UK Fliers Could Face 'Six-Hour' EU Airport Queues This Summer

The Huffington Post

UK Fliers Could Face 'Six-Hour' EU Airport Queues This Summer

During the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s recent annual meeting, the association’s vice-president of Europe, Rafael Schvartsman, said he expected continued delays and long passenger queues following the introduction of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) checks. The new system, which asks non-EU citizens travelling to a travel bloc called the Schengen area to upload biometric data like their fingerprints to a database, has already created chaos and hours-long lines in multiple airports. UK citizens are among those affected by these new changes . “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging... waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours, which is unacceptable,” Schvastsman said, per The Times . He added that there have already been “many cases” where passengers lost [missed?] their flights due to these delays. Why might EES checks make airport queues longer? EES checks create a digital record that stays valid for three years. These are now needed if you’re a non-EU national travelling to a Schengen country for a short stay. However, even though you only need to do the checks once every three years, and the UK Government has said “EES checks should take only a few minutes per person,” some problems remain. Firstly, passengers are all signing up to the recently rolled-out system at once . Secondly, Schvartsman said, even a few extra seconds can more than double airlines’ passenger processing time. “Normally, [airlines] would process a passenger in 20 to 25 seconds, and you’re already stipulating that [EES checks] will take 90 seconds,” he said, according to The Guardian . “On top of that, you have unreliability of the systems. The probability that people will be waiting in lines for a long time is very, very high”. These lines can affect those who don’t need to do EES checks or have already done so, too, as the build-up has a knock-on effect. Which countries require EES checks? You don’t have to go through EES checks if you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. Ireland and Cyprus, while in the EU, aren’t Schengen countries. They’re exempt from EES checks. “Greek authorities have indicated that they will not collect biometric data (fingerprints and photos) for UK travellers as part of EES,” even though Greece is a Schengen country, the UK Government added . Still, they say rules on the ground may vary. The Schengen countries involved are: Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland. How can I make going through EES checks easier and faster? Airlines like Ryanair, British Airways, and easyJet have already shared their advice for passengers flying to countries with EES checks. These include arriving two hours before your flight departure for short-haul flights and three hours before long-haul flights, heading straight to passport control when you arrive, and bringing some water with you in anticipation of a long wait. Keep your travel documents , including your passport, within easy reach for faster processing, too. And remember that for most EU countries, passports more than 10 years old will not be accepted. This is especially relevant if your passport was issued before 2018: this was the last year in which the passport office stopped adding up to nine months’ worth of leftover validity to new documents. Related... British Airways Boss Issues Jet Fuel Flight Price Warning All 19 UK And EU Airports Affected By Ryanair Flight Cuts Travel Expert Clarifies Whether You Can Bring A Fan On Your Flight

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