in the days after the digital border system was introduced.
During that period, the only other airports that had the technology in place was Split in Croatia and Vienna in Austria.
Other travellers reported they also faced scrutiny from the automated machines, including being asked by the scanners whether had their return ticket in place, had purchased travel insurance, accommodation and enough money to support travel plans.
Which? says it has asked the European Commission what the process is for travellers who say no to the questions – and is still awaiting a reply.
Content editor Victoria Purcell arrived in Split before the system was introduced – but was caught by it on the way back.
The journalist says it took about three minutes to use the scanner but that it was irritating to watch EU passports ‘sailing through’.
She explains: ‘There was an elderly chap in a wheelchair in front of me, and it took a few goes to scan his fingerprints, so he took a bit longer, probably five minutes.’
Purcell also says that she got through quicker than her partner – purely because of height issues, saying he ‘had to squat down’ because he was too tall for the cameras.
On the plus side, she says her off-peak queue was short…but adds that’s unlikely to be the case during the height of the summer holiday season or other busy periods.
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