To find travel in Europe too stressful now with all the extra passport palaver

[Pavementworrier]

Why do all these new systems work so poorly? Who is getting rich on the stupid shit eye scanner things?

Please tell me soothing tales of recent visits to Europe where it was fine.

I didn't vote to leave the EU but have to cooperate with the new system because of the idiot government of the time and the sheep who believed all the lies. (Put on tin hat)
My recent travels it is the general security which takes longer than the passport bit.

Nothing to do with the EU. Schengan area is an international agreement for travel in Europe. The UK were never a member so you'll be doing it whatever happened in 2016

PS we do have the advantage of being able to buy cheap booze and fags again on a day trip to boulogne

Absolutely not. I’ve been to Spain four times since October all fine.

Well blame the Brexit voters who don't want to be able to move freely

Just been to Berlin, it was fine. Easy to use and worked. A lot of it is about attitude, you can wind yourself up. Bloke in the queue behind me was whinging , achieves nothing.

I'm at an EU airport now. Passport control was fine in both directions. The scans only took 30 seconds max.

EU travel is certainly more of a chore post-Brexit. Long lines as you queue in the All Other Passports. Thanks Boris 🖕

Because of the new ETA thing, British citizens don't need it but need to prove they are British and only a valid passport or a special certificate that costs even more count. Can't get an eta with my Finnish passport because I'm also British so won't let me get one without lying and saying I'm not British which might cause issues at border control because apparently they'll know I'm British.

Just back from Greece, needed my passport, return ticket and proof of funds - a credit card.

No hassle at all.

48.11% of us didn’t inflict any of the post-Brexit hassle on ourselves.

It's inevitable there will be some disruption. It took decades to get to the point where we could move freely through Europe, and now all those things have been taken away and completely new systems have been put in. It is also unsurprising that the countries in question are grumpy about the extra work as they never asked for this. On the other hand, it would be nice if citizens of all countries remembered that the government of a country is not the same as its citizens - I was vehemently against Brexit and did my best to persuade everyone I knew that it would be a disaster, so yes, I do feel prickly when people say "your country chose this so suck it up and don't complain"

Spain are apparently.....so just anecdotal evidence?

Clearly you should not be travelling if you find it so stressful.

It’s fine if the scanners are up to scratch.

They either weren’t working at all or taking an age for most users at the Italian airport I used at Christmas.

Most countries use facial recognition, not iris scanning.

The only places I can find that use iris scanning are the UAE, Qatar, Macau, Schiphol Airport for some travelers, and the USA and Canada at some entry points.

The fingerprint scanner at Bologna hated me but they whisked me through the manual was with an actual person and it needed up being very fast. Took an age in Tenerife.

Citizens of EU countries that are not in Schengen (i.e. Ireland and Cyprus) do not go through the EES system - because they are EU citizens and therefore have freedom of movement within the EU.

Citizens of the UK would also have been exempt from EES (and ETIAS) had the UK remained in the EU but outside of Schengen.

We went to Latvia in December. It was absolutely fine. We had to show an email showing where we were staying (booking.com confirmation), and other than the fact my mother kept moving when the scanner thing was taking her picture (!) it was all ok. Took maybe 10 mins longer than usual to clear immigration.

Wrong - Citizens of non-Schengen EU countries (Ireland and Cyprus) are not subject to EES and nor would UK citizens have been had the UK remained in the EU.

I've only been asked where I was staying once in probably 20 entries into the EU in the last few years and that time, the border guard didn't bat an eyelid or ask for more information when I sort of panicked and said 'in a camper van' which was true.

I've also been on day trips so didn't have accommodation booked but obviously had a return flight later the same day.

Any idea what happens to over 10yr old but under 14 we do still get it stamped by the passport person when we went July older kids went threw machine I took my 9 and 10 yr old

This is a change from Oct 2025. Before that, there was no requirement to prove where you were staying. I genuinely don't know what happens if you don't have that, as that's the only/first time I've gone into the EU since the change.

I've been to the EU twice since then and wasn't asked where I was staying either time.

You didn't go through the EES kiosks in July - the system only began in October. What you probably went through were the e-gates for passports, which is a totally different system.

I've been asked twice where I was staying, in 2022, going into Germany, two separate airports.

That happened to us too 😃

I travel regularly for work, no issues whatsoever.