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It seems like airlines are washing their hands on this as well...
It went live in La Palma on the day we arrived (3rd April) and it was a sh******. The staff were great trying to help out, but they had to keep shutting down machines (maybe 70% were working) and the number of retries/redos was ridiculous. The hardware/software does not look ready. Also for a whole load of "non digital natives" not comfortable with tech, it was doubly hard. They needed taking through every step.
Probably took 90-120 mins to process a not very big plane.
On the way back, we had to first go through the standard e-gates which again were pretty buggy and there weren't enough of them. then back through the EES system which seemed to replicate most of what the e-gates had done only somehow more slowly. Everyone got on the plane, but it was a pretty shonky experience. Again the staff were ace- their biggest issue was if passengers missed the e-gate step and went straight for EES. Computer said No 😉
Also we STILL had to go through a manual passport control. Difference was we had passports stamped on the way out but not on the way back.
Arriving back in Manchester at 1am, the e-gates there were brilliant. Seemed to be super quick and very few redos. So assume it'll get better in Europe but I'm not sure a lot of those older people felt this was the Brexit they voted for 😉
It seems like airlines are washing their hands on this as well...
I have some sympathy with the airlines.
This situation is owned by those who spec'd the infrastructure and staffing, which on the limited reporting to date seems to be inadequate for anything like the peak period demand at some locations.
The airlines aren't responsible for this and from my own experience of the conduct of two of the budget carriers they're depressingly disinterested even when they are directly responsible for the problems.
In Mallorca now. Entry was quicker than the old passport queuing for the manual stamping and all very easy. I guess it depends on how well / how many e-gates are present and working. But zero drama. I guess that doesn’t sell media stories…
I went to Mallorca last week was all fine, mine didn't work first time but was easily sorted...no drama
I’d just like to respond to guys who say their Irish passport doesn't work on E Gates - I’ve been travelling every month on mine for a couple of years now, and it works faultlessly at every E Gate.
Any experience of this on le tunnel yet? The majority of the talk in the media seems to be about airports only 🤔
Any experience of this on le tunnel yet? The majority of the talk in the media seems to be about airports only 🤔
I think the channel crossings have had a deferment until Sep but this might be wrong?
I don’t understand why it’s not possible to have the initial biometrics done away from the border.
We went through Alicante about a month ago. The fingerprint registration bit took about 2 minutes each with no queue as there were loads of booths and the e gates worked fine as they have in the past.
The only bit of queuing was to get passport stamped.
Couple of observations - there is loads of capacity of Alicante and we were before peak season. Lot of older people found it all a bit confusing so maybe a bit more help at the airports is needed
So I flew to Turin week before Easter. Myself and my lad (14 yrs) flew through the machine that took our passport and fingerprint scans.
Queued a minute or two for our passports to be stamped.
BUT there were some massive queues for any families with children under 12 who had to be 'manually' processed rather than using the automated system. Just not enough personnel on the desks. However looking at the queues this seemed to be affecting EU citizens as well as the UK. Seemed to be a lot of tired unhappy Italians in that queue. There was a family in our hotel who had been delayed 3 hours by that queue.
So....MrsVlad has a thru ticket on IcelandAir from Canada to Norway via a plane change in Iceland. Outbound flight from Reykjavik leaves 45 minutes after inbound flight arrives.
Reykjavik and Icelandair are (in my limited experience from Canada to Europe) very good - they know many people are just transiting through, and have been known to hold connecting flights so that people can make it off late inbound flights
I’d just like to respond to guys who say their Irish passport doesn't work on E Gates - I’ve been travelling every month on mine for a couple of years now, and it works faultlessly at every E Gate.
Sadly not the case with all Irish passports - they're definitely seen as a bit challenging for e gates even if you don't have one of the bad batch from December last year that had to be reissued
I used this at Geneva airport recently, it worked fine for me but was very slow. Probably 5 minutes for the scanning process altogether because both the passport bit and the biometric bit needed multiple retries.
Multiply that by two planes worth of people and only two desks open, and it was a long time in total, well over an hour and a half.
I expect it will get better with time as more people will have already registered and the process will be smoother.
I'm dreading the chunnel though, it's already nightmarish there most of the time since passport stamping started again, so I think it is going be awful.
A friend of mine's partner has an Irish passport and found out the hard way that the ID card you can have doesn't work in eGates, at least in the Canaries.
Couple of observations - there is loads of capacity of Alicante and we were before peak season. Lot of older people found it all a bit confusing so maybe a bit more help at the airports is needed
Alicante is fine.
Málaga is appalling. Having been in and out of Málaga dozens of times, I was dreading Alicante but I was through in 5 minutes. Then the next time I was at Málaga, it was over an hour and a lot of very stressed people on the verge of missing flights.
Went to Gran Canaria and it was fine. Biggest frustration appeared to be people who had already registered not being separate from those who had. So until they got near the front of the line they could not get past. No one was telling people a long way down the corridor they could just walk through.
Just glad we sold our French house last year and don't have to make multiple tunnel journeys now. More recently the tunnel started to be more of a pain and wouldn't want to be part of the stress test anymore.
Check your passport! Entry rules say passport cannot be more than 10 years old. so if issued in 2016, even if it hasn't expired (mine's 2027 expiry) it won't be valid.
Málaga is appalling. Having been in and out of Málaga dozens of times, I was dreading Alicante but I was through in 5 minutes. Then the next time I was at Málaga, it was over an hour and a lot of very stressed people on the verge of missing flights.
TBF Malaga was appalling even with regular checks and an EU passport.
Port of Rotterdam has had this in place for about a year now. It's slow.
I went to Norway last week with my wife and 2 kids, I didn't really notice any difference to other flights we have taken over the last few years. Passport queues are always shit! We don't fly very often though, usually on tunnel or ferries but the Norwegians seem to have it sorted.
Finger print scanner and photo bit is at the same booth you would normally go to to get your passport stamped. Took a few minutes extra I suppose on the way in to get the finger prints and the photo done. Then on the way out the queue got a bit long and some passengers were rushed out to get to their flight but only a few. We had plenty of time. Only had to do the finger prints on the way home, I assume photo is only needed when the updates are done every 3 years.
Pretty simple really, but maybe we were the lucky ones as some places seem to have the set up all to cock....
Tunnel is always a bun fight to get through passport control, so thats not going to change!! I literally once once saw a French passport control guy close his booth and walk to another booth with a plater of cheese and meat. I thought about going and grabbing a bottle of Ricard from duty free and going to join them as we weren't moving anywhere!!
Is it just the first registration that’s an issue?
ie if you’re already registered can you skip the queue and go straight to the egates?
A friend of mine's partner has an Irish passport and found out the hard way that the ID card you can have doesn't work in eGates, at least in the Canaries.
Yeh, they only seem to be useful for arriving in small Irish airports with no e-gates
Check your passport! Entry rules say passport cannot be more than 10 years old. so if issued in 2016, even if it hasn't expired (mine's 2027 expiry) it won't be valid.
It's good advice, but that's not new. It's been in place for a few years (possibly a Brexit side-effect?).
so if issued in 2016, even if it hasn't expired (mine's 2027 expiry) it won't be valid.
A bit of a generalisation there. If it was issued 2nd half of 2016 it’s still valid now, but won’t be come the 10yr anniversary.
mine was issued August 2016 and I used it this weekend, I’m also using it in a fortnight for a week in Mallorca and will then replace it.
ES/ETIAS meant to go fully live on 10 Apr but rumour suggests it’s been pushed back until Sep?
EES and ETIAS are 2 separate things.
Came into Athens yesterday, no EES. Not even a passport stamp, guy in the booth looked through my passport and waved me through.
What's the process between Northern Ireland and proper Ireland ? Is there a big gap in tracking Schengen entry or exit here?
What's the process between Northern Ireland and proper Ireland ? Is there a big gap in tracking Schengen entry or exit here?
No because R of Ireland is not part of Schengen
I mentioned on a similar thread (grim times), that it might be simpler to take a day out, and just to fly to somewhere nearby (schipol?), just to get onto the EES system.
What's the process between Northern Ireland and proper Ireland ? Is there a big gap in tracking Schengen entry or exit here?
No because R of Ireland is not part of Schengen
Ah, I missed that.
I've been reading about dual nationals (something else plus UK) who have been travelling on a non-UK passport up to now (and maybe not bothered to get a UK passport) but now find themselves in a pickle as they went out on a non-UK passport and "can't" get back into the UK as they are supposed to use a UK passport.
I was just wondering whether they could now use their non-UK passport to get into Ireland and then cross the border into Northern Ireland then hop into GB without a passport check?!?
Is it just the first registration that’s an issue?
ie if you’re already registered can you skip the queue and go straight to the egates?
I'm pretty sure you're still in the same queue with people who are first registering. Saw Simon Calder on the news a few weeks ago and that's what he said, so even being registered doesn't mean you can avoid the chaos.
Maybe that varies from place to place, bigger airports with more space can set up different queues perhaps?
ie if you’re already registered can you skip the queue and go straight to the egates?
I can only relate our experience, but even though we'd registered on the way in, we still had to do both on the way out. EES first then e-gates.
I was just wondering whether they could now use their non-UK passport to get into Ireland and then cross the border into Northern Ireland then hop into GB without a passport check?!?
In theory they still need an ETA to enter the north. Crossing the border may not be a problem but i don’t know if you need to show a passport or ETA when you leave to travel to GB. There’s been a bit of moaning from the tourist industry here about this added burden to tourists who just fancy a day trip up to the north.
My experience at Milan Linate over easter. When entering security you are all funnelled into ETIAS check, if you pass you go through the EES-gate, if you fail you go through the manual stamping process. we hit the ETIAS check before any queue and the wife went straight through both that and the EES-gate in less than ten minutes. I failed the ETIAS check and stood in the manual stamping queue for over an hour and I reckon there were at least another hours worth of folk behind me. Flying back into brum was similar experience at Linate worsened by the lack of organisation. London city passengers were behind me in the queue and not being bought forward on last call. Italian security didn't give a monkeys. Further evidence in the press this week when 100 people were left stranded at Linate despite the plane waiting three hours after official last call. On my return i downloaded READIDme app and scanned my passport chip. It failed on the cloning element. sometime post 2021 the chip in my passport(2016) was superseded by a later variant which is why my passport can't be used at ETIAS.
My experience at Milan Linate over easter. When entering security you are all funnelled into EES check, if you pass you go through the E-gate, if you fail you go through the manual stamping process. we hit the EES check before any queue and the wife went straight through both that and the E-gate in less than ten minutes. I failed the EES check and stood in the manual stamping queue for over an hour and I reckon there were at least another hours worth of folk behind me. Flying back into brum was similar experience at Linate worsened by the lack of organisation. London city passengers were behind me in the queue and not being bought forward on last call. Italian security didn't give a monkeys. Further evidence in the press this week when 100 people were left stranded at Linate despite the plane waiting three hours after official last call. On my return i downloaded READIDme app and scanned my passport chip. It failed on the cloning element. sometime post 2021 the chip in my passport(2016) was superseded by a later variant which is why my passport can't be used at EES. Reposted as I mixed up my passport check acronyms. For reference i applied for a replacement passport last thursday and it was approved today. I hope it's posted soon, I go away on May 2nd.