Two weeks after the EU switched on its biometric Entry/Exit System (EES), passenger frustration is boiling over. Euro Weekly News reported on 24 April that more than 100 travellers missed flights at Milan-Malpensa the previous weekend because they were still waiting to complete fingerprint and facial-scan enrolment. Similar scenes occurred in Frankfurt and Berlin. Under EU Regulation 2017/2226 border officers may relax certain biometric elements when queues exceed one hour, but Italian airport operators say the derogation thresholds are unworkable during peak waves of non-EU arrivals. Industry groups ACI Europe and Airlines for Europe are therefore lobbying Rome and Berlin to authorise a temporary “off-switch” that would revert to passport stamping during critical time windows. For business travellers and assignees the immediate advice is simple: arrive at least three hours before departure from Italy’s major gateways until further notice, and allow longer connection buffers within Schengen. Travel managers should also remind staff holding Italian residence permits that some e-gates cannot yet read the card’s chip, routing them into slower manual lines. Long-term, the technology promises shorter queues, automated overstay alerts and easier multi-year work-visa tracking. In the short term, airlines fear EU 261 compensation liabilities running into millions if flights regularly depart without connecting passengers. The Interior Ministry has not yet indicated whether it will grant the requested pause, but pressure is mounting ahead of the June holiday rush and the Milan Design Week influx in early May.
Source: Euro Weekly News
