The EU's new biometric border system is leaving travellers stranded in queues for up to two hours at major airports, with wait times doubling since the Entry/Exit System launched four months ago. Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Munich are among the hubs reporting the biggest delays — and passengers are missing flights.
New data from the Financial Times and travel analytics group Qsensor shows that in Frankfurt, the average wait time reached 120 minutes last month, up from 60 minutes in July last year. At Munich airport, waits are up to 60 minutes from 31 last year. In Amsterdam, maximum waiting times have rocketed from 80 to 120 minutes in the same period. Peak periods can mean queues of up to two hours, while wait times are much shorter outside the busiest times.
A System Struggling to Cope
Since the system was fully launched on 10 April, every traveller from outside the EU has been required to scan their passport and do a facial scan, as well as registering their fingerprints on the first occasion. In practice, passengers have had to give fingerprints on multiple trips, due to glitches in the system. EES kiosks have been malfunctioning and travellers have needed more assistance than operatives initially thought.
The chaos has drawn criticism from across the travel industry. Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary poured scorn on the system, saying it had been "misdesigned". "Only the Europeans would invent sh*t like this," he said in July, referring to the fact that his airline had witnessed large queues at some 15 airports across the continent.
Member States Ask for Extension
Some airports have been deciding to temporarily turn off parts of the EES checks, including not collecting fingerprints during peak times, to ease the strain on passengers and workers. That policy is due to come to an end next month, though, and eight EU member states and Switzerland have asked the European Commission to extend it.
In a statement, the Commission said it is considering the possibility of continuing the practice. "When it comes to the time after the summer, we are in close and constructive contact with those few member states where there are challenges at certain border crossing points," a spokesperson said. They added that EES wasn't disastrous everywhere, and that registration takes an average of 70 seconds and that "in most cases" the impact on non-EU travellers has been limited.
Why This Matters:
The EU's biometric border system was meant to strengthen security and streamline border checks — but the rollout shows what happens when Brussels rushes implementation without adequate testing or resources at the local level. Passengers missing flights aren't just an inconvenience. They're a sign that EU institutions designed a policy without listening to the airports, border staff, and travellers who have to live with it. The fact that member states are now asking for extensions shows the gap between Brussels' ambitions and what's actually deliverable on the ground. If the Commission wants to maintain public trust in EU-level security measures, it needs to fix the system — not just defend it. The alternative is more fuel for Eurosceptics who argue that the EU can't manage the basics.