Simon Calder reveals 5 'worst' destinations for EU border chaos this summer. There have been queues for hours, with some holidaymakers even missing flights.
Many Brits are heading to Europe in the coming months for their summer holidays. However, there are major changes to entering European countries this year.
The new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) was fully implemented on Friday, 10 April, causing significant travel disruptions. Holidaymakers have faced long queues lasting hours as they try to pass through the digital border system.
Some have even missed their flights, leaving their holidays in tatters. The EES has replaced manual passport stamping and requires all Brits travelling to the Schengen area to create a digital record and register their biometric details, including fingerprints and a photograph.
As delays continue at European airports, there are mounting worries about how it will affect travel during the summer holidays, one of the busiest periods to fly.
Travel expert Simon Calder says there has been a litany of people stuck in queues at Dover for hours or even missing their flights home due to delays.
He described the system as a Euro shambles before being pressed on where in Europe is the worst impacted by the new process. Simon named Milan Malpensa, Lisbon, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Copenhagen as the airports with the worst delays.
Simon said on The Travel Expert podcast: From what I have experienced, and certainly one of them is Milan Malpensa. The fingerprint stuff took an hour, and I was the first one off the EasyJet plane from Gatwick. Then, I went through the other terminal to check out and it took 45 minutes that time but they wanted those fingerprints again, which is absolutely not in the rules.
He added: I have heard terrible stories from Lisbon, other places frequently mentioned, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. Both of them are huge hubs where you have got a lot of people flying from various regional airports across the UK into Paris and Frankfurt to connect. That's okay if you are going intercontinental but if you are trying to connect to somewhere in Europe it is awful.
Simon explained he had a friend travel to Frankfurt last weekend, who experienced 90-minute queues. A friend was there last weekend and it took 90 mins, connection could be toast. Simon went on to name Copenhagen as also experiencing bad delays.
Co-host Greg Dickinson said: This was a rare instance where the Foreign Office said you may encounter long queues in or out of the airport.
Despite the issues, Simon was optimistic about the future of travel this summer. When asked if he thinks there will be more delays this summer, he said: I would hope we might see a bit less.
Worst European airports for EES delays
- Milan Malpensa
- Lisbon Airport (Humberto Delgado Airport)
- Paris Charles de Gaulle
- Frankfurt Airport
- Copenhagen Airport
