British Travelers Now Face 3x Longer Passport Queues
British travellers now take almost three times as long to clear passport control at Rome’s main airport under the EU’s new border system, the airport’s aviation chief has said.
The wait for UK nationals at Fiumicino Airport has risen from around seven minutes to around 20 minutes since the Entry Exit System came in, according to Chief Aviation Officer Ivan Bassato. That is despite the airport spending €12m, around £10.2m, on self-service registration machines.
The Entry Exit System, known as EES, requires all non-EU citizens to register fingerprints and a photo when they enter the Schengen area of 29 European countries. The system began operating progressively on 12 October 2025. British passport holders are treated as third-country nationals after Brexit, the same as Americans or Australians.
The €12m kiosks proved impractical for large numbers of passengers. Fiumicino has now built the registration process into its passport e-gates instead, which Mr Bassato told BBC News ‘improved things significantly’. But he admitted the process is still worse than before.
‘We are not at the point where you have the same quality of the process as before the EES’, he said. ‘I think that we need to fix urgently certain aspects of the system.’
Ryanair has warned passengers travelling to Europe this summer to allow extra time and prepare for extended waits at passport control. The airline called the rollout ‘failed’ and urged EU governments to suspend the system during the peak summer season.
Some European airports have seen hours-long queues, and passengers have reported missing flights. Airline industry body IATA warned in February of trouble ahead if the problems were not fixed before summer.
At Faro Airport in Portugal, Superintendent Pedro Oliveira, who runs border control, said queues that ‘used to be 10 minutes’ now take over 30 minutes. He confirmed the system has bugs and depends on central EU servers, so a fault abroad can hit border checks in Portugal. The database launched with outages and other technical problems in late 2025.
Travellers heading to Europe this summer face longer waits at the border, whatever the kiosks cost
‘Sometimes crashes happen in all member states at the same time, and we need a few minutes to reboot everything’, Supt Oliveira said. He added this now happens less often.
Portugal has recruited more border officers to help. Children under 16 there must be processed by a member of border staff rather than the machines.
The EU has a pre-registration mobile app that lets travellers submit some details before they fly. Only two countries currently use it: Sweden and Portugal.
Airports and airlines have asked the European Commission to let countries suspend the system before busy periods. A meeting earlier this month produced no changes. The Commission is funded by contributions from member states, which means taxpayers. It said disruption is limited at most EU airports and it will continue to support member states with the rollout.
BBC News did not report that Ryanair has called for the system to be suspended during the peak summer season. Airports and airlines are expected to keep pressing the Commission for flexibility. Until then, travellers heading to Europe this summer face longer waits at the border, whatever the kiosks cost.
