EU Entry-Exit System Causes Border Control Delays at Schengen Airports

Travellers faced severe border control delays when the EU entry-exit system came into effect in Schengen countries on 10 April. Some queues reached up to three hours, and passengers reported missed flights, long waits at passport control and extra costs as the rollout moved across the Schengen area.

Hundreds of people responded to a callout about travelling to Europe since the rules came into effect. Their accounts point to the same problem: the system did not just add a new check, it slowed the whole departure and arrival process for passengers already moving through busy airports.

Copenhagen and Pisa delays

Dave Giles, a traveller from Raunds in Northamptonshire, missed his flight home from Copenhagen on 12 April after arriving hours early. He said, "When they called the gate and we got down towards passport control, there was a queue of probably 80 to 100 people in front of us and only three kiosks checking passports."

Giles said, "Before long, one of those closed." He said the disruption cost him about £1,800 in receipts and probably over £2,000 in total, adding: "Insurance won’t touch it. The airline said it wasn’t their fault."

Georgia, a traveller from London, experienced a four-hour delay on arrival at Pisa airport on 10 April. She said she was five months pregnant during the delay and added, "There were no staff in sight to advise on waiting times."

Passengers pushed to change plans

Georgia said the waiting area worsened the experience for passengers at the back of the queue. "I sat on the floor and had to tell the people around me I was pregnant and to give me some space because I was almost fainting," she said. That delay changed her later plans as well: "I was meant to fly to Paris this weekend with my husband, but I’ve cancelled the trip just because I couldn’t face it again."

She also said a different trip now felt more manageable after hearing how one destination was handling the rollout: "I have a trip to Greece coming up, but I saw that they’re now not following the new system, which was amazing news."

Schengen rollout since October 2025

The system was gradually introduced in Europe since October 2025 and came into effect in the Schengen countries on 10 April. Schengen countries include 25 of the EU's 27 states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, which means the rollout affected travellers across a large part of Europe at once.

The practical problem for passengers was not the existence of the new checks alone, but the uneven speed at which airports were able to process them. Reports from travellers included fingerprints not being accepted, extra delays when travelling with children, little guidance on kiosks and having to repeat registration on each leg of a journey.

For passengers heading through Schengen airports now, the immediate issue is whether the border check they face will run quickly enough to protect a tight connection or a same-day return. The clearest sign of the rollout’s effect is already in the accounts from Copenhagen and Pisa: long queues, missed flights and costs that fell on the traveller rather than the airport line they could not control.