What’s the point in this new EES?

[whatsthepointffs]

I get that the EU want to integrate their passport control process, cool.

I did it in February when it was first rolled out. Nice, according to the EU’s own information they now have my details for three years. Except I’ve turned up to Milan airport this morning and I’ve had to go through the physical passport control again as they won’t let anyone with a British passport use the e-gates

So in reality there’s no point to it at all! You go through it all every time, it’s just another layer of EU bureaucracy designed to make things more complicated. I have no doubt that some people have made a pretty penny off it though!

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?