Those of us hoping for a resolution to the long waits at Europe's airports may be in for a, well, long wait.
Implementation of the European Union's new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) has resulted in extended delays greeting arriving passengers at many of the continent's airports.
That's because non-EU citizens, including Americans, now have to supply biometric data, including fingerprints and face scans, at automated kiosks rather than getting passports stamped.
After beginning a gradual rollout last fall, the system became fully operational across 29 European countries in April. Whereupon things quickly descended into chaos, with hourslong lines, missed connecting flights, technical malfunctions, and all-around confusion reported at airports in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and elsewhere.
Now an EU official says travelers can expect to endure the disruptions and delays caused by EES for up to 2 more years.
Speaking at a travel industry summit in the UK, Uku Sarekanno, the deputy executive director of Frontex, the EU’s border security agency, said he estimates it could take that long for EES to "stabilize," reports The Times of London. The more optimistic outcome would be for the madness to clear up in a year.
Sarekanno acknowledged that some nations are still "struggling" with the new system, and that what's really slowing things down is that during this initial enrollment period, all incoming non-European visitors are having to register their faces and fingerprints for the first time.
Supposedly, you'll only have to do that part once every 3 years so that border crossings can ultimately be speedier. But as The Times points out, "during what has been a bumpy implementation period, many border points are collecting all the biometric information each time."
And we haven't even reached the peak of the busy summer travel season.
Last week, an official with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline trade group, warned that EES waits of "three, four, five, six hours" are possible during the most hectic weeks of summer.
Six hours!
Granted, the EU has given leeway to member states to relax EES requirements this summer if airport lines get out of control.
But so far, few countries have chosen to go that route. And in any case, Sarekanno of Frontex says that option for "temporary relief" will come to an end in September, with no plans for an extension.
U.S. travelers considering a visit to Europe at any time during the next 2 years might want to take a look at our tips for minimizing EES misery.
For starters, anybody hoping to catch a connecting flight from one European country to another will want to make arrangements for a very long layover.