{"id":747053,"date":"2026-08-23T09:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747053\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:50:11","slug":"pretty-shambolic-new-eu-border-checks-cause-stress-for-uk-travellers-travel-leisure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/747053\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pretty shambolic\u2019: new EU border checks cause stress for UK travellers | Travel & leisure"},"content":{"rendered":"

On top of fears about extreme heat<\/a> and possible jet fuel shortages<\/a>, Britons planning summer holidays in the EU this year had another thing to worry about \u2013 long queues and waiting times caused by the bloc\u2019s new border checks.<\/p>\n

The EU digital entry and exit system (EES)<\/a>, which requires non-EU citizens to register and be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival and departure from the Schengen zone, has been technically in full force since April after launching last autumn<\/a>, but has been beset by teething problems.<\/p>\n

Despite reports of passengers facing three-hour delays<\/a> and missed connections, Brussels rejected calls by airports and airlines<\/a> to suspend the implementation of the scheme over the peak summer period. However, border police have been allowed to relax requirements if queues become unmanageable under an opt-out that expires next month.<\/p>\n

Those who shared with the Guardian their experiences of the system since its introduction highlighted a range of problems and snags.<\/p>\n

\u2018We checked in to Europe, but the EES says we haven\u2019t checked out\u2019Martin in Silkeborg, Denmark, on a paddle steamer with his dog, Morris. Photograph: Martin\/Guardian Community<\/p>\n

One of the main purposes of the system is to track whether non-EU citizens have spent more than their permitted 90 days in the bloc in a rolling 180-day period.<\/p>\n

However, Martin Farrall, a retired university professor, says his EES record failed to record his exit from the Schengen zone and he had to chase the authorities to update it.<\/p>\n

In May, the 67-year-old and his wife arrived by ferry at Hoek van Holland at the start of their camping trip in Denmark, both with a full residency allowance.<\/p>\n

Martin says the Dutch border police enrolled them into EES \u201cBut no entry stamp was made on our passports,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 30 June, 55 days after entry, we returned to the UK on the Dunkerque-Dover ferry. The French border police asked us where and when we entered Schengen, and we were handed back our passports without an exit stamp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once home, Martin checked his residency tally and found that instead of having 35 days left it was rapidly diminishing.<\/p>\n

Martin on a forest walk in Denmark with Morris. Photograph: Martin\/Guardian Community<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appeared that EES had not been updated to show I\u2019d left the Schengen area,\u201d says Martin, who lives in Warwickshire. He was concerned that he would be registered as an \u201coverstayer\u201d at risk of refusal of entry in future.<\/p>\n

He reported the error to the Directorate General for Foreign Nationals in France on 13 July but says he has not received a response..<\/p>\n

When Martin checked on his day allowance again on 7 August, the EES website said he had zero days left, but when he looked on 17 August it had updated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EES website now claims I have 34 days left to travel in the 180 window! When I checked my wife\u2019s passport she apparently has 90 days left despite us both having the same travel to Schengen history. So God only knows what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder how many other people who were waved through because of the hold-ups may also be in the same position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The system obviously wasn\u2019t ready \u2013 it\u2019s pretty shambolic\u2019<\/p>\n

Nadia, from Greater Manchester, thinks the system is not \u201ccommunicating with other member states\u201d. She made two trips to Schengen areas this summer with very contrasting experiences.<\/p>\n

A trip to Tenerife in June was \u201cquite straightforward\u201d, but her experience in July at Frankfurt airport where she was picking up a connecting flight home, was much less so.<\/p>\n

Nadia says she was not sure which queue she should join at Frankfurt airport. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cThe queue there was ridiculously long, and there was very limited information,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople were wandering around trying to work out where they needed to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very well travelled and pretty confident, but even I was slightly unsure and was thinking, is there some other queue I should be joining? There was no one nearby to check with without losing your place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, her passport was checked. \u201cHe didn\u2019t actually take fingerprints then,\u201d says Nadia, who is a solicitor. \u201cI think the queue was so long they decided to dispense with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the efficiency of the system I question and the fact that individual member states\u2019 systems do not talk to one another. They shouldn\u2019t need to get information again if you have already gone through.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty shambolic, and I think people missing their flights because of it is just not acceptable, especially when there\u2019s no recourse; it\u2019s not your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadia is also unhappy about having to give her fingerprints repeatedly. \u201cI\u2019ve done it in a few countries now, but it\u2019s something I feel very strongly opposed to,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not in keeping with the intention of the scheme, which suggests that once registered, you should not have to keep re-entering your biometric data. You also wonder where the information is going \u2013 who\u2019s seeing it, who else has access to it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018There should be clearer signage about exemptions\u2019<\/p>\n

Evie, originally from Manchester but studying in Munich, says her student visa has caused EES confusion.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn Munich airport, there are TV screens which explain the function of EES as a system to register \u2018visitors\u2019. As I hold an extended-stay visa for the purpose of studying, I would not describe myself as a \u2018visitor\u2019 as I can stay in Germany for up to 12 months,\u201d the 23-year-old says.<\/p>\n

She says that upon seeing she had a British passport, she was often directed toward the EES queue and had to explain her visa situation, after which she \u201cwas normally allowed to stand in the queue with everyone else\u201d.<\/p>\n

Evie says this has happened \u201cvirtually every time\u201d she has flown in and out of Germany \u2013 in December, January, February and April \u2013 and believes there should be better signposting to avoid mix-ups, especially given unreliable airport wifi makes accessing online information difficult.<\/p>\n

\u2018You could see people getting anxious\u2019<\/p>\n

Kevin and his wife, Christine, travelled to Lanzarote in June but struggled to get the machine to register their details.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrivals hall was packed, but there were loads of machines,\u201d the 75-year-old says. \u201cSome were not working. I noticed people getting angry when their fingerprints would not enter. People started holding their fingers in different positions, and when that didn\u2019t work, they would hit the glass harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin and Christine on holiday in Lanzarote in June 2026. Photograph: Kevin\/Guardian Community<\/p>\n

He says there was \u201cnot much assistance to be found\u201d and when all attempts failed, people queued up to \u201chave it done manually at the kiosk\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could see people getting anxious,\u201d says Kevin, who lives with Christine, 73, in Merseyside. He says the machines eventually registered them both.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s next trip is to Palma for a cruise, and they are bracing themselves for there to be issues. \u201cWe\u2019ll be visiting different countries on the cruise,\u201d Kevin says. \u201cWhat happens then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The fingerprinting system didn\u2019t work for me\u2019<\/p>\n

Martin, 68, a retired IT worker, said he and his wife struggled to operate the screen to register at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fingerprinting system didn\u2019t work for me,\u201d says Martin of their trip at the end of April. \u201cMy wife had similar issues with her 71-year-old hands. Older people with drier fingers have trouble with touch screens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, Martin, who lives in Stockport, was sent to manual entry \u201cwhere they forgot to stamp my passport\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen exiting Dusseldorf, the Germans got a bit excited about that and asked how we got into Europe<\/a>,\u201d he adds. \u201cI just said the Dutch didn\u2019t stamp our passports, and they accepted that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interface is poorly laid out and will confuse the less technical I have an IT background, and it feels like the system was not walked through enough times. It\u2019s a mess. It also hasn\u2019t been properly tested for older people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travellers have reported problems with operating the digital touchscreens and fingerprint scanners used by the EES system. Photograph: Hugh Williamson\/Alamy\u2018My wife, being visually impaired, couldn\u2019t find where to look\u2019<\/p>\n

Ed Griffiths, 67, a retired IT specialist, says his wife has impaired vision and could not work the machine at Prague airport as they passed through last September as she was unable to read the instructions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe photo\/fingerprint machine failed for both of us, and we spent one hour 15 minutes standing in a slow queue of confused people waiting for staff to retry it, but my wife, being visually impaired, couldn\u2019t find where to look, so they skipped the photo and she was waved through,\u201d says Ed, who lives in Buckinghamshire. The delay meant their prebooked taxi nearly left without them.<\/p>\n

Then the couple were in Milan in March and Ed had to re-register despite already having done so in Prague.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe machine ignored my previous registration, my fingerprint was asked for and failed, I waited an hour in a queue for manual assistance retry,\u201d he says. His wife, also 67, however, did manage registration and was waved through.<\/p>\n

More recently, in Vienna in May an officer supervised the booths for photos and fingerprints. Again, the system ignored his previous registration, but the couple got through in five minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwice we have been registered already, and it made no discernible difference,\u201d Ed says. \u201cWe have not found assistance at machines, but at booths there has been some help.\u201d<\/p>\n

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