Travellers to the EU risk missing their flights because bag drop-off times don’t allow for the long queues to get through a new security system.
My family of four missed our easyJet flight home from Málaga because, although we followed advice from the airport and arrived three hours before departure, the bag drop-off didn’t open until two hours before.
It took a further 47 minutes to drop our luggage due to the queues. This left 53 minutes to clear security and reach the gate.
With two young children and a backlog at security, this proved impossible. Five other passengers also failed to board.
MP, London
Your family was a casualty of the EU entry/exit system (EES), introduced last October, which requires travellers from outside the EU to have their photo and fingerprints taken and registered at the border.
Those who have already submitted their biometrics on their outward-bound journey still have to join the queues of those who haven’t for their return flight.
The idea is to prevent visitors overstaying; the consequence is a 70% increase in security processing times, according to the trade body Airports Council International.
Lisbon airport was forced to suspend the system in December when waits reached seven hours. EasyJet admitted to me that airlines can decide when their bag drop opens, but it has no plans to change its current two-hour window.
It also admitted there were abnormally long queues on the day your family travelled, and that it had warned passengers to allow additional time.
I couldn’t get it to accept “additional time” is useless if bag drop time is inflexible. It congratulated itself on offering cheaper “rescue fares” for those stranded. You paid an additional £1,000 to get home.
I asked the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade body for airlines, whether it would advise carriers to open their bag drops earlier to allow for the security mayhem. The answer is seemingly “no”.
“Operational, regulatory, and commercial realities” prevent a common approach, it says, adding: “We have repeatedly warned the full rollout of the EES in its current form poses an operational risk before the summer peak.
“We have urged member states to extend the possibility of partly, or fully, suspending EES at peak periods, and to take immediate steps to reinforce staffing … and eliminate redundant checks.”
The best bet, if you want to be sure of boarding, is to squeeze all your packing into a cabin bag and skip the luggage check in.
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