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Gearing up for a trip to Europe this summer? Experts say to be prepared for potential disruptions as countries iron out wrinkles of the European Union’s so-called Entry/Exit System, a new border management process that requires travelers to submit biometric data when they arrive in certain locations.
“The goal is for people to be able to move through immigration without needing to stop and have their passport stamped,” Julian Kheel, CEO and founder of Points Path, a flight awards search engine, told CBS News. “Once the bugs are shaken out, I do think we’ll end up with a faster process, but it could be a while before we get there.”
Here’s what to expect if you’re traveling to Europe soon.
What is the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System?
The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which became fully operational in April, replaces passport stamps and aims to speed up border processing for travelers. The system requires Americans and other non-EU nationals to provide biometric data, including fingerprints and a facial scan, as well as passport details, upon arrival in certain countries overseas.
That information is used to verify travelers’ identity and track their entry and exit at border checkpoints — for example, when they leave the country to return to the U.S. or cross into other participating countries — as part of an effort to increase security. Visitors may provide that data using self-service kiosks before seeing a border control agent, while in some cases the agent will enter their information.
Twenty-nine countries use the Entry/Exit System, mostly in the EU, except for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. All participating nations are part of the Schengen Area, a group of countries that allows people in the zone to travel across borders freely without undergoing customs checks (Cyprus and Ireland are the only EU members that are not part of the Schengen Area).
“The new system does not change your entry requirements as far as visas or how long you can stay in the Schengen Area. None of those rules has changed,” Kheel explained. “This is simply recording your entry and exit in and out of the area.”
Will I have to wait in line?
The short answer is it depends. EU-LISA, the European Union agency responsible for managing the Entry/Exit software, said in an email to CBS News that the time required to initially register with the system “may vary depending on the traveler’s individual circumstances and the procedures applied at the relevant border crossing point.”
Your wait time will also likely hinge on how busy an individual airport is, Kheel said.
“It really varies depending on the demand at any given time,” he said, adding that some travelers have gotten through easily while others have encountered more significant delays.
“When it does come to longer lines, it is typically the larger cities and airports, places like Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, Schiphol in Amsterdam, essentially the major hubs where a lot of passengers are all coming in at the same time,” he said.
Agata Lyznik, a spokesperson for the Airports Council International, a global trade association for the airport industry, said a survey the group conducted at 45 airports in 20 EU states showed that lines for travelers waiting to enter their information in the system are up to 3.5 hours at peak travel times.
Those lines are “specifically due to the EES procedure,” Lyznik said in an email, adding, “We did not see such waiting times last summer, when the system wasn’t in place.”
CBS News reached out to several major airports in Europe to ask about how the Entry/Exit System is impacting wait times. A spokesperson from the Spanish Ministry of Interior said the system has yielded positive results and that no significant incidents have occurred at Spanish airports since it was implemented on April 10.
What are the issues contributing to delays?
Experts say most of the bottlenecks stem from issues with self-service kiosks at certain airports, where people can upload their biometric and passport information for the Entry/Exit System before passing through border patrol.
“An agent still needs to confirm a passenger arriving and departing by matching the biometrics to the stored ones each time you enter and leave the country, but that’s a quicker process,” Kheel said. “It’s this first-time registration that everyone is having to do at the same time, plus technical issues, that are causing the bulk of delays.”
Kheel, who recently used a kiosk to register for the Entry/Exit System while traveling, said the machines “have not been shown to be particularly quick or efficient.”
“I had to make several attempts for the machine to properly record my fingerprints, and it certainly took longer than the one minute estimated by the authorities,” he added.
Lyznik from the Airports Council said the kiosks aren’t online at certain airports due to technical issues integrating the Entry/Exit System into the machines’ hardware. But even in places where the equipment is in use, other issues are cropping up.
“They are frequently out of order due to excess dust and grease from taking fingerprints,” Lyznik said. “The kiosks need to be routinely cleaned between the passage of passengers, which right now is seldom the case.”
Depending on the airport, some travelers will register their biometric data directly with a border patrol agent, meaning they won’t need to interact with the self-service kiosk, as outlined on the European Union’s website.
How can I prepare if I’m traveling to affected countries?
Although it’s hard to anticipate how long lines will be at any given airport, Katy Nastro, a travel expert at the flight deals website Going.com, advised travelers to err on the side of caution and get there early.
Planning ahead is especially important for people with flight connections who are continuing on in the Schengen Area, as they may be required to register their EES information during their layover, Kheel said.
“If you’re going to be required to go through immigration on a connection point before continuing onward, you may want to book your flight to leave extra time,” he said.
Some travelers can pre-register their Entry/Exit System information in advance using an app called “Travel to Europe.” However, it’s only available to people entering Sweden and Portugal, so most travelers to Europe can’t use it.
