British tourists heading to the Canary Islands are being advised to reach the airport three hours in advance, mainly due to serious border control hold-ups caused by the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES). The rollout of the new biometric border infrastructure has sparked enormous queues, occasionally stretching to three hours, at popular holiday airports such as Gran Canaria Airport and Tenerife South.
Under the EU's digital border scheme, non-EU travellers, including British passport holders, must complete facial recognition scans and fingerprinting at border control. Technical glitches and the considerable time needed to process each passenger have severely clogged passport control lanes. The Canary Islands accommodate vast numbers of UK passengers, and when several flights depart for non-Schengen destinations simultaneously, the local infrastructure becomes rapidly overwhelmed.
Spanish airport operator Aena officially requires a three-hour arrival window as standard procedure for all non-Schengen flights, which covers all flights returning to the UK. Airlines such as Wizz Air have firmly reinforced the three-hour recommendation. However, passengers should be mindful that many baggage drop and check-in desks at Canary Island airports do not open until precisely two hours before departure. Airlines continue to recommend arriving early to ensure you are at the head of the queue the moment check-in desks open.
Travel expert David Gainford, known as Mr TravelON on TikTok, shared his thoughts on the three-hour warning in a recent video. He stressed that passengers travelling with luggage may be unable to check in three hours before departure as the desk may not yet be open, but suggested that many airlines are looking to address this by opening earlier. He also pointed out that those who have booked a package holiday with TUI or Jet2 can count on these companies to ensure they reach the airport on time, saying: 'It's their responsibility to get you from your hotel and accommodation to the airport on time. So sit back, chill out, relax, and let your rep tell you what time you're getting picked up.'
Gainford noted that independent travellers not using a tour operator should 'probably get to the airport three hours early'. He also warned that massive queues at airports could be likely, as travellers have given conflicting accounts: 'Some are reporting two or two-and-a-half hour's wait, it really does depend on how many flights land at that time.'
The video has garnered over 180 likes as Canary Island holidaymakers hunt for information. Numerous viewers shared their own experiences, with one stating they got to Lanzarote airport three hours early and had to wait an hour for the gate to open. Another remarked that leaving to fly back to the UK was awful, with only three machines available. However, one commenter reported a smooth experience: 'We landed in Lanzarote last night and we were lucky, 10 minutes from getting off the plane to arriving at the bus stop. EES was ok, no queue and the luggage was waiting for us as we came through.'
