What’s the point in this new EES?

Another red flag for Copenhagen! Had I not insisted that we arrive 3.5 hours early for our UK flight, we'd have missed it. Security was OK (as OK as Copenhagen gets), but EES was terrible. Our companion with her Irish passport was through almost immediately, but we almost missed our flight.

Thanks Brexiters, I hope 'getting your country back' is working well for you

That must have been stressful! I never worry about security at Copenhagen, it works pretty efficiently usually and even more so since the recent upgrades. (Of course the airport has control over it, not the Border Police!) The delays at Passport Control are a really bad look for Denmark and they need to get a grip and quickly!

I'd agree. I've never waited particularly long for security at Copenhagen, but it does depend if you're routed behind a large family with kids etc., which is fair enough😂.But, yes, Copenhagen need to get on top of EES. The staff were trying their hardest to route flights through in order, but there weren't enough gates open, and some people seemed to take ages to get checked.

I mean blame the EU. Do you think you deserve fast border control and the rest of the world that isn't in Europe at all and can never join should just suck it up. Why can't the EU sort border travel out for everyone?

So all the other non EU countries are sailing through and it’s just us isolationist Brits made to suffer?
Or is it just a stupid system that doesn’t work properly.

Exactly

It was an absolutely huge IT project, it's been delayed several times, and now it's not working properly. You are only supposed to enter your biometric data once, and people are having to do it every time because it doesn't work.

It has been a bit of a cock up because they decided to let each country do their own software, instead of centralising the whole thing. 70+ million people visit the EU every year, you have to store maybe 10 or more pieces of data for each person (that's a huge database, goodness knows what the carbon footprint of it is) they have to have terminals at every entry point into the zone - from Schjpol airport to some railway station in an East European border town, you need instantly access passenger data every time they enter or leave the zone . It's not surprising it's had teething problems.

I'm sure it will be sorted out eventually, it just takes time.

It’s to enforce the 90 day rule easier and stop people deemed undesirable at the border.

Tbh I wouldn’t know the difference because each time I go to Schiphol, half the trip is done by the time I finish passport control.

It has been like that since Brexit. EES or no EES 🙄

Because the EU was a club we were a member of and, like any club, membership confers benefits on its members.

But it doesn’t work. How much is it costing the EU countries that have to run these huge IT projects?
It must also be frustrating for tourism around the ports and airports - delays cost everyone.

Do you not think passport control should be an easy process for everyone. Do Americans living in the UK deserve delays if they take a trip to Paris?

I encountered it for the first time at Palma de Mallorca a couple of weeks ago. As a family with a child under 12 we joined a queue for the registration terminals.

For three of us (two adults and a teen) the terminal scanned our passports then immediately told us to go directly to the e-gates. It didn't do any photos or fingerprints, so we were a bit confused about that. Anyway, as we were with a younger child we all went to the staffed kiosk instead of the e-gate, where we were photographed (but not fingerprinted).

On the way back absolutely nobody was going anywhere near the registration terminals, which were off to one side and didn't seem to be in use. The queueing barriers bypassed them completely. Everyone just queued up for the kiosks (if they had a younger child) or the e-gates.

It all seemed to work reasonably smoothly, and delays were no more than 20-30 minutes. But I did wonder whether they were actually operating all elements of the system as we'd expected to have prints taken.

Yes, agree with this. I’ve got my EU passport now, but before this, I entered with DH and son. No need for your husband to go in the non-EU queue.

I think it depends per airport

Well at Naples airport yesterday the American airlines flight full of US passengers sailed through as they were allowed to use the eGates whilst the Manchester flight all had to queue for over an hour for the one single ‘non-EU’ border guard. I have no idea why we couldn’t use the eGates like the Americans. Before Brexit we would’ve used the EU gates and had no queue.

The punishment is the process of course.

It’s to enforce the 90 day rule easier and stop people deemed undesirable at the border.

The irony of such stringent border controls on everyone bar the very people some border controls might wish to prevent 🤭🤭🤭

I only get 25 days of annual leave a year. 90/180 is more than enough time for holidays

Once you do ees once the next times you can use the egates for 3 years.

Good for you.

Does it not occur to you that some people's work can take them to Europe on a regular basis? Travel isn't just about holidays.

Perhaps you could nip over to the airports at Copenhagen, Oslo, Warsaw, Brussels, Hamburg, Barcelona, Paris, Cologne, Amsterdam, Budapest, Milan, Geneva and Málaga and tell the border guards that.

I've had to queue to be photographed and fingerprinted at every one of them this year.

What you describe is how it's supposed to work. What many in this thread including me are telling you is that in most countries, even at the major airports, it's not working.

90/180 is plenty sufficient If you need to stay longer find the right work permit then.

I think its’s a bit different everywhere. For example, in Lanzarote, the fingerprint checking machine told me to go the gate with a person but tbere weren’t any so I went through the e-gate.

It’s very frustrating. I queued up for over an hour at Zurich passport control. OMG I hate Brexit…:: and yes I know the system has nothing to do with Brexit but it if wasn’t for Brexit we wouldn’t have this hassle.

Okay. Then the EU's implementation and rollout is poor. Just stand in the queue then. It's no big deal.

I also had a bad experience in Copenhagen. Over an hour to wait to leave the EU with no option of an e gate. And I’d done all the fingerprint shite elsewhere. The woman on the desk was grilling everyone about their whereabouts and as I struggle to stand for long periods as I was in a lot of pain. I hate Brexit.