The new EU passport control system for non-EU is totally idiotic and crap and will permanently make holidaying in Europe worse

This is another problem right now, some airports are dragging their feet about getting the new system up and running so you fly somewhere hoping to get that initial fingerprint but over and done with bit they don't have the system running.

Saying non EU queue is longer thanks to the UK?

You did say many countries though , then mentioned Venice

I think you posted on the wrong message. I didn't say anything about the EU being vindictive.

Yes I know. But it does have a lot of tourists.

Bit like the lake district is not a country but can suffer from over tourism. Unlike somewhere that tourists wouldn't go to in the UK.

Anyway my point is a lot of countries suffer from over tourism.

Ok. I don't really see the pount in arguing as neither of us know the truth.

Very little revenue apart from the port fees paid to the port for every single passenger onboard (whether they disembark or not), shuttle buses, excursions, onboarding fresh supplies.

thats before the spend on souvenirs and those that do eat and drink ashore

And rid of them all by 6pm

They don't, I've been in plenty of EU passport queues and they don't make it take longer for Brits. They can't because by default they'd keep all the other nationalities in the queue waiting longer. They are hardly going to just sit at stare at you or make weird small talk to make things longer just because you are British.

Venice isn't a country

No but the cruise ships are the issue because a) they mess with the water levels in the lagoon b) they dump thousands of tourists there at the same time and those tourists eat in the ship and spend little money when docked. They aren't stupid enough to want no tourists at all but the cruise ships were causing problems and bringing very little revenue.

Depends how fast your passport control people are. I don't know. I just rememebr reading it was EU policy to go slow for the UK so as to highlight a downside of leaving. Seems perfectly logical.

But what can they physically do to deliberately make it longer for Brits! They can't add they wouldn't because we are in the same queues as everyone else.

And though more perhaps for internal tourists the high speed link between Madrid and Malaga looks like running beyond Easter before repairs near the Malaga end are complete.

Plenty of places are over touristed and Venice tourists aren't all from cruise ships.

Well they will know when the flight comes in and where from. I read that it was EU policy not the policy of individual countries. Fairly logical from the EU's perspective. If it was too easy to leave remember...

I find EU border guards to be super chill and not ask many questions when you get to them. Some just stamp without saying anything.

If anyone is going to Spain over Easter, a bigger issue might be the rolling strikes at most Spanish airports. Combine that with the new entry systems and it could be disruptive. Hopefully it will be sorted out.

https://www.idealista.com/en/news/lifestyle-in-spain/2026/03/20/889627-easter-2026-airport-strikes-in-spain-what-travellers-need-to-know

We were recently in Austria. Took 5 minutes and bags were there too! It was actually like black magic I have no idea how they managed that.

Signs saying what? Stand here so we can swerve you last because you are British? I travel 4 or 5 times a year and I've not seen any signs telling Brits to get in a different queue!

Don't confuse the situation in Venice, it's the cruise ships that piss them off and rightfully so rather than tourism in general.

Again is there any actual evidence they did all this to "punish us"? Even so, of they did..isn't that on the EU for being vindictive when we still let them come here via e-gates and have decent borders.

Well blane your politicians for leaving the EU

My experience is that the U.S. has been super quick the last couple of times that we have visited due to their mobile passport control app and the separate queue for those using that app. UAE was amazing as ever when we visited in Feb. Sad that we can’t visit there again for the time being as their efficiency is amazing and makes many EU counties look bloody stupid. Spain and Greece have been my worst EU experiences recently, although to be fair my most recent visit to Barcelona in Feb wasn’t as bad as three years ago when it took over an hour to get through passport control and that was before they introduced this new system. Romania was efficient in December but they weren’t using the new system so have no idea how that will impact matters.

That was the case before the machines though as you never knew how long the passport queue was going to be. And often when you get through there's nothing there either, maybe a loo if you are lucky but no cafe or shops.

I guess the fact that UK citizens are no longer in the EU queue, makes it a bit to a lot shorter that it would have been if we were still in the EU. I bet the likes of the Americans etc get fed up when the "other passports" queue is way longer than it used to be because of us!

But EU citizens don't have to do the EES malarkey and that's what this thread is about.

It would be a lot easier if they'd sort out the app and you could register at home before you leave. But as they seem to have changed the process so you have to do it every time (and leaving too) that might not help that much