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The European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) is facing renewed criticism after the head of Rome’s airports warned that the biometric border system may need to be temporarily suspended during the busy summer travel season to prevent severe congestion according to a recent Financial Times article.
The EES, which launched late last year, was intended to modernize border controls by recording the biometric data of non-EU travelers entering and leaving the Schengen Area. The system was expected to be fully operational for all eligible travelers by April 10th, but has faced some snags in the amount of time processing is taking.
Travelers have experienced lengthy queues with some airports reportedly seeing waits of several hours as border officers and passengers contend with technical issues and slower-than-expected processing times.
The EES is designed to capture fingerprints and facial images the first time a traveler enters the Schengen Area with the data stored for future visits to speed up border crossings. While some travelers have reportedly been exempted from using the system in certain circumstances, implementation has varied between airports. The ongoing challenges are particularly notable given that the project has already faced years of delays before finally entering service.
Many other countries, including Australia, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico have successfully implemented automated biometric border systems for years. This has raised questions about why the EU’s rollout has proven so difficult.
I feel lucky. We landed at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and transited without going through immigration. When we connected to Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), the process was no different than past visits and we were through in around three minutes.
Anthony’s Take: With Europe’s busiest summer travel season now underway, airports and border authorities will be hoping improvements can be made quickly to prevent long waits from becoming the norm for millions of international travelers.
(H/T: Loyalty Lobby.)
(Image Credits: BeritK and SergeyChayko via iStock.)
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3 comments
I think a deeper dive is warranted as to why it seems to be working at some EU airport and not others. I’d like to hear from the actual border control authorities at the various airports in question, rather than the airport operators. That said, not a good look that after so many years of being in the works that there any issues at this scale anywhere.
I just entered in Munich and exited in Frankfurt with no issues. They added biometric data collection to the manned gates, and it is basically the same process as before just getting your picture taken and adding your fingerprints. I think the problem is at airports that decided to automate border controls at the same time.
Barcelona was an utter disaster two weeks ago. I live in Barcelona half the year depending on work requirements. I own a home there. And am, for all intents and purposes, a full time resident. I have had my face photo and fingerprints capture 3 or 4 times BEFORE EES. Then this last time I was there, first time post-EES deployment – it was a shitshow. Part of it was imbecile travelers – mostly from the US as far as I could tell – that were completely flummoxed by the instructions on the machine. The instructions were VERY easy to someone with moderate intelligence. Clearly not the case with the US. This was compounded by the fact that not all machines were operating. The ones that were operating had different colored lights on top that glow to indicate…something. Red, blue, and green. None of the personnel working seemed to know what they meant. While waiting in line for an hour (not an EU citizen just yet), I noticed that “green” meant the kiosk was free to process someone. The staff were not directing passengers to green kiosks; they were just just pointing them in a vague direction of a bunch of machines. And the passengers in like were too stupid to take themselves to a machine that clearly had nobody in front of it. THEN…after you finally have your picture taken and passport scanned, you have to do it all one more time at the actual eGates. It was such a clusterfuck. Part of it is Spanish culture, which incorporates a lack of training. Part is the lack of awareness (also slightly Spanish) of the employees who already don’t seem to know what they’re doing. And the final part is that people, by and large, are stupid. All that said, Barcelona seems to have made zero effort to expedite the process or implement it as easily as possible for newcomers.