For those traveling to Schengen EU this summer, I would advise against short transfer times for connecting flights or trains the day you land.

The new biometric screening has been a disaster. Several airports have postponed the rollout due to extremely excessive wait times. It's expected to be fully rolled out by mid April.

Highlights of what I've heard:
- Lisbon Airport reportedly saw waits up to seven hours and temporarily suspended the system;
- Geneva Airport has allegedly shut it down multiple times due to congestion;
-Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is said to be funneling U.S. and U.K. travelers into manual passport control because e-gates aren't fully configured;
- Leonardo da VinciFiumicino Airport and Milan Malpensa Airport are reporting excessive delays (over 3 hours at certain points).


I've had a hard time finding an up to date article on it, but one of my friends missed her 3hr connection in Rome last week.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/05/travel-industry-fears-summer-disruption-biometric-checks-controls-ees-european-borders?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Bumping back up to the top here, has anyone traveled recently to gauge the implementation and challenge hopping between countries?

I've had a couple clients go recently.

1: Landed in AMS and it took 30 mins. They were sorted into two lines and the other line was longer and moving much slower.

2: Landed in AMS and it took 90 mins.

Sitting closer to the front of the plane or paying for Airport fast track seem to be the only things people can do to minimize it.

It's only upon arrival into the Schengen areas so you shouldn't have problems if you're flying around in Europe.

We flew out of Munich a week ago. Took almost an hour both into and out of the country to get through immigration.

Also flew into Munich, on 24 April. Took us about 30 minutes to get through with the new system.

Flew out of Milan back to U.S. without any issue at all.

Landed in Barcelona 4/8. Took a bit over 2 hours to get through customs. It was chaotic.

When we finally got to the new EES stations, it worked fine for my wife, not for me. She went fairly quickly through the last metered checkpoint, and waited on the other side ~ 30 minutes - for me to process through.

While this was going on the lines behind us continued to grow.

Hoping it's gotten better since then, but doesn't sound like it if Italy is putting a pause on the system.

We head back home, from Milan, 6/17. I'm assuming the flight out should be much smoother.

Y'all just make sure customs back in the states are working properly for us.

For anyone interested, this is who I book with, you can see pricing and their services online.

https://fastrackvip.com/

RC_57 said:

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Landed in Barcelona 4/8. Took a bit over 2 hours to get through customs. It was chaotic.

When we finally got to the new EES stations, it worked fine for my wife, not for me. She went fairly quickly through the last metered checkpoint, and waited on the other side ~ 30 minutes - for me to process through.

While this was going on the lines behind us continued to grow.

Hoping it's gotten better since then, but doesn't sound like it if Italy is putting a pause on the system.

We head back home, from Milan, 6/17. I'm assuming the flight out should be much smoother.

Y'all just make sure customs back in the states are working properly for us.

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Yeah, good luck with that. Because, apparently, customs never looks at flight schedules. Last time I flew back from Frankfurt, 3 widebodies landed about 15 minutes apart.

Customs had two lines open for about 600 people.

I went through EES at Milan Malpensa (MXP) Thursday morning and it was a breeze. Forty minutes from the time we pulled up to the gate and the time I arrived at the train platform for the ride into the city, after retrieving a checked bag. I did catch a couple of breaks in that I was premium economy and, when I got to the scanner line, they broke us in half right at my place in the line, so I jumped in front of about 20 people, but no glitches whatsoever in getting the passport, facial recognition photo, and fingerprints done. I think they have worked out some of the bugs.

From what y'all have seen on these lines, is there any benefit in being business class on your flights in or out?

kithas said:

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From what y'all have seen on these lines, is there any benefit in being business class on your flights in or out?

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Can't say, as I was right behind business and probably got to go in front of several of them from my flight. I do believe they had connecting passengers go to a separate area, so if that is your concern, connecting passengers may be getting special treatment, at least at MXP.

Received this from one of my partners in Europe this morning



Key updates by destination:

Italy (Milan & Rome)
Some of the longest delays currently reported in Europe
VIP Meet & Greet services are strongly recommended
Premium VIP service at Milan Malpensa & Rome Fiumicino can access dedicated priority lanes
Milan Linate currently experiencing additional delays due to remote gate arrivals and shuttle transfers

Real traveler feedback:
A recent arrival into Milan saw ~2 hour border control waits, while VIP assistance allowed travelers to bypass the congestion entirely.

Paris
Technical issues with new biometric kiosks are creating significant queues
VIP greeter services are now considered essential during peak times

London
UK is exempt from EES
Travelers connecting onward into Europe will complete EES formalities at their final EU destination
Reminder: clients still need to apply for a UK ETA before travel

Eurostar (LondonParis)
EES systems not fully live yet
Eurostar Premier/Business Class recommended for access to dedicated lanes and kiosks
Arrive at least 90 minutes early

Amsterdam
Delays vary based on incoming non-EU flight volume
VIP greeter services have helped travelers avoid major issues

Madrid & Barcelona
High fingerprint scanner failure rates causing extended waits
Greeters can help escalate failed scans to manual processing faster

Dublin
Ireland is exempt from EES
Travelers connecting onward to mainland Europe will process EES at their destination

Bottom line:
No service can completely eliminate EES processing, but VIP greeter assistance is currently the best way to minimize the 23 hour delays being reported across many European airports.

Went through in Zagreb a few days ago. We were toward the front of the plane and had no wait for the kiosk, and only a few minutes waiting for manual processing. Of the 4 of us, mine was the only one that said successfully processed on the kiosk, but even then it said go to manual processing where they asked questions and took finger prints again.

Zagreb is a smaller airport, but given that even when the kiosk worked, it apparently didn't, I could see how there would be big delays at larger airports.

Just got back from trip to Spain and Portugal yesterday. Entered and exited EU through Madrid airport. EES process at Madrid was very quick. We had 4 travelers in our party. The electronic registration system worked as expected for 2 and failed for 2. The 2 travelers that failed were immediately routed to manual passport inspection and actually passed through quicker by a couple of minutes than the 2 travelers that successfully completed the electronic registration process.

EES exit process at Madrid worked smoothly and added very little time to process to reach departure gate in airport. We encountered EES exit machines as we changed location between Terminal 4 and Terminal 4S using the underground train to reach our international departure gate.

Any discussion or reports on Frankfurt? We are flying in on the morning of June 25th. Will be in Premium Plus, so somewhat near the front of the plane.

Don't know anything about the VIP greeter stuff.

I'm curious about FRA too. Have a return flight from Venice on Labor Day weekend that connects there. Choices were a 2 hour or a 5 hour layover, so I opted for 2. Now I'm reading that was a bad choice. I've transited FRA before and never had issues, but it's been a while.

RVAg02 said:

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Any discussion or reports on Frankfurt? We are flying in on the morning of June 25th. Will be in Premium Plus, so somewhat near the front of the plane.

Don't know anything about the VIP greeter stuff.

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From what I've seen it varies by terminal. They put a bunch of kiosks in Terminal 1 so it looks like that terminal moves a little faster but I've seen reports of people missing 90 - 120 minute connections.

The biggest determining factor seems to be concurrent wide body landings (peaking between 5am - 8am and again from 1pm - 4pm). Obviously further up in the plane the better but beating a couple hundred people may not make as big of an impact if there are thousands of others landing at the same time.

As with anything new there are issues with the system not reading biometrics so people wait in line for a kiosk only to be told the machine didn't work and they need to go to the manual line.

Are you connecting or is that your final destination?

Hybrid. Connecting to a train to Strasbourg.

Does VIP stuff help at FRA?

I'm connecting in FRA from Venice, but my flight leaves Venice at 630 am. I know I'll have to do a terminal change because I'm on a wide body from FRA to IAH.

Looks like we arrive at 11:15am, so we got that going for us.

I'm pretty sure they'll treat that as an arrival service since you have to exit the terminals to get to the train.

There are a number of Airport VIP Services at Frankfurt. However, I'm having a hard time getting confirmation for specific ones helping with EES.

So explain the VIP service? Flying into Frankfurt mid July.

This is what their website says for arrival services



Arrival Meet & Assist Services
Our experienced team will check and monitor your flights before your arrival and will co-ordinate with your driver to ensure a seamless service.

Your greeter will personally welcome you at the gate as you disembark the aircraft with a personalised name signboard.

Once you arrive, we will assist and expedite you as quickly as possible through all immigration and security formalities, and onwards to baggage reclaim using priority lanes where available and permitted.

Assistance is provided with the collection of baggage before we escort you to your ground transportation getting you quickly on your way.



In some countries the attendees will take you through the local line and not make you wait with all the foreigners but every airport is different in how they handle the flow.