I’m a travel expert — here’s 7 things I’m doing to prepare for EES

Travelling soon and worried about border check queues on your European summer holiday?  Follow these tips

If you’re heading abroad to a country like Spain, Portugal, or France this summer, you have probably heard about long border control queues at some airports in Europe.

Those queues are the result of the EU’s newly introduced biometric border checks for non-EU citizens  visiting EU countries (apart from Ireland and Cyprus). 

Entry-Exit-System (EES) registration, and subsequent checks happen at border control when you land at your destination, and again when you’re leaving to fly home. The finger prints and photos usually take just a minute or so per person – but this can quickly add up as swathes of passengers pass through passport control during peak summer months.

I’ve travelled between the EU and the UK several times since EES was rolled out, and it can be tricky to predict whether you’ll encounter those longer EES queues, or whether you’ll breeze through. Some airports are suspending the EES checks when queues become too long, but a YouGov study last month reported that 16% of travellers said EES delayed the start of their holiday.

Given the unpredictability, there are several steps I would take to prepare for the queues, and avoid knock-on effects or additional costs to your holiday. 

Read on to find out how to EES-proof your next trip.

1. Fly off-peak

If I have the flexibility to do so, I’ll always choose off-peak flights – airports tend to be quieter at less popular travel times. This can maximise the chance that queues, including border control queues for EES checks, are shorter. What’s more, morning off-peak flights also tend to be less likely to suffer from delays that build up through the day – they’re usually cheaper.

2. Use Google Maps to find out where passport control is

Search for any airport on Google Maps and you should be able to check out the layout. Familiarising yourself with the location of passport control is especially important when you’re departing from your destination airport to return home, as it will minimise the chance of missing your return flight due to being caught up in EES queues.

3. Head to the gate as soon as it is announced

Some airports may display the gate number before actually advising passengers to ‘go to gate’. But these days I don’t wait for the instruction, and head straight to passport control and onto the gate once it’s announced. This leaves me as much time as possible to clear long EES passport control queues.

4. Buy flexible public transport tickets

It’s tempting to buy cheaper, non-refundable tickets for travel at your destination. Instead, I’ll opt for flexible fares which offer the opportunity to move to a later bus, train or ferry if I’m held up at the airport – some of the worst EES queues have been two or three hours long. 

5. Skip planned activities on day one

Similarly, I’ll book non-refundable tickets for excursions, trips or other activities for day two onwards, rather than risking missing out, and potentially losing money in the process.

The same logic applies if you’re planning onward travel from the first destination you arrive at, such as onward flights that aren’t part of the same booking – I’d allow plenty of buffer time to avoid stress on the day, even if that means staying overnight.

6. Keep in touch with the car hire company

If you’ve hired a car and are late to pick it up because you got caught up in arrival EES queues at your destination, the car hire company could fine you, or even release your car. But if you let your car hire car company know about any delays you’re encountering, most reputable car hire companies are forgiving.

Before setting off, send your flight number to your car hire company – this will allow them to track any flight delays or disruption. Save a contact number and email address to your phone, and keep them updated with any changes to your schedule once you’ve landed and assessed how long you’ll be waiting in border control queues.

Similarly, I’ll note down contact details for the hotel, resort or accommodation host. This makes it easier to let them know if I’m going to need a later check-in.

7. Book airport parking wisely

I’d thoroughly check the terms and conditions of my airport car parking to understand the fee for overstaying, as these differ greatly from different airports and providers. For example, Manchester Airport allows customers to overstay by up to 6 hours on the day they were due to leave, but after that will issue overstay charges of between £10-63.40 per day, depending on the car park. 

On its parking FAQs Heathrow says “if you go beyond the time or date of your original parking booking, you will need to pay the daily rate for any extra time,” and doesn’t mention any tolerance buffer.

If you’re considering Meet and Greet parking, you should also look into the cost for overstaying and compare it to park and ride options.  

Whatever option you choose, let the provider know as soon as you can if you think you’ll be delayed.