To consider cancelling my holiday because of the EES?

There's a lot of lovely people who have given you lots of reassurance you have chosen to completely ignore

Did Ryanair offload your checked bags before taking off without you? Any airline that doesn't do that is taking a massive security risk and I'm sure it is not allowed to keep unaccompanied bags in the hold.

So to make it less worrying for you, the possible issue will be when you land in Milan. You will have arrived, you may have to Q for a while to get through EES. So what, you'll be there, and when you get through, your bags will be waiting.

On the return, yep there COULD be big queues, your bags will be checked in and if you are running close to the wire, you will be called out of turn, since your bags will be on board and airlines do not like to have to unload unaccompanied bags.

I'd just factor in an extra hour or two either end and relax a bit.

Hi Nige.

It is everything to do with Brexit. EU citizens travelling between EU countries don’t have to do this.

For everyone saying this is a nonissue, i missed a flight for this exact reason.

We arrived checked in our bags two hours before and then became stuck in the queue for getting our passports stamped out. All the other airlines were pulling their passengers out of the queue but Ryainair did not, we tried to go to the front and tell them the issue and were told that we would be called, we then missed the flight and Ryainair tried to charge us €100 to get on the next flight despite the flights for the next flight being £50.

This was at the beginning though but I wouldn’t put it past Ryainair using this to make more money.

If it’s really causing anxiety I would travel with hand luggage only

Honestly @idontwanttogoanymore you are catastrophising.
Personally, travelling as a lone adult, is the ideal time to suss out the new travel process, this is the new normal unfortunately.
Are you never going to travel again?

It may not be that bad. I've just got back from a river cruise, flying to Budapest and returning from Vienna (same weekend as the Eurovision song contest). It didn't take any longer than usual - less than 20 minutes.

Jesus! Whatever the land beyond Cloud Cuckoo Land is, you're in it. So if it weren't for Starmer watching a football game his government would be able to negotiate a deal with the EU that exempts a third country from a principal EU border security measure, all in time for your holiday? Of course! And if the lazy git could just miss Eastenders one evening he could sort out Russia/Ukraine too.

No, they didn’t. There is no 2026 Greek stamp on my passport in or out of the country. (We flew to Athens and flew back from Heraklion)

There was an East Asian woman on my left, going through passport control. She had to give her fingerprints and have her photo taken. When I offered to do the same, the passport officer waved me through!

Edited - duplicate.

How long are you going for? If its a week or less just ditch the hold baggage and take a rucksack as hand luggage, go through security as early as would provide you with reassurance.

I started doing this once add-on baggage costs got ridiculous and I have been amazed how little I really need. Even if you're going for longer you can launder clothes at the hotel, books on a kindle etc.

In reality it would probably be fine anyway but if it gives you some comfort and means you don't have to cancel then that's what you need.

I did an easy jet flight this week (back from Montenegro albeit that isn't a Schengen country) and almost everyone on the flight seemed to be hand baggage only. The luggage carousel was virtually empty as we all strolled past it!

Makes me think of" The Terminal" film

The queues really depend on the country you are going to (some like Greece seem to have been completely unprepared for it). It also depends on how many other non- Schengen area flights land in the 90mins before yours. Check the arrivals list of the airport to see how many there are.

@idontwanttogoanymore

Either you started this post just to goad people or you have serious anxiety issues.

Hundreds of people are telling you that this is basically a non issue. And if you’re really that worried about it, then take a cabin bag only to forego the checked baggage if you want to go through security much earlier. Surely better that than cancel if you’d really be heartbroken about it.

Oh, and I also work in travel (not a travel agent) and there have been no issues with customers missing flights due to EES. And believe me when I say I would know if there had been.

I’m with you on Brexit btw, but that’s not a reason not to go on holiday.

I haven't read the whole thread but I have read all of your posts OP and this is either not real (although I believe it is) or there is other stuff going on, some other form of anxiety or something. I say this because it is not normal for someone to be so worked up and angry about having to queue - even for hours- when travelling. I'm not saying it's fun, of course it isn't but most people would just suck it up if they really wanted to go - especially if they are travelling as a single person with no kids. You know its happening so can be prepared, take something to sit on - walking sticks with a seat for example. You just angry at everything, even at the solution of cancelling the trip or going somewhere else.

Think you have been on the duty free already

There’s no point arriving at Gatwick three hours early, that’s not where the holdups are. It’s when you arrive at the European airport, or are returning home from a European airport that the delays occur ( if there are any delays).

Plus thinking that the guy who spent one of the least amount of time in the European Parliament supposedly representing his constituents and claimed among the most amount on expenses is the guy who’s a man of the people most likely to help to get us out of the difficult financial situation he more than practically anyone helped get us into.

But as Mark Twain probably said, ‘It’s easier to fool someone than to convince them they’ve been fooled’.

OP, people have given you tons of very sensible, logical, "talking you down" advice, but you're determined to poo-poo it all.

If you're that upset/bothered, then just don't go. It affects exactly no-one apart from yourself. Literally no-one else will care if you're in Milan or not.

Hi @GalaDinner, is HDA Hacienda del Alamo? Did an overnight at the hotel there when my flight from Murcia was grounded due to high winds earlier this year. Lovely room and facilities, promised myself I would go stay again when I had more time to enjoy them (and better weather!) 😊

So in the last 8 months I’ve flown to Dubai, France, USA, turkey, Berlin, Lanzarote, Azerbaijan, Porto and Barcelona. I have missed zero flights. Have had zero stress. There was a long queue at security last week to fly out but just because it was school holidays. Took 40 mins to get through. No issues whatsoever with passports. Even in the USA where they said it would take hours to clear passport control. You’re causing yourself massive amounts of stress for no reason

You’re right OP, definitely cancel your holiday. There’s no point even trying. Makes sense to lose the money now and a trip you were really looking forward to. That’s definitely rational, non-deluded thinking. In fact, you’re probably never going to be able to go abroad again, so might as well accept it now.

In all seriousness, have you perhaps missed a few doses of your anxiety medication recently? DP often has kind of deluded thinking if he does…

Op, I really think you need to get some real life support if the level of anxiety and over reaction you are showing on this thread is genuine.

Your travel will be fine. Go to the airport early and follow the system. It might be a bit slower than normal but thousands of people are travelling every day and it is fine. Ignore the news. It's half term in a lot of places - there is always an "airport chaos" story at half term and it's never as bad as the press make it seem.

You are irrationally focused on Starmer. He wasn't the cause of Brexit. This is the EU's rules. The EU won't be up for negotiations on a Saturday night and even the Prime Minister is allowed to have a night off to watch the football. The new rules are not really different from travelling to other countries (US, Australia etc).

You are utterly deluded. Of course Starmer can’t “easily negotiate” an exemption to rules that impact every single non-EU country in the world. The fuckwits in the UK voted for Brexit and this is one of the many results of that. Why on earth would the EU give us an exemption after we voted to throw away all the benefits of membership!!! You should be directing all your anger at Farage and his Brexit lies.

This is actual proof that you’re not listening to a word people are saying and are determined to be hysterical. Nowhere does this poster say she’s a travel agent. I took it to mean she’s an emergency call number for the kind of situation you’re worried about. And that she’s had literally NO calls over a period of time.
I for one can’t imagine cancelling my holiday over something that might not even happen. I suppose you’d never know but imagine cancelling and then finding out that everything was fine . What a waste of.