British holidaymakers have been told to arrive at European airports three hours before flights home as new border checks lengthen queues at some terminals. Yvonne Moynihan, Wizz Air's UK boss, said passengers facing the Entry Exit System should plan for far more time than the usual two hours before departure.
The warning lands at the height of the summer travel rush, when even small delays can ripple into missed departures and tight connections. Moynihan told the that long waits at passport control have already caused some passengers to miss return or connecting flights, and she said anyone changing planes should leave several hours between journeys to absorb the extra checks.
Her advice is the clearest sign yet that the new system is biting hardest where holiday demand is highest. Moynihan said the impact is fragmented across Europe, with long queues at usual hotspots such as Spain, Portugal and France, although she saw no queue on her own trip to Mallorca for half term, where extra staff were on hand and a significant number of EES kiosks were in place.
That contrast sits at the center of the dispute over how well the system is working. Airports say queues are getting worse under EES, which requires travelers from outside the EU to register fingerprints and other biometric information when they enter many European countries and have it checked when they leave. A European Commission spokesperson said the system was working well at almost all border crossing points.
The figures behind the rollout show how quickly it is expanding. Since October, almost 80 million entries and exits have been registered and 35,000 refusals of entry recorded, and the system is meant to be fully in use from 10 April at the borders of the Schengen free movement zone, including airports. Greece has already effectively suspended biometric checks for British citizens at its borders in an effort to avoid summer disruption.
Moynihan said Wizz Air is now telling passengers to prepare for long waits, including at destination airports where queues can also form after landing. She advised travelers to keep a portable charger or water with them and said the problem is not the first passport check people expect, but the extra one before the return flight to the UK. For British travelers heading home, the practical rule has changed: three hours is now the safer call.
