Airport lines in the US may be back to normal — but you could be in for an hourslong wait if you’re flying to Europe.
The European Union last Friday rolled out a new electronic border system at all crossing points in the Schengen Area — the common travel region comprising 29 countries across continental Europe.
Instead of manually stamping passports, the Entry/Exit System (EES) requires travelers who are not EU citizens to register their details and biometric data, including a photo and fingerprints.
Non-EU citizens without a visa can only stay in the Schengen Area for 90 days in a 180-day period, so entry and exit records need to be verified.
The EU said the new automated IT system would improve security and speed up border checks. However, the system is facing significant teething problems.
Since the system was implemented, travelers at airports across Europe have reported long waits, with some posting on social media that they have even missed flights due to lengthy lines.
@easyJet our flight from Milan Linate took off without us due to Border Control being FAR too busy and the automated system not working. We are now stuck in Milan, missing work, spending money that we don’t have and have to transfer from Gatwick to Manchester! pic.twitter.com/XfPshK5GZK
— Miss Benn (@Emily_Benn20) April 12, 2026
This week, a major airport group called for action to address growing lines across the continent.
Olivier Jankovec, director general of Airports Council International Europe, said data from airports in 15 countries showed waiting times at border control “have significantly increased.”
“Queues are now typically averaging 2 to 3 hours or even longer during peak traffic periods,” he added in the statement, shared with Business Insider on Thursday.
“This is creating extremely difficult and distressing conditions for passengers, while also causing major operational disruptions for both airports and airlines,” he said.
Jankovec also raised concerns about the situation getting worse as more people travel during the summer.
Rob Burgess, editor of the frequent flyer website headforpoints.com, told Business Insider, “The time taken per passenger to process has gone up sharply, but no airport that I’ve yet visited has added additional desks, or indeed is bothering to fully staff the ones it has.”
He also said the system didn’t always appear to work properly. When Burgess visited Hamburg, Germany, on Monday, he had to repeat the registration process because the biometric data he had provided two weeks earlier in Berlin wasn’t available.
“My wife is German and my kids have German passports so, luckily, I am covered for family holidays because I am able to use the EU line,” said Burgess, who’s from the UK.
“If there are just two of you traveling and one holds an EU passport, claiming that you are married — same sex or not — allows you to both use the EU line, as it is otherwise a breach of the EU citizens’ human rights,” he added.
A spokesperson for the European Commission told Business Insider that the system is working “very well” in most countries, with each registration taking an average of just over a minute.
They added that technical issues have been detected in a few countries, “as can be expected in the first days of full operation of any major new system.”
These are being addressed by individual countries, which are responsible for properly implementing the system, the spokesperson said.
Travel chaos across the globe
The long lines in Europe are the latest in a slew of problems for air travelers in the first few months of 2026.
Border issues in the EU come just weeks after a partial government shutdown led to huge waits at US airports in March. At some of the country’s biggest airports, such as Houston and Atlanta, lines stretched to as long as 4 hours to get through security.
As TSA agents went weeks without paychecks, more of them stopped turning up to work.
Global military operations have also led to travel chaos. When the US carried out strikes in Venezuela in January, almost 1,000 flights were canceled to and from the Caribbean. One traveler told Business Insider how that led to her 6-day honeymoon becoming a 14-day trip.
And the Iran war led to tens of thousands of canceled flights into and out of the Middle East. When the strikes began on February 28, at least 145 flights had to divert.
The conflict also closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for energy shipments, doubling jet fuel prices and leading to a rise in airfares around the world.
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