New safety system causes main delays at Europe’s airports amid peak journey season

DON GONYEA, HOST:

Wait instances at European airports are, let’s say, up within the air. The European Union has carried out new facial recognition and fingerprinting methods at border crossings and in airports throughout the Schengen zone. That’s the world of Europe the place vacationers can freely transfer with out being rechecked at borders. It’s known as the entry exit system, EES for brief. It’s meant to maintain higher monitor of who is available in and who goes out. But the system has precipitated large delays throughout Europe’s peak summer season journey season, and airports and airways have pleaded with the EU to quickly droop it. Gunnar Olson has been protecting this story for the web site Thrifty Traveler. Welcome, Gunnar.

GUNNAR OLSON: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

GONYEA: I perceive you have used this new biometric system. So stroll us via precisely what the expertise is like.

OLSON: Well, my expertise might be going to infuriate anyone who sat in one in every of these lengthy traces as a result of I cleared EES with no line in about two minutes on the Rome airport in May, however I’ve a colleague who had absolutely the reverse expertise when he sat in a three-hour line in Copenhagen in June, after the kiosks all went down they usually needed to swap again to guide processing. So you can say that this expertise is a minimum of inconsistent for many vacationers proper now.

GONYEA: OK. And – however then what precisely did they do? Just sort of stroll us via what the method is.

OLSON: Yeah. The course of is you go as much as one in every of these kiosks once they’re working appropriately, and also you scan your passport. They take a facial scan and your fingerprints. And if these issues all work the way in which they’re presupposed to instantly, then you definitely’re off. Sometimes these passport scanners are taking a very long time. This occurred to us on the way in which out of Italy, and it occurred to my colleague as effectively just a few instances, the place it takes as much as 5 minutes of attempting again and again for these passport scanners to work. And you probably have a – you understand, a wide-body airplane filled with 200 individuals all attempting to get via at 5 minutes apiece, that is an extended line in and of itself. So that is what’s inflicting the backup.

GONYEA: European airways requested the EU to pause this system due to simply the sort of issues that you just’re describing. They didn’t get their manner once they made that request. Is this slowness then anticipated to be only a new norm at Europe’s airports?

OLSON: No. I feel what the European Union is hoping is that that is momentary, proper? It takes a bit additional time for these items to come back on-line, for everyone to share their biometric knowledge with the European Union. What IATA, the International Air Transport Association, wished to do was simply to punt this entire course of exterior of the height summer season journey months. The IATA says that persons are lacking connections. So that is essential for these airways to maintain their passengers joyful, to have them not ready hours-long line. So principally, what they wish to do is simply say, let’s do this one other time. Let’s try to ease the strain within the traces right here. And the European Union principally stated, Look, this is not good, however we will should undergo this in some unspecified time in the future. We may as effectively endure the ache proper now.

GONYEA: Is there something passengers can do to attempt to, you understand, anticipate and perhaps mitigate this?

OLSON: The solely factor passengers, I feel, can do proper now could be to rebook your journey via international locations the place they don’t seem to be collaborating in EES so that you’re prone to not take care of the traces there, and you will have to attach on to Europe later within the day, however you may doubtless land at an off-peak time. It’ll provide you with a a lot better probability at a shorter line while you do arrive within the Schengen space and should undergo EES. But apart from that, there’s not an entire lot you are able to do. I might simply suggest packing your endurance and being prepared for an extended line, if there may be one.

GONYEA: OK. That’s Gunnar Olson, reporter on the web site Thrifty Traveler. Thank you.

OLSON: Of course. Thank you.

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