Australian travellers are being warned to expect lengthy queues and delays of up to six hours at European airports as a new border control system causes widespread chaos that is likely to worsen during to continent’s peak summer holiday period.

The European Union’s long-awaited digital Entry/Exit System (EES) became fully operational in April, replacing passport stamps and registering non-EU nationals travelling within what is known as the Schengen area – a zone of 29 countries with “open borders”.

However, many travellers and airport officials say the system isn’t working, with faulty technology adding to delays and causing passengers to miss flights.

“Right now, EES is what keeps me and many other airport CEOs across Europe awake at night,” Airport Councils International president Stefan Schulte said last week.

“Passengers are queueing for hours at peak traffic times and I just do not know how we will be able to cope in the coming weeks with the expected increase in traffic.”

The Australian Government’s SmartTraveller website recently warned people the EES was causing delays of up to four to six hours at some European airports.

It advised Australians heading to Europe to allow extra time between connecting flights, choose flexible flight options, and arrive at airports well before their flight was due to depart.

“Queues to access EES self-service kiosks are long,” SmartTraveller warned.

“Be prepared to stand for an extended time. Take food and water if needed. If you have mobility or health concerns that limit how long you can stand, talk to airport support staff.”

 

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The new system, which was first proposed more than a decade ago, affects visitors from countries with visa-free travel to Europe – including Australia, Britain, the US and much of South America.

The first time travellers visit one of the countries in the Schengen zone – which includes places such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, as well as EU nations – the EES system registers their name and passport details, as well as taking fingerprints and photos.

This information is stored by machines so the passenger can supposedly skip the manual checks next time they cross a border, but reports claim the technology often fails, forcing travellers to join lengthy queues instead.

“It was nuts coming in here last week,” one frequent business traveller wrote on the Wanted in Rome Instagram account last month.

“I am ‘registered’ on the system (successfully in Frankfurt a few weeks ago), but the EES machine here couldn’t read my face or fingerprints…. it was meant to be faster once one was ‘on the system,’ but nope – I’ve had long queues here in Rome, in Germany, and in Lisbon.”

Another complained: “3 hours at Frankfurt. We missed our flight and both got sick on our vacation from being crammed into an unventilated room.”

A CNN reporter shared a video from Portugal’s Lisbon airport in May that showed lengthy departure queues.

“It is quite honestly astonishing, and testimony to just what a disaster these new EES rules are regarding all passport holders that are not from the European Union,” she said, before revealing that she had missed her flight as a result of the delays.

“But this really isn’t about me at all. This is about thousands and thousands of people who are basically going through complete insanity. The system doesn’t work.”

British travellers have faced huge delays at airports in some countries, according to The Guardian, with the checks at one point temporarily suspended at the French port of Dover in May and for UK visitors at some Greek airports.

The head of Rome’s airports company, Marco Troncone, has warned that allowing people to skip the EES could be the only way to avoid a “disaster”.

“We are very worried for the summer,” Troncone, chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma, told the UK’s Financial Times last week.

“The process proves to be incompatible with the peak volumes that we are going to face. So the only way is to open up the valve.”

The European Commission reported at the end of March that more than 45 million border crossings has been registered since the EES rollout began last October. It also stated that some 24,000 people had been refused entry for various reasons, while the system had identified more than 600 as being a security risk.

The system will come under increasing pressure as the European summer brings in huge influx of visitors to countries already struggling with surging tourist numbers in recent years and a record heatwave in 2026.

Among those heading to the continent will be hundreds of thousands of Australians seeking to escape to swap our winter weather in July and August for warmer climes in places such as Spain, Italy and France.

Schulte said a rethink of processes was urgently needed, along with “full flexibility” so border control authorities could suspend the EES as necessary “to avoid further chaos”.

“This is about showing respect and decency for those who chose to travel to the EU, and safeguarding our reputation as a welcoming and efficient destination,” he said.

Meanwhile, it may be a consolation to know that alongside the complaints about delays and missed flights, a number of travellers sharing their stories on social media reported that the EES operated smoothly at some airports.

Others commented that the EU countries were still much easier to enter than the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Looks just like a “Completely normal” entry to the US for non US citizens,” remarked one.