asked readers<\/a> to share their experience with the new EES system. Here\u2019s what they said. <\/p>\n\u2018Extreme bottleneck\u2019 queues <\/p>\n
For Mark Leishman of southern Alberta, the return of a family trip through Europe nearly delayed at the departure gate.<\/p>\n
After visiting France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg over his children\u2019s Easter break, Leishman and his family arrived early \u2014 more than two hours ahead \u2014 for their April 13 flight home from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Calgary. It wasn\u2019t nearly enough. <\/p>\n
What followed, he says, was a trial of lines: first to access the gates, then again for passport checks, then yet another queue to exit the European Union. Families with children were funnelled into separate lines from adults, but the distinction offered little relief.<\/p>\n
At times, hundreds of passengers were left waiting as only a handful of border booths were staffed, creating what Leishman described as an \u201cextreme bottleneck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were seconds from missing our flight,\u201d Leishman said, recounting how the family had to abandon plans to claim tax refunds and instead focus on navigating the maze of checkpoints. <\/p>\n
After finally clearing passport control \u2014 without any biometric data being collected \u2014 the family still faced another slow-moving security line. With just 20 minutes to departure, they sprinted through the terminal before being escorted by a waiting WestJet agent to their gate, boarding last. <\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully they waited,\u201d Leishman said. \u201cBut they could have just as easily have left us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For families in particular, Leishman says the takeaway is simple: arrive far earlier than you think you need.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/N6ZRHVH2FZATHDWUMINIPX3MYI.jpg\")
Croatia EU Schengen A traveler is assisted by a police offices as she is taken fingerprints at Stara Gradiska border crossing between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the Entry\/Exit System (EES) required all non-EU citizens to register their personal details when they first enter the Schengen area is introduced, on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Darko Bandic) A test of endurance<\/p>\n
Travelling back to Ottawa from Italy on April 13, Benjamin Agnes had to use the EES system which he described faced power issues. <\/p>\n
Agnes said many people were sent to manual passport check. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe system does not work fast enough, breaks down frequently, and they do not have enough scanners to match the amount of incoming\/outgoing traffic during peak house at airports,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
On previous trips to Europe, Agnes said it took less than 30 minutes. Now with new rules in place, entry and exit combined takes nearly three hours, Agnes explained.<\/p>\n
For one Canadian couple arriving in Rome, the welcome into Europe felt less like a routine border check and more of a two-hour test of endurance.<\/p>\n
Touching down at Rome Fiumicino Airport on April after their Air Canada flight, Doug Kube and his wife quickly shuffled into one of two lines \u2014 what he described as \u201cthe mother of all line ups.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says the queue stretched so far it was impossible to see the end. After an hour of waiting, the Collingwood, Ont. residents hadn\u2019t even reached passport control. Another 30 minutes passed before they arrived at the automated e-gates. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs we watched, about one in every five people who scanned their passport were declined and had to walk to another line, I assume for manual passport review,\u201d Kube said. <\/p>\n
The couple made it through the biometric scan, only to face another step \u2014 a border officer who reviewed and stamped their passports before granting entry.<\/p>\n
A new reality of flying<\/p>\n
Eventually, Pavey says, her husband\u2019s Canadian passport worked after multiple attempts. Hers never did. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy U.S. passport never even registered after about 20 attempts on 10 machines.\u201d<\/p>\n
With time slipping away and no clear guidance, panic began to set in. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just said \u2018We\u2019re going to miss our flight,\u2019\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment they opened all the other gates … and we just walked through … straight to a human,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
A border officer stamped her passport in seconds. <\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018My passport never did register with the machine,\u201d and he said, \u2018This is easier right?\u2019 \u2014 chunk \u2014 and stamped it.”<\/p>\n
After nearly missing their flight to Toronto, Pavey and her husband were left with more questions than answers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind waiting in a line,\u201d Pavey said. \u201cBut the amount of difficulty was out of proportion … and there was nobody there to assist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly going to make me behave a little differently at the airport,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carol Pavey shared her experience at Lisbon\u2019s main airport with the European Union’s new Entry\/Exit System (EES). For…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-628434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/XE2SMWMRG5A35CEYQK3WEREC7U.jpg\")
Croatia EU Schengen Motorists wait to enter Croatia at Stara Gradiska border crossing between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the Entry\/Exit System (EES) required all non-EU citizens to register their personal details when they first enter the Schengen area is introduced, on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Darko Bandic) <\/p>\n