Introduction of European Entry-Exit Scheme (EES)

[SargeNpton]

Paris Nord today...

French E-gates, followed directly by UK E-gates. No appreciable queue.

 

[eoff]

Through AMS on Sunday 10th having arrived from Edinburgh and used the left hand queue for entry to the Schengen part of the terminal.
Did not have to speak to an agent for the very first time in years.
Not sure if this will work on the return as I might arrive at the point the normal route is closed.

 

[43094]

Porto arrivals; screens not in use and no stamp, both yesterday and today.

Yesterday, my arrival; touch down 1252, first off so at passport control 1305ish, very busy with preceding passengers, took 60 minutes.

Today, my friend; touch down 1127, at passport control 1145ish, utterly heaving with preceding passengers, took over 3h15!

 

[eoff]

Arrival from LHR to BRU yesterday. Yet another country to tell me they don't have a record of my EES registration ( done in Italy and Netherlands).
So fingerprints again.

 

[Howardh]

I've just been through EES at Ibiza inbound

Firstly, plenty of EES machines, however on approach they all went down, on my side anyway. All the help we got was an official frantically waving his arms and no-one understood, least if all him! Luckily the second bank was still working and managed to get on one.

Did the slidy passport and fingerprint but wouldn't accept me, took my glasses off and it did. Think they only got three-and-a-half of my prints looking at the screen?!

Messaged then to go to the e-gates, slid the passport in, had photo taken, fail. Big red cross. Again, looked for assistance and no-one to be found, other than wavey hands man who simply walked away. I wasn't the only one rejected.

Tried another egate and success this time, so I'm through and on a register for three years!

To summarise, at Ibiza, if everything works and the second entry is via the e-gates only, should run smoothly, but if anything goes wrong then assistance looks hard to come by, and if that applies to several then it could be chaotic. One official dealing with one plane couldn't cope.

So I'm in, next worry is hoping my passport and prints work homeward bound!


Edit: took 15 mins from landing to get through the egate. That's not bad!

 

[Class73Electro]

Has anyone been through Milan Bergamo airport recently? Is it running smoothly?

 

[Broucek]

Florence Peretola was fine in both directions. Only snag is it's not obvious where to look when having your picture taken!

 

[nlogax]

Registered in AMS a couple of weeks back - no queue at all and it took all of a minute. Probably helped that it was mid morning which was a relatively quiet time.

 

[Howardh]

Registered in AMS a couple of weeks back - no queue at all and it took all of a minute. Probably helped that it was mid morning which was a relatively quiet time.

Thanks for that, worried that AMS might be busy with lengthy queues - have you returned yet from AMS, if so how was it on leaving?

If there are Mediterranean airports where those already registered can simply use the e-gates and skip the EES I would like to know as I would use them over those having to go through the whole process again?

 

[nlogax]

Thanks for that, worried that AMS might be busy with lengthy queues - have you returned yet from AMS, if so how was it on leaving?

I carried on eastwards via Helsinki so no experience of the reverse via AMS sorry to say.

 

[sprunt]

Thanks for that, worried that AMS might be busy with lengthy queues - have you returned yet from AMS, if so how was it on leaving?

I went through AMS a couple of weeks ago - similar easy experience arriving with no queue at the kiosks, and departure was easy too, directed straight to the auto gates (I don't actually know how they knew I was already registered at that point, but whatever) and through quickly after a very short queue.

 

[tomsy47]

Has anyone been through Milan Bergamo airport recently? Is it running smoothly?

Yes, I went through Bergamo on Monday this week, and it was an interesting experience. The EES machines were all out of use. When I landed, there were passengers from two non-Schengen arrivals ahead of mine. There were plenty of border staff placing arriving passengers into separate holding areas for each arriving flight. British passport holders on my flight from Birmingham were ushered to the e-gates, which worked well, then our passports were stamped at a booth beyond those e-gates. In total, it took me about 30min to get through. What was odd was that passengers from a Manchester flight ahead of us were not directed to the e-gates, and had to queue to be stamped by a separate set of booths, which looked to be a much slower process. I ended up getting through before most of them. No idea why they did that!

 

[CC 72100]

Porto (OPO) airport a disaster this evening (departing) queued for over an hour as there was 1 booth open for all non-EU passport holders on non-Schengen flights. This despite there being a London Stansted (737-8 MAX) London Gatwick (A320), New York (A321) and Boston (A321) all due within about 40 minutes of eachother.

That isn't an EES problem; that is a general staffing problem as we have been used to showing a passport to exit the EU but normally with far more efficiency.

In the end the queue marshall person shouted for Stansted passengers to come to the front about 5 minutes before the gate was due to close. I'd been in the queue well over an hour at this point and it was now double the length of the already long queue I had joined. They also went to an earthshattering 2 booths open!

What a difference compared to Palma de Mallorca (PMI) last month which was efficient on both arrival and departure with machines in use and processing times akin to a speedy UK arrival (<5 mins).

 

[Class73Electro]

Yes, I went through Bergamo on Monday this week, and it was an interesting experience. The EES machines were all out of use. When I landed, there were passengers from two non-Schengen arrivals ahead of mine. There were plenty of border staff placing arriving passengers into separate holding areas for each arriving flight. British passport holders on my flight from Birmingham were ushered to the e-gates, which worked well, then our passports were stamped at a booth beyond those e-gates. In total, it took me about 30min to get through. What was odd was that passengers from a Manchester flight ahead of us were not directed to the e-gates, and had to queue to be stamped by a separate set of booths, which looked to be a much slower process. I ended up getting through before most of them. No idea why they did that!

Thanks! So hopefully get the e-gates then for a quick exit!

 

[Howardh]

Returning from Ibiza, the EES control is just before the gate, passports used to be before security. As you board you scan at the gate, then show your ticket to the airline. If there's an issue, there is a manned passport desk just to the left where pax will be diverted to.

If the passport desk was unmanned for any reason, there would be issues. Quite a few were directed to the passport desk.

 

[Hadders]

Arriving at Bordeaux airport on Saturday 16th, no EES terminals, straight to the manned booth. They seemed to be having some technical issues - lots of huffing and puffing, typing on keyboards, moving to another booth etc. Got through after a few minutes, no finger prints but a phot was taken on the little camera at the booth. No passport stamp.

Departing Bordeaux airport on Tuesday 19th we were directed to the e-gates. 'UK can use the last two e-gates in the bank', so we did and were through in seconds.

 

[Howardh]

Arriving at Bordeaux airport on Saturday 16th, no EES terminals, straight to the manned booth. They seemed to be having some technical issues - lots of huffing and puffing, typing on keyboards, moving to another booth etc. Got through after a few minutes, no finger prints but a phot was taken on the little camera at the booth. No passport stamp.

Departing Bordeaux airport on Tuesday 19th we were directed to the e-gates. 'UK can use the last two e-gates in the bank', so we did and were through in seconds.

Mentioning fingerprinting, the EES kiosks took fingerprints, but they aren't taken at the e-gates inbound or outbound. So not really sure the value of fingerprinting when entering Schengen; although it might help catch criminals if they commit a crime I suppose.

 

[Mag_seven]

Porto (OPO) airport a disaster this evening (departing) queued for over an hour as there was 1 booth open for all non-EU passport holders on Schengen flights.

I assume you mean on "non Schengen flights"?

 

[CC 72100]

I assume you mean on "non Schengen flights"?

I do indeed - corrected!

 

[The exile]

Mentioning fingerprinting, the EES kiosks took fingerprints, but they aren't taken at the e-gates inbound or outbound. So not really sure the value of fingerprinting when entering Schengen; although it might help catch criminals if they commit a crime I suppose.

I suppose they are there as a second means of ID verification if facial recognition is unsure. “Please step this way, Sir /Madam…” before being led to a reader.

 

[Howardh]

I suppose they are there as a second means of ID verification if facial recognition is unsure. “Please step this way, Sir /Madam…” before being led to a reader.

Yes, good point. Was noticeable it wouldn't accept me unless I took my specs off - which then made it difficult for me to read the instructions eg. I move closer to the screen to read them - and it asked me to "step back"! I'm around -4.5 to -5 but anyone with worse vision may well struggle without contact lens in.

I suppose it is possible for your face structure to change, maybe after an accident or surgery, so the reader doesn't recognise you and fingerprints get round that. How does it cope with a freshly-grown (or shaved) beard, or someone growing a fringe?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Walked past St Pancras Eurostar today at 1300 on the Friday before a bank holiday: no-one in the queue zigzag barriers, a few people visible beyond the ticket barriers before security etc. Also, the registration booths near Thameslink were all lit up green, but not in use (shutters down on the rooms).

 

[BAFRA77]

Hi all - quick question.
Due to be flying back from Oslo into Heathrow T2 on the first Monday of August (landing around 16:25) - how long on average (after the introduction of the new system) would you give between landing and getting through security and bagagge and then down to the Elizabeth Line station to grab the service to Hayes?

 

[matt]

Hi all - quick question.
Due to be flying back from Oslo into Heathrow T2 on the first Monday of August (landing around 16:25) - how long on average (after the introduction of the new system) would you give between landing and getting through security and bagagge and then down to the Elizabeth Line station to grab the service to Hayes?

If you are entering the UK then assuming you're a UK citizen then nothing has changed the Heathrow end.

 

[BAFRA77]

If you are entering the UK then assuming you're a UK citizen then nothing has changed the Heathrow end.

Grand - so it'll be the usual queue up and go through the e-gates?
If so - would you know how long that might take at that time of day (around 5pm ish on the Monday)

 

[Mojo]

Grand - so it'll be the usual queue up and go through the e-gates?
If so - would you know how long that might take at that time of day (around 5pm ish on the Monday)

It’s very rare there is ever a queue of more than 2 or 3 people for the e-gates at Heathrow, even arriving at peak times. You’d have to be pretty unlucky to be waiting even 5 minutes.

 

[zero]

Mentioning fingerprinting, the EES kiosks took fingerprints, but they aren't taken at the e-gates inbound or outbound. So not really sure the value of fingerprinting when entering Schengen; although it might help catch criminals if they commit a crime I suppose.

If it is decided that your fingerprints need to be checked again, they can force you to go to a kiosk or a staffed booth.

 

[WelshBluebird]

I flew to and from Barcelona this week and it was fine. Not great - the system is defo slower and more clunky than it should be. But it was still fine. Took about 15 mins in total arriving, including me faffing about with the machine as it didn't like my glasses. And less than minutes leaving.

Had more of an issue with the egates at Bristol arriving back as there were several flights arriving at once and with with the current "improvement" works, Bristol really isn't set up dor that.

 

[jthjth]

I’m struggling to understand why EES has all this biometric registration. A biometric passports has, um, biometrics stored within it. Granted UK passports don’t contain fingerprints, but they do contain facial recognition data. Surely a biometic passport is all that is needed to record entry and exits. I can see that replacing your passport might be a way of circumventing the recording of the 90/180 say rule, but vanishingly few people are going to do that regularly. Is it that biometric passports are not trusted?

 

[Usual-Commuter]

Flying into Palermo last week was a 2hr+ wait. e-gates only for EU passport holders.

Issue seemed to be the time taken to actually register each person doing photos / fingerprints.

I don’t understand how the registration works. Having been in the EU in the last couple of months it seems to still have to register on each entry?