EU Border Queues Due to EES May Be Prolonged: What Travelers Need to Know This Summer

The European Entry/Exit System (EES) has become one of the main risks of the summer tourist season: after the launch of biometric checks, passengers from non-EU countries face longer passport control, and a Frontex representative warned that full stabilization of procedures could take one to two years. For tourists, this means a simple but important change in planning: more time should be allocated for trips to the Schengen area, connections should be chosen more carefully, and airport and carrier instructions should be checked before departure.

The Entry/Exit System, or EES, replaces the manual stamping of passports with a digital record of crossing the external border of the Schengen area. According to the European Commission's description, it registers third-country nationals arriving for short-term stays and records the name, travel document data, date and place of entry or exit, as well as biometric data: fingerprints and facial images. The logic of the system is clear: to automatically detect overstays, enhance security, and gradually expand the use of automated border control.

The problem is that a technically sound idea encountered the very practical reality of airports during the peak season. The first entry in the system takes more time than a standard passport check. Add to this the uneven readiness of different countries, varying procedures at individual checkpoints, queues at kiosks, staff shortages, and summer demand for flights—and for the passenger, border digitalization turns from an abstract reform into a risk of missing a transfer, bus, cruise, or connecting flight.

What Exactly Has Changed at the Border

EES applies to short-term trips to countries using the system: tourist trips, business trips, visits to relatives, or other trips within the 90-day rule over 180 days. For EU and Schengen area citizens, this is not a standard procedure, but for most travelers from third countries, including Britons, Americans, and many other visa-free tourists, the new control stage has become part of crossing the external border.

During the first entry, a passenger may be asked to create a digital record: provide fingerprints, take a facial photo, and answer standard questions about the trip. Subsequently, the digital record should simplify repeated border crossings, but the first stage remains the most sensitive to queues. This was highlighted by the Deputy Executive Director of Frontex, Uku Särekanno, during an ABTA event in London, where he explained that the most difficult part of the launch is the primary registration of biometrics.

According to reports from Euronews and The Guardian, Särekanno estimated that the situation could stabilize within one to two years. This does not mean that all European airports will have crisis queues daily until 2028. However, it means that the problem does not look like a short technical delay of a few weeks. For the tourism market, this is an important signal: EES must be considered a new operational factor, similar to security rules, visa requirements, or seasonal hub congestion.

Why the Warning Was Issued Now

The new information is important due to the combination of two things: the approach of the peak summer holiday season and the admission that the procedure remains uneven. Tourists are already planning trips to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, and other popular destinations. It is there that additional minutes per passenger quickly multiply by hundreds or thousands of people during peak arrival hours.

Aviation organizations warned of the risks even before summer. IATA, together with ACI Europe and Airlines for Europe, stated that without sufficient flexibility, waiting times at airport border control could reach several hours, citing staff shortages, technical problems with automation, and limited use of pre-registration tools as key reasons. Airlines for Europe also reported cases where passengers missed flights due to prolonged border control.

ABTA, in its travel advice for Europe, explicitly states: from April 2026, travelers should expect EES to be operational in participating countries, including biometric registration, and implementation may vary by country and specific checkpoint. The main practical advice is stated without dramatization but very clearly: passport control may take more time, so it is advisable to arrive at the border with a buffer.

Who Is Most Affected

Passengers whose itinerary has little time between travel stages are at the highest risk. These are travelers with short layovers between an international flight and a domestic European segment, tourists with separate tickets, passengers who immediately take a train or bus after landing, as well as those arriving late in the evening with limited ground transport options. If 45-60 minutes after landing previously seemed like a sufficient buffer for a transfer, such a calculation may now be too optimistic.

Particular caution is advised at popular resort and large city destinations where seasonal demand, charter programs, low-cost flights, and flights from non-Schengen countries converge. In materials about EES, Spain, Portugal, and France were mentioned as destinations with queues. For passengers flying through Lisbon Airport (LIS), Alicante Airport (ALC), Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI), Paris - Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Rome-Fiumicino (FCO), or Athens Airport (ATH), this is not a reason to cancel the trip, but a reason to choose a more realistic schedule.

A separate risk group includes families with children, elderly travelers, and passengers who find it more difficult to quickly use self-service kiosks. The biometric procedure may be simple, but it still requires attention: placing the passport correctly, looking into the camera, following instructions, and providing fingerprints if necessary. When there are many such passengers, even small delays at each kiosk noticeably change the overall flow speed.

What This Means for Ukrainian Travelers

For Ukrainians using the short-term visa-free regime to the Schengen area, the key principle is the same: EES is not a visa and does not replace current stay rules, but adds digital recording of border crossings. The system is designed to more accurately count days of stay and automatically detect overstays. Therefore, it is important not only to arrive at the airport with a buffer but also to carefully track your own entry and exit dates, especially if there were several short trips to different Schengen countries during the year.

If the itinerary is complex, it is better to avoid connections on the edge of possibility. Separate tickets, independent transfers between terminals, baggage collection, and re-checking in always carried a risk, but with EES, this risk becomes higher at the external border. For the first entry after the system launch, additional time should be allocated not as a precaution, but as part of normal planning.

It is also worth checking online boards and flight statuses before leaving for the airport. For popular hubs, online board pages can be useful, for example for Paris CDG, Rome FCO, Lisbon LIS, or Palma de Mallorca PMI. This will not eliminate the border queue, but it will help to quickly understand if there is a flight delay, a gate change, or another factor affecting the subsequent itinerary.

How to Plan a Trip Considering EES

The best strategy for a tourist is not to panic, but to remove unnecessary fragility from the itinerary. If you are flying into the Schengen area from a non-Schengen country, do not plan an important connection, excursion, train ticket, or rented transfer immediately after the estimated landing time. On peak days, it is better to have a buffer of several hours, especially in airports with a high volume of international arrivals.

• Check airline, airport, and border service instructions before departure.
• Allocate more time for passport control during the first entry after the EES launch.
• Avoid overly short independent connections if tickets were purchased separately.
• Keep documents and bookings handy to quickly answer standard questions about the trip.
• For late arrivals, check airport transport or nearby overnight options in advance.

The last point is often underestimated. If the plane arrives in the evening and passport control is prolonged, the last train or bus to the resort may leave without you. In such cases, it is more practical to look at options near the airport in advance, such as hotels near Lisbon Airport, hotels near Paris CDG, or hotels near Rome-Fiumicino. For family trips and short city breaks, this can be cheaper and more peaceful than improvising after midnight.

Why This Is Important for Airlines and the Tourism Market

For airlines, EES is not just a matter of passenger comfort. If people are mass-stuck at border control, flights may depart with delays or without some passengers, and connecting routes become less reliable. For airports, this is a blow to throughput capacity: the border zone is not always designed for long passenger crowds, especially in resort airports where the seasonal peak is short and very intense.

For tour operators and hotels, the problem is also felt. A delay at the border can shift the time of a group transfer, late check-in, the start of a cruise, or the first day of a tour. If tourists begin to perceive certain destinations as risky from a logistics perspective, this affects bookings no less than airfare prices. This is why industry organizations insist on flexibility: they do not want a reversal of digital borders, but a mechanism that prevents the passenger flow from being paralyzed on the most stressful days.

At the same time, it is important not to exaggerate. EES does not close Europe to tourists and does not mean that every flight will end in a multi-hour queue. Many travelers will pass control without dramatic delays, especially after the first registration or during less busy hours. But for quality travel planning, the average scenario is not enough; an understanding of the risk is necessary. If the system can operate unevenly, the itinerary must have a buffer of strength.

Conclusion

The Frontex warning about the possible stabilization of EES within one to two years makes this topic one of the most important for summer travel to Europe. The new digital border does not cancel tourism, but changes the small logistics, on which the entire vacation often depends: arrival time at the airport, connection length, transfer booking, hotel choice for the first night, and the buffer between a flight and the next stage of the itinerary.

The best advice for travelers is simple: check current instructions, do not plan the trip "tightly," and treat the first EES passage as a procedure that may take more time than the usual passport control. For the tourism market, this is a test of operational readiness, and for passengers, a reminder that in the summer of 2026, a successful trip to Europe begins not with a suitcase, but with a well-planned buffer of time.