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

Introducing a system to be applied across all the member states that would work with competence efficiently without issues was always a tall ask.

And yet …. having registered initially on a Spanish island, we had to go through the whole rigmarole again on another Spanish island and in Italy. Plus several other countries.
I think it was intended to be a joined up EU thing but I get the feeling that each airport (never mind country) is doing their own thing

I was in Prague this week. Have been to two other EU countries in the last 4 months. Sweden was very quick to register first and then in Tenerife was able to skip the registration queue and go straight through the egates. Was forced in Prague to re-register with half the machines not working and a huge queue, then everyone got sent to the manual check anyway. Border control didn't say a word to me, or take my photo or fingerprints. Pointless! I at least assumed she would ask why I was there on business.

But if we were still in the EU we wouldn’t have to queue up - we’d be able to use the (usually very quick) EU lines or e-gates…

Many (most?) countries have entry systems for foreigners that cause delays. It is only in the UK that I’ve seen e-gates that can be used not just by Brits and Irish, but also by foreigners from certain (presumably considered ‘safe’) countries, such as the US, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, etc.

Don’t forget that some countries are sick of tourists too. Which will not help. They rely on the tourist money but are so sick of the sheer volume they would prefer to have far fewer of them.
So will not make a process easy. EU or not.

Grow up! This level of reasoning belongs in a year 7 classroom.

I've never had this experience in the EU just yet. Shame some airports are so inefficient

It is to do with who arrives from where/when, the attitude of the particular country (Greece was ahead of the game on this, generally) and the efficiency and commitment of the staff at a particular airport.

I have been in the minority going into Madrid (not in EU queue) so processed immediately - as an example. It is all very random.

As previous posters it's a Brexit benefit that Johnson and Farage forgot to mention, but at least you've got a red passport and an extra £350M for the NHS

EES is not only about "tourists" - it's about being in control of who comes into Schengen, how long they stay and checking that they leave when their visa or permission period runs out. Countries are not being "forced to treat their international tourists like this" as every piece of EU legislation is voted on and approved by the parliaments of all of the member countries.

Almost all countries have some sort of system for this. Even the UK has the ETA but posters on MN seem to be unaware of this and of the costs and issues that ETA has raised. "Taking control of the borders" was a prominent theme 10 years ago, but it seems that people who voted for Brexit don't like it when other countries likewise take measures to control their borders.

My DD flew there last week and got through quickly. We went in February and had the same experience as you. It really does depend on how many flights come in at the same time I think.

My experiences the past year have been fine. It it's a shame some countries are so inefficient. That's the EU for you I guess.

Look at the UK where EU and and UK citizens have smooth border experiences.

We had a 2 hour wait in Budapest in June, but coming back was quick with a manual check. Now in Majorca and as we had already been through the new system this year we were directed to machines which were quick. Hoping our trip back to the UK is equally quick

"It it's a shame some countries are so inefficient. That's the EU for you I guess."
So it's "some countres" that are inefficient, not "the EU."

"Look at the UK where EU and and UK citizens have smooth border experiences." Have you ever arrived at Stansted on a Sunday evening, when queues for UK, EU and other countries' citizens can take hours to clear? Often the queues stretch back into the arrival corridors and it takes an hour or more to even reach the escalators up to the immigration area where the queue snakes around the labyrinth of barriers for another hour?

I love Greece and the Greeks! Came back from Thessaloniki on Thursday. No queues. No machines at all. They ve just given up. Mind you the border agent said are you going to London? I told him no, Edinburgh....where's Edinburgh? he said!!!! I think he might have been testing me!

I have. And we cleared it so quickly with the e gates

It would be nice if a Brexit voter came onto this thread to apologise and admit they did a very foolish thing, despite the consequences being obvious to anyone with half a braincell at the time of the vote.

Then again, there are some quite long replies here, some of which are using big words, so they might struggle to read and comprehend them all.

As I remarked to someone in the long immigration queue at MPX this summer, the Brexit voters who voted for this crap should go to the back of all immigration queues and the rest of us can go first.

Plus the fact that it never occurred to most of them that voting to become a third country would lead to the EU treating UK passport holders as citizens of a third country.

Because voting to end freedom of movement works both ways, obviously.

Clearly not

Passport queues are a non issue.

Impacts on trade, immigration, economy are more important. But do you really want to give up sovereignty and your finances to Brussels for a faster passport queue?

My step daughters who voted for Brexit applied for Irish passports because of this. My partner (their dad) is Irish. Pisses me off so much.

My sister flew to Spain this weekend and went thru like normal. US passport. She’s also been to Switzerland and France this trip and no issues at all.

Oh great! I'm going to Prague in December. Glad my flight's later in the day! Thanks for the warning!

Same in Faro!