To consider cancelling my holiday because of the EES?

[idontwanttogoanymore]

I just can’t cope with this stress. I will be travelling alone and I can’t afford (literally or mentally) to miss a flight because of this system.

I just don’t want to go. It’s looming over me. I did it in February going into Norway, but that makes no difference. You’re still in the queue for hours. I’m flying with Ryanair and they only open their bag drop 2 hours before, they’re now saying three hours to get through. So it’ll be literally impossible.

Waves to @OnGoldenPondfrom HDA, 15 minutes from Corvera

OP, I'm taking your post to read that you registered for the EES in Norway in February. Your registration lasts for three years, so you don't have to queue up for the machines every time. I flew into Alicante last week, spoke to one of the staff and he let me through the barrier. I was less than a minute behind my EU DH.

You can go on holiday. Don’t be ridiculous!

i haven’t flown for a year, but tbh you do sound very anxious so I’d just get to airport early? Only take hand luggage and then you’ll be fine. I’m sure Ryanair bag drop opens before 2 hours though.
Abd I’d look at getting some help for your anxiety, it really isn’t normal to be thinking of cancelling a holiday when there’s really no issue.

Hit and miss as you say.

I travelled to Malaga last Monday, returned on Friday. Absolutely no wait at all entering or returning

When did you book? I was in Prague last September and it was similar then so it’s been ongoing for a good while 🤷‍♀️ you honestly need to cancel and sulk or get over it and go. I presume you have checked luggage? Why not swap to hand luggage only and you can go to the airport whatever time you want. I really think your being over dramatic lots of people have told you they have been through and it’s fine, but you who hasn’t been through is basically saying they are wrong.

Op - it must be utterly miserable to go through life like you do op. You’ve taken a joyous privileged occasion, and turned it in to a bitter, negative rant about all sorts of things. Mostly unrelated.
happy people do the following - get excited about Milan, get excited packing and go to the airport. They don’t dwell and rant about potentially missing a flight. If they do miss a flight, they get the next one, you won’t have to pay as it will be recorded you arrived 2 hours prior, and go and get a cocktail.

Holders of EU passports do not need to use the new system, irrespective of whether their country is in Schengen or not. So yes, Irish passport holders sail through the e gates just like other EU citizens and indeed non-EU citizens, like the Swiss, who are nationals of countries who participate in Schengen.

I think it's stressing you out so much it's probably not worth you going. I went to Europe recently via Eurostar and it was pretty easy. I am EU but friend is UK. They were slightly slower than me getting through.

Travel in s meant to be fun and your stress levels suggest you won't enjoy it even if your fears are not realised.

My solidarity to your friend!!

‘Yes how can I help? Oh, the name you booked your flights with is not in fact the name that appears on your passport? I see….’

I'm away and we just went straight throu I flew into Nice airport and we used the machines Friday !
I wouldn't worry to much and Ryan air usually open up baggage drop of early ! I flew with easyJet it actually was one of the best travels we've had in ages !
It's the unknown I feel like the news media love to make it super dramatic they did the same with fuel costs of planes and then the airlines were saying don't cancel we have plenty of fuel lol
Just go give yourself plenty of time x

This wouldn’t happen because they’d offload your bags. And it will take them time to find your bags too.

They try and make the news dramatic though! 5 mins through both ways in Krakow a week ago for me. Also loads of my friends have travelled to Europe and back in the last week. NO ONE has missed a flight or suffered long delays

Go! We flew from Europe in April from an airport where loads of people were missing flights due to delays at security (notoriously nightmare airport even before EES!) - EasyJet have the same 2 hr bag drop policy, but we just turned up 3 hrs early anyway and they were happy to check them in for us (despite customer services claiming this would be impossible when I spoke to them beforehand!). We went straight through to our gate after and though waited in insanely long lines arrived with time to spare. Lots of people did miss our flight (around 1/5 which is mad!) but they took all their bags off the plane before we could depart so no one was without their luggage.

Arrive 3hrs early to chance checking your bag in then, and go straight through to your gate and you’ll be fine :) Worst case scenario and you miss your flight, you’ll be reunited with your bag straight away.

I flew to Germany a week ago and home from Germany last Friday, so 2 days ago. We queued less than 15 mins for immigration on the way in, where they did photo and finger printing for those 12+, and max 5 minutes on the way out. We had a child under 12 with us so we had to see an immigration officer both on the way in and out. Those who were 12+ appeared to go through an egate after the finger printing/photo machines on the way out of Germany, not sure if they saw an actual person after that. Easyjet also only open check-in 2 hours before, but there was never any risk of us missing the flight.

We are off to Rome soon. Can I ask if you have any tips for the system?!

I think you should do some work on yourself. This has nothing to do with the holiday. You clearly have some issues with anxiety. We can’t control what goes on around us only ourselves and the fact you are astute enough to be aware that you need to be there early is enough. Most people won’t even be aware and those are the ones at the back of the queue. I travelled recently and wasn’t aware. Everything was fine and I had a 15 month old toddler with me.

You have to be able to tolerate a certain amount of uncertainty to function in every day life or you won’t be able to live at all.

Also for security reasons the plane cannot take-off with your bag onboard if you are not on the plane, they have to go remove it from the hold. If you make a flight and your bag doesn't, it can travel on a later flight alone, but it can never go ahead of you. I travel quite a lot and have been on multiple flights where they've had to remove people's luggage, not usually budget airlines but scheduled airlines definitely happens. Your bag would go back to baggage collection and you can pick it up.

Why can’t you just pack a carry on? I never travel w a suitcase unless am with my child and need all the kid paraphernalia. Saves so much stress!

I go to Europe a lot. YABU

We travelled home from Sicily yesterday.
We arrived at the check-in desk 3 hrs before our flight as we knew EES could be length. Desk however did not open until 2 hrs before flight (British Airways).
We went straight through security and on to the EES passport control. Line was very long and system incredibly slow! Lots of people would have missed the flight but the pilot decided to wait and agreed not to fly until everyone was on the plane. We were lucky they made this decision.

I think all airlines need to open their check-in desks 3 hrs before flights to prevent this from happening.

This was my experience too. And with Ryanair - although I paid for Fast Track security, so I got through that bit very quickly.

Flew back from Copenhagen last week and honestly it was pretty bad, but DH kept reassuring me it would be fine and it was. We got to the airport three hours before our flight, and didn't have bags to check in. Got through security fine but then had to wait ages for our gate to be announced, and there's multiple different passport controls depending on gate so we couldn't have gone any sooner. The machines are not operational yet. The queue was over an hour and we ended up having to be rushed through (along with the majority of the flight) well after the time that boarding was supposed to close. It was stressful for everyone and the easyJet staff were apologetic when we finally boarded. I just wanted to give a slightly different perspective to all the many people saying it's fine and there's no need to worry. It is a total pain in the bum and some airports are clearly not managing the situation as best they could. Had the gate been announced earlier we could have avoided the stress, as we had done the recommended three hours, but it gave us no advantage at all.

Hopefully they are learning lessons and the machines will help when they're up and running. OP I think it's fine to worry a bit but just do everything you can do and trust that they aren't going to let an entire plane miss their flight - the staff will do their best to rush you through if required. It's disproportionate to cancel the trip.

Why are you so determined to ignore all the people who are telling you that delays are not a problem currently, and that even if there are delays when you go Ryanair will let you drop your bags off early and help you catch your flight?

My friend just eent to croatia and said there were no qurues at all and it took ten minutes. I expect the queues are more likely in the crazy hotspots like southern spain.

Travel very light and dont check anything in?