The way passengers are treated you wouldn't think they are customers.
Growing unease about Malaga Airport passport check queues: 'Some people have been waiting for more than two hours' | Sur in English
The transition to the new system for non-EU passengers at departures and arrivals has led to an increased number of complaints from regular flyerswww.surinenglish.com
Looks like Malaga Airport is struggling. Not just due to EES but the E Gates are not always working.
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Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)
- Thread starter Belperpete
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R
RailUK Forums
Interesting experience at Frankfurt (FRA) airport over the last couple of days. On entry I was directed to the "Pre Register" kiosks where my passport was scanned and photo and finger prints taken. Then I was directed to a normal booth where the passport was stamped and some questions asked. On exiting a few days later I asked if I could try out an e gate as I had had my details registered but it didn't work so I was then directed to a manual booth where I was stamped out as usual with no photograph or finger print check. It all seems very disjointed at the moment.
They aren’t the border authority’s customers, though, are they. They’re only indirectly the airport’s customers as well - which is half of the problem, no doubt.
Malaga Airport has been very poor for a while - security has been a pain the last three or so times I've been (pre dating covid even).
You are absolutely right. Which is all the more reason why organisations such as the border authorities should be held firmly accountable to provide a swift and smooth service. Who polices the police?
Though whilst that is in our interests as visitors to a country, is it in the interest of the politicians of that country in terms of what will be popular with their own citizenry (they are the ones really who will hold these agencies to account)? Is it a popular platform, for instance, if a politician says "We spent €x million on improving the throughput of arriving and departing passengers from Malaga airport this year!"? Obviously Malaga is heavily reliant on tourism for its economy but are tourists being turned off going to Malaga (in sufficient numbers to cause economic harm)? If the answer to that question is not really, then where is the incentive for the politicians that are in charge of the funding taps (which is what this really boils down to, no airport I've ever been through has had every possible border desk staffed so there's clearly more capacity than agents) to increase the spending on making it easier for people to arrive/depart?
I think a lot of European citizens would prefer that their borders were harder to cross rather than easier!
Another issue I suspect at some of these airports where there are now queues is that they're dealing with a considerably more checks than they were ever expecting to thanks to our decision to Brexit and the way in which we opted to do it. Sticking with Malaga this article suggests that in August 2025:
Malaga airport posts best ever August passenger figures: British numbers wipe the floor with second-placed Germans - Olive Press News Spain
MALAGA-COSTA del Sol Airport had its best ever August in terms of passenger numbers, newly published figures reveal - with Brits eyeing up some summer
www.theolivepress.es
Thanks to Brexit that was an extra 700,000 passports that had to be stamped in compared to what would have been the situation previously. Potentially double the number of checks than would have been required pre-Brexit. How popular do you suppose it would be for a Spanish politician to say that they're spending additional money increasing the number of border agents at Malaga to accommodate all the Brits that now have to have their passports checked because of British actions?
Now, obviously, we hope that once EES is up and running smoothly and properly the situation will improve for everyone but in the meantime I can see why that might not be a winning argument...
Class73Electro
Member
Report from St Malo as a ferry foot pax.
The border guard took photo and fingerprints (I think, took two attempts, I don't think I have any fingerprints as never seems to work for me!). Coming back one lane was having photo and fingerprints redone. Other land just photo. Took about 3-5 minutes per person, and we had about three bus loads of people. Machines still covered up.
The border guard took photo and fingerprints (I think, took two attempts, I don't think I have any fingerprints as never seems to work for me!). Coming back one lane was having photo and fingerprints redone. Other land just photo. Took about 3-5 minutes per person, and we had about three bus loads of people. Machines still covered up.
m0ffy
Member
I took the family (with car) on the Harwich-Hoek Van Holland ferry two weeks ago and EES is up and running there. On check in at Harwich, car drivers are given a coloured hanger indicating whether any passengers are non-EU citizens/residents - this is used by the queue marshals at HvH to direct which lane should be used. At passport control, non-EU citizens are directed into a new extension to the booths to answer questions and provide biometrics. My daughter and I are Irish citizens, so we had a short wait for my wife and mother-in-law to complete the process. Incidentally, they were asked fewer questions than the passengers in the other car being processed - I don’t know if this was chance, or down to the nationality of their travel companions.
I can’t comment on the exit process - bad weather in the North Sea last night put us off the ferry and we took the Tunnel instead, where EES is not yet in force. The Calais terminal was eerily quiet at 2030 and only one passport booth was open.
I can’t comment on the exit process - bad weather in the North Sea last night put us off the ferry and we took the Tunnel instead, where EES is not yet in force. The Calais terminal was eerily quiet at 2030 and only one passport booth was open.
eoff
Member
Through Malpensa on Sunday. One machine was unable to take a photo of me, the second one needed 2 attempts.
And the questions...
How long are you staying in Italy?
(er. a few hours while I get to Switzerland and back).
How many Euros do you have?
(lots of options, why is that relevant, I was not staying in Italy?
And the questions...
How long are you staying in Italy?
(er. a few hours while I get to Switzerland and back).
How many Euros do you have?
(lots of options, why is that relevant, I was not staying in Italy?
Bremen on Friday - no EES yet, but all those I heard were getting a more thorough grilling than I’ve ever experienced (including showing evidence of their return tickets). As usual, I found that surprising the first official by presenting a UK passport in fluent German “threw” him out of his script - all I got was a bit of chit chat.
FinsburyPark
Member
In these cases its better to equate 'Italy' with the entire Schengen area, specifically for these purposes.
I agree though, they should ideally re program the machines to say "how long are you staying in the Schengen Area".
And equally - in an increasingly cash-less age- what does it actually mean?
Physically on you in cash?
Available to you in accounts for which you have “cards” with you?
Credit balance on your credit card?
Available at a pinch using online banking to get it to where you can withdraw it from a machine?
For most people the answers are going to be very different. Not like the old days when you took your cash and had some travellers’ cheques as back up and that was it.
Class73Electro
Member
How do you define how many Euros you have?
I may have a few on me, but usually everything is put onto my travelling credit card, and paid off when I get home
1D54
Established Member
- Joined
- 1 Jun 2019
- Messages
- 1,482
Sounds simply like a silly box ticking exercise where half truths will suffice.
eoff
Member
There was another question asking if you had cards (don't recall exact wording).
Anything that is available, it's in regard to the rule that you must have enough to sustain yourself while in the area. Though the question being vague is the main issue.
FinsburyPark
Member
I have a question.
How will Rovaniemi Airport, Finland cope with EES?
The reason I ask is because for most of the year its a sleepy regional airport with about 3 or 4 destinations that are all year round and not seasonal.
For the peak season (Winter) its full of UK flights as this town and its surroundings are commonly known for Father Christmas tourism.
If you've ever been there in this time, its quite cramped as its ultimately a regional airport that gets a lot of traffic from all over Europe and particuarly the UK.
How will Rovaniemi Airport, Finland cope with EES?
The reason I ask is because for most of the year its a sleepy regional airport with about 3 or 4 destinations that are all year round and not seasonal.
For the peak season (Winter) its full of UK flights as this town and its surroundings are commonly known for Father Christmas tourism.
If you've ever been there in this time, its quite cramped as its ultimately a regional airport that gets a lot of traffic from all over Europe and particuarly the UK.
FinsburyPark
Member
The financial means question is an interesting one. Each EU member state sets thier own criterias for this question.
So you will likely get a different ball park figure for what is considered adequate financial means if you land in Amsterdam instead of Milan for example.
Also once you are in the Schengen area it doesn't matter if you woudn't be able to honestly answer this question for one country so long as you enter via a different country then travel internally.
This question existed before EES and although many did not get asked it at the border crossing prior to the implementation of EES, Border agents could and in some cases did ask for proof of financial means before EES came about.
Generally most people that travel have the €80/€90 a day (or local equivalents), as travel is not cheap, even in the age of Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air.
But its a curiosity of mine.
So you will likely get a different ball park figure for what is considered adequate financial means if you land in Amsterdam instead of Milan for example.
Also once you are in the Schengen area it doesn't matter if you woudn't be able to honestly answer this question for one country so long as you enter via a different country then travel internally.
This question existed before EES and although many did not get asked it at the border crossing prior to the implementation of EES, Border agents could and in some cases did ask for proof of financial means before EES came about.
Generally most people that travel have the €80/€90 a day (or local equivalents), as travel is not cheap, even in the age of Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air.
But its a curiosity of mine.
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I used Malaga at the weekend and the arrival was a bit chaotic. There was a long queue for the register kiosks. When I got to the kiosks a member of staff was asking if anyone would go through to the manual booths without registering, so that's what I done. You go downstairs and there's another hall for the passport control which was chocka with some people queueing for e gates and rest for normal booths.
Was not as bad exiting Malaga but I noticed a few people heading to Germany managed to go through passport control.
So I will have to register the next time.
Was not as bad exiting Malaga but I noticed a few people heading to Germany managed to go through passport control.
So I will have to register the next time.
I used Madrid airport to enter Spain a couple of days ago and was directed to use a registration machine despite already having registered elsewhere. From there I was then directed to an e-gate followed by a passport stamp. The whole process does not seem well thought out at all.
EYFanatic
Member
Does anybody have information on how good its going for new registrations at the Dutch ferry terminals at Rotterdam and Ijmolden?
m0ffy
Member
It’s probably quite similar to my post above about HvH. Be prepared to watch the Dutch and German cars fly out of the port while you wait to be processed.
Portugal airport border controls may be suspended over Christmas
Internal Security System (SSI) admits that the European border control system for non-EU citizens may be suspended during Christmas to avoid airport queues.
www.theportugalnews.com
Just can't see how this will work long term. The data integrity is going to be absolutely shot to pieces if every summer/winter peak travel season it's suspended. In some ways wrong data is worse than no data for this kind of thing - you're going to have millions of 'overstays' flagged when it is suspended at peak times? No doubt people who want to overstay will eventually figure out that you can just have a free for all by travelling at certain times where EES is likely to be suspended.
To be honest I don't really understand what EES is actually trying to achieve with this registration that won't be handled by ETIAS? The lack of joined up thinking is pretty astounding to be honest.
Why did they come up with this idea of requiring another kisok/'pre registration', when ETIAS is going to ask the same questions I assume? It seems thats where it totally falls down. It could have actually been super efficient if it wasn't for that.
Fully agree, most notably the US handles picture and fingerprinting just fine at the manned counter
Though Japan handles it absolutely fine at kiosks. When I went through Haneda you were funnelled to an area with a huge number of kiosks that took your finger prints and picture (with floor walkers helping lost looking tourists), then funnelled into an area for a border agent to process your Visa on arrival, then to baggage reclaim and finally through customs (complete a declaration on a kiosk and then proceed through a gate).
So it is possible to do this efficiently and effectively using kiosks! Perhaps the EU should have visited Japan to get some tips?
The main issue is that you can't skip the chaos when you have 30+ countries involved, as the EU can say very little about the final implementation on the ground.
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D6130
Established Member
My wife and I will be returning to the UK on 16th December after nearly three months in Europe. Our outward journey on Eurostar was before the introduction of the EES. Therefore will we have to complete our initial registration at Gate du Nord prior to boarding Eurostar....or when we next travel to Europe in April 2026?
Yes I suppose this is Schrodinger's EU again isn't it? To some the EU is an authoritarian hellscape that commands it's members to sit down, shut up and do what they're told but on the other hand can't require it's member to come up with one unified way of implementing border controls
