I'm just glad I'm retired and not having to get on a plane every couple of weeks or so.... one dayers, short haul, long haul. it was a novelty when I first started doing it but the novelty wore off. And all that was a good while ago. I can't imagine doing it now with all this crap.
Flew into Split this morning
I was dreading the EES queues but surprisingly it was very smooth. Didn't feel much longer than normal passport control would have. It was definitely helped by being well staffed and a quiet time of day. Just got lucky I guess and not banking on that happening on the way back.
I have been to Wales twice in the last few weeks, two lovely weeks of holiday and no problem with the border, we just drove straight through!
Ahhh, the joys of no borders! I wish it had been like that when I was driving backwards and forwards on a regular basis!
EasyJet advising getting to the airport well early for the return journey. So we shall see…
Flew into bergamo last week. I made it through both sets of automated passport machines in about 10 minutes. Mrs 750 and kids didn't and were sent to the manual check queue, took just over an hour
Flew back from bergamo today. Got there just before 6 and sailed through security, got to passport control and it was empty. So got to the gate for my 9:25 flight at 6:10
Drove straight onto the Shuttle yesterday. No queues and got a train 30 mins earlier than booked. Passport control quicker than normal with no scans or anything.
Then 600km of smooth road ASMR through Belgium and Netherlands with not a pothole in sight.
Gran Canaria, three weeks ago, loads of machines and maybe a 2 mins wait before one came free. Channel tunnel this week, not a machine in site, just working old school - about 15 minutes to get through passport control. I guess I have been lucky.
I was in Copenhagen for the bank holiday.
Picture and fingerprints at the booth on the way in and the way out. Queues took about 45 minutes on the way in. On the way out they were calling people forward by flight number to make sure no one missed their flight it still took more than half an hour to get through.
Having done the same when I was in Romania at Xmas, I was already in the system so once I got to the booth it was fairly quick, but I was still stuck in the same queue as everyone else.
Flew into Naples last week. I got stung with the check, the Mrs sailed through in 10minutes, I joined her 90minutes later.
Way back, advised to get there early, both sailed through with the checks. Then the flight was delayed... 4hours sat around in the terminal... glad I fly so infrequently its not a great experience.
And just to get this off my chest, David Cameron and Gideon Osborne can get in the sea for causing all this bollocks.
EasyJet advising getting to the airport well early for the return journey. So we shall see…
Schiphol on Wed - got there early, EES gates not in use, queues not horrific. Would be interesting to know what’s happening as EES is meant to have been mandatory for over a month.
Next time we’re abroad is the Channel Tunnel in Aug so we shall see then.
Channel tunnel this week, not a machine in site, just working old school - about 15 minutes to get through passport control.
That's encouraging, I hope they keep that up till Wednesday next week
It looks like Greece are going ahead with the EES after all. No idea when it will be implemented.
For reasons I was going to have a huge chunk of time to kill at Barca, luckily Sleazy Jet was allowed me to check in the hold luggage 3.5 hours before takeoff. Treated myself to one of those lounge things so I can wait the 3 remaining hours with wifi and food etc. Turned out to be a good call as my flight was delayed by just over an hour giving me 4 to kill.
Walked over to the gate when it got called. What I didn't realise (probably foolishly) was that the new fingerprint things are at the *gate* not general passport control. It was fine, it was about 10.30PM and my flight was the only one leaving, so there were not many people and there were no glitches - I went straight though.
It really might not have been fine though. Had the place been busy and the fingerprint things messing around it could have been totally different. I normally get through security as early as I can, chill airside (pub / cafe) and then go to the gate as late as possible as I dont see the sense in queing for an allocated seat! Thats probably not a viable strategy anymore.
Just cycled through the EU border between Bosnia and Croatia. Absolutely no problem at all - took about 30 seconds!
I flew from Split this morning to Bristol
Got there 3 hours before the flight, virtually no queues anywhere. The EES part didn't add any noticeable extra time. A good airport experience!
Coming into Bristol was the usual shitshow, miles and miles walking, massive queue for passport control, bags delayed etc
Stark contrast!
