Britons travelling residence by way of EU airports ‘should allow three hours’ earlier than flights | Travel

British passengers returning residence by way of European airports ought to arrive three hours earlier than their flights are attributable to depart, an airline boss has suggested, amid issues about new safety procedures inflicting giant queues.

The EU entry-exit system (EES), which replaces passport stamps with a digital registration, has been step by step been launched in Europe since October 2025 and have become absolutely operational final month. Some passengers have confronted large delays at border checks, airports have mentioned.

As a part of the system, biometric checks are completed on entry and exit for non-EU residents. On Saturday, Wizz Air boss Yvonne Moynihan mentioned: “Because there is another passport check … that’s where we see that people have, again, experienced longer waiting times than anticipated.”

She instructed the BBC that, whereas regular recommendation can be to get to the airport two hours earlier than a flight, “in these circumstances, we are advising three hours”.

Moynihan instructed the broadcaster the affect of the brand new checks was “fragmented across Europe”. While there was “seamless travel” in some circumstances, there have been lengthy queues at “usual hotspots such as Spain, Portugal, France”.

On her personal journey to Mallorca for half-term, there have been no queues, additional workers had been out there, and there have been a “significant amount of [EES] kiosks”.

But she mentioned that, usually, her airline was advising passengers to anticipate lengthy waits, telling the BBC: “When you land in the destination airport, there might be queues, so you should bring a portable charger or water.”

Moynihan additionally steered permitting a number of hours between connecting flights.

The European airports affiliation, ACI Europe, has mentioned the “situation is deteriorating”, telling Travel Weekly earlier this week: “The queues are up to 3.5 hours at peak traffic times, according to a survey we conducted among 45 airports in 20 EU states on 26 May. Airports which previously did not report excessive waiting times are now doing so despite the extensive use of partial suspension of EES.”

Last week, French police briefly suspended the checks on the port of Dover as 1000’s of holidaymakers confronted lengthy delays within the scorching climate. A spokesperson for the port described the state of affairs as “challenging”, including: “We are pleased that Police Aux Frontières (PAF) have responded positively by invoking the article 9 clause of the EES regulations.” This permits for checks to be briefly relaxed.

The European Commission instructed the BBC that EES was not the one factor that might trigger delays, and registering data normally solely took a few minute.