UK tourists are cancelling trips to the European Union over the new Entry and Exit System (EES), which requires biometric checks for holidaymakers. The system, implemented on April 10, has led to long queues at passport control, causing some travellers to miss their flights. Many have reacted with heartbreak, fury, and frustration.
Holidaymakers Share Their Experiences
Georgia, one of the affected travellers, experienced a four-hour delay on arrival in Italy during a trip to Pisa. She told the Guardian she is now apprehensive about travelling in Europe again. “I was meant to fly to Paris this weekend with my husband, but I’ve cancelled the trip just because I couldn’t face it again,” she said. However, she noted that Greece is not following the new system, which she described as “amazing news.”
Stuart MacLennan is reconsidering travel to Spain after a difficult experience at Malaga Airport on April 11. “There was no real direction as to where to go,” he said. After being moved to a different line for children under 12, the family queued for two-and-a-half hours before reaching passport control. “It would put me off travelling back to busier European airports,” he added.
David Newton from Stourbridge, along with his wife Kimberly and four-year-old daughter Frankie-Mae, were forced to go through EES checks twice in a day after missing their flight due to delays at Charles de Gaulle airport. “The queues for passport control were all the way into duty-free,” he told the i Paper. “No one was actually coming out and explaining what was going on or that there was going to be delays. It took about five hours to get through passport control.” He described the situation as “crazy” and said he had never missed a flight before. Newton also mentioned a heated argument with a security officer when he questioned why he had to scan his eyes and fingerprints again.
Expert Analysis
Dr Nick Brown, a data sleuth monitoring the EES implementation, noted: “It really seems like there are two EESs. One that works and one that doesn’t. Difficult to tell if the difference is better tech, more tech, more people, or better training.”
