BRITS have already faced huge airport queues across Europe – and experts say it’s going to get even WORSE.
Rafael Schvartzman – the vice-president for at the International Air Transport Association (Iata) – said warned queue times could stretch to as much as six hours this summer.
Passengers could experience up to six hours of queues at European airports this summer
This will be the first summer since the full introduction of the new across Europe, where passengers have to register their fingerprints and have their photo taken.
According to The Times, Schvartzman warned that the EES systems are being operated differentely between airports, which is causing the problem.
Not only do some not have fully functioning equipment yet, but others are said to have a lack of staff at the border.
Schvartzman said: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours which is unacceptable.
“We know for a fact there are many cases where people have lost flights or their connectivity.”
Just last week, 150 Ryanair passengers missed their flight from Toulouse to the UK due to the queues, the latest in a number of similar cases.
In response, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has repeatedly called for EES to be suspended until after the summer holidays, adding: “We can’t afford to be coming back late and delay the next four, five or six flights that day.”
Destinations that have been impacted the worst already include Lisbon in Portugal and Lanzarote, Alicante and in Spain.
Many passengers are also claiming that they have to reregister for EES despite having already done so on a previous trip.
Travel Reporter Alice Penwill recently experienced delays at Lanzarote Airport and said: “I spent the first three hours of my holiday queuing to get out of the arrivals hall.
The worst destinations include Lanzarote and Majorca in Spain
“The queues stretched along the corridor and zigzagged all the way through the arrivals hall that took passengers to EES registration.
“I’d already signed up to EES, having visited Lithuania a few months ago – but that was no use at all as there was no separate queue for those who have registered to head straight to the passport e-gates.”
The EU has said member states can postpone checks temporarily when an gets busy, until September.
Schvartzman added that EES, even when running smoothly, isn’t fast.
When travellers’ are stamped, this can take between 20 and 25 seconds, whereas EES is about a minute-and-a-half process.
Even though the affect all travellers, Brits are particularly impacted as they make up the majority of visitors to the EU.
Schvartzman added: “We have seen some states trying to make an exception for the British but it is an effect of but every passenger should be treated the same.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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