To warn you not to travel to Prague by plane on a non-EU passport

Rome (Fiumicino) a month ago, special section for UK, US and Canada, literally no queue at all. We were through security in 2 minutes.

Had a 2.hpur wait in Prague in July. The machines not is fairly quick.

However when at least 700 people are queuing and there are only 6 booths open it was carnage.

I have no idea why you need to be seen I person. I thought the scans did all the checks? Otherwise what's the point? It was less bad leaving.

Not convinced it does remember you. Been in Hamburg twice this year and both times, 5 mins at the machines 2 hours queueing for a booth.

My point is that if Cameron hadn’t gone to an ill-thought out and divisive referendum, where the difference was only 2% (of those who voted) all UK citizens would still have EU passports and we wouldn’t be subject to the EES process.

Yeap, 10 years on, the drum must be threadbare.

It is actually an abusive attitude, where those who are on the receiving end of another's chosen actions must bear the brunt - and the blame.

I am sick of it. The damage and loss is evident.

I only had to queue for a few mins in Oslo but it was very weird being grilled by Immigration about why I was visiting and where I was going etc. They asked a lot of questions. It felt more like I was arriving in the US.

Rome we just scanned and didn't have to see border guards at all. My last trip I went and had to see border guard and they so nice and friendly.

It’s so they can blame the EU for everything that has gone wrong because of Brexit. If only they had behaved better, Brexit wouldn’t be a complete shambles!

“The EU” has nothing to do with it. Each airport manages their own system. It only affects non EU passengers because “The EU” was smart enough to realise having a system where its members should be able to move seamlessly between countries without having to wait in the much longer line for passengers from nations who might not have the same stringent checks when getting a passport or when they are involved in crime. The queues we are waiting in are not new for non EU passengers, it’s just we lost the benefit of Schengen. It’s the same long queue you’ll face in a U.K. airport if you aren’t a U.K. passport holder.

Last month, we landed in Madeira at the same time as another Ryanair flight so it was 85% Brits piling into arrivals. We joined what looked like a very long queue for the fingerprint machines but it was fast moving and our turn within 5 mins. I was successful at the machine and went to the egate and job done.

DH was not successful on the machine and had to join the manual check queue. Again, it looked worse than it was - took about 10 minutes and he was through.

Coming back at Funchal airport, there was no queue for the fingerprint machines. Again, it was successful for me, I went through the egate and job done in minutes. DH was rejected again! He joined the manual check queue and was about 10 minutes later, he joined me.

Coming back to Manchester was a breeze. No delay at all. However waiting for our luggage took longer than any of our queues at Funchal. The plane had parked up miles away!

I have also been to Prague and Rome this year and had no issue.

A lot of the problems can be staff shortages, bug glitches or lots of international arrivals at the same time. Plus the new EES scanners can be hit and miss and prone to bugs, but the majority of flights will be without fuss. You mainly hear about the ones where people are unhappy, not the ones where it goes smoothly.

He might try, and I think EU might be amenable - to some extent and on their terms. But I reckon it will take at least 5 years of negotiations AFTER the EU agree to open talks. So maybe in ten years time or so?

In any event, even if he does get the ball rolling, what is to stop a future Government from abandoning negotiations and staying out of the EU anyway?

I’m confused. I went to Spain in Feb and did the whole fingerprint thing which I understand then stays on your passport for 3 years.

I’ve been back to Spain since then, and Croatia and a couple of other places and haven’t been asked to do it again.

Let's hope Andy Burnham gets us back into the EU, where we belong, and we can start repairing the Brexit damage (financial, social and economic).

I travel to Prague a lot, yes it is painful and a long queue, although I don’t find exit quite so bad, but I don’t think it’s a reason to not go,

This ridiculous trope of the UK being punished highlights an attitude that imagines the EU and their 27 members having nothing better to do other than 'punish the UK' for leaving via a democratic process.

So puerile. I couldn't ever take anyone seriously irl, if this was said to me. Tbf, i have only ever seen it here and on any FB page where the hard of thinking, gather.

Most moderately thinking folk know this is what the majority of those who voted, voted for.

An EU citizen can use any gate once the passport is machine readable and they can also go to the immigration officer behind the glass screen. There is usually a queue for "all" passports. Maybe not in every single airport though!

This actually isn’t correct in every case; when I left Italy recently my EU friend went through the E gate with our US friend and only the British two had the manual processing.

@TonTonMacoute "It's not Brexit, it's because Brussels completely fucked up the EES. As Britain weren't in Schengen anyway there is not guarantee we wouldn't have had to go through the EES even if we had stayed in"

Granted the implementation has not been a total success but this seems to be down to the individual countries rather than being a Brussels fuck up. Some EU/EFTA countries have had few issues implementing EES, but some of the countries that welcome huge numbers of non-EU visitors have clearly struggled.

EES is not applicable to any EU/EFTA citizens, regardless of whether or not their country is within Schengen (or even in the EU). Irish citizens do not go through EES and won't need to go through ETIAS when that is introduced.

EES legislation was passed when the UK was still a member of the EU and the UK government at the time supported it.

British exceptionalism again. EVERYONE with a non EU passport has to go through the same process as Brits. Other non EU countries didn't have a Brexit, but still have to do the same as UK passport holders.

Russian bots. You do realise that MI5 couldn't contradict our prime minister quickly enough...basically laughing at him.

If we were in the eu, we'd have the same shit system as them. Built on the back of corruption, favoured bids and no accountability.

As Britain weren't in Schengen anyway there is not guarantee we wouldn't have had to go through the EES even if we had stayed in
Ireland aren't in schengen and we don't have to go through the EES. I would have assumed UK citizens would have been treated the same if they were still in EU. In saying that I don't know if we have to when we travel to a non EU schengen country such as Norway or Switzerland

Just come back from Prague. Straight through passport controls there and back. No problem at all.

Absolutely. The impact on trade has been a collapse of food and drink exports to the EU - sugar down by 70%, egg products by 74%. Honda no longer build cars for the EU in Swindon. Vauxhall (Stelantis) no longer produce vehicles in Luton. The impact on immigration has been negligible - the workers from the EU who were told to bugger off back where they came from have been replaced by people from elsewhere, people who cannot just take a £30 Wizzair or Easyjet flight back home if the work dries up. The impact on the economy has been a loss of GDP of £100 billion a year - one hundred thousand million pounds a year. Other than that, Brexit's been going great. Still no sign of the unicorns though.

@TonTonMacoute As Britain weren't in Schengen anyway there is not guarantee we wouldn't have had to go through the EES even if we had stayed in

Yes, I understand the feeling about Brexit but this is to do with the 90 day limit within the Shengen area. Everyone should go to RoI or Cyprus to escape the queues ......

It's not Brexit, it's because Brussels completely fucked up the EES. As Britain weren't in Schengen anyway there is not guarantee we wouldn't have had to go through the EES even if we had stayed in

This is a giant database which has to store and instantly access billions of bits of data. Instead of having a universal system they allowed every state to do their own software. What could possibly go wrong!?

European tourist industry warned this would happen, and they were right. It may be sorted in due course, or it could just be a massive white elephant, but one we didn't have to pay for.