EES - Athens

MEM62

Anyone have any experience on how the Greek systems are coping with the new EES system? We are flying into Athens in September and hope that we do not have a repeat of the three-hour delay we had in Barcelona recently.

Brie

I don't know about Athens but we flew to Crete at the end of June and I was the only person on the flight that was fingerprinted and eye scanned. I guess everyone else was on a British passport while I was not and there was a problem getting my passport scanned on to their system. No scanning at all when we left.

la531983

Nobody can really answer this as there are too many variables. Namely…

a) how many flights fron non-EU come in around the same time

b) which area your flight arrives at (main terminal or satellite terminal as both have separate immigration areas)

c) the split of flights between the two areas.

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82072805#Comment_82072805

Ditto for us arriving at Chania, Crete (we have British passports).

Have Greece gone back on their non-use of EES for Brits?

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82073355#Comment_82073355

Media reports indicate they've reversed their previous position on exempting Brits from EES checks.

https://etias.com/articles/greece-scraps-brit-exemption-from-new-eu-border-checks

But FCDO travel advice indicates Brits are being exempted...

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece/entry-requirements

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82073366#Comment_82073366

One report I read had the Greek government minister with responsibility for tourism saying that they will be pragmatic when applying the rules to Brits and will relax the checks when delays are becoming excessive, meanwhile the minister responsible for security, borders etc said all checks would remain in force.

Each is speaking up for their respective briefs I suppose.

TheShape

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6676581/ees-athens

I case it's useful for other travellers, when and what Terminal was your Barcelona experience?

Was at Barcelona Terminal 1 this last week (15th and 18th July) and the experience was fairly good (25 minute delay in, no delay out). Dont' know if it's improved over time.

flaneurs_lobster

Speaking generally of entry/exit from EES-enabled borders, is there any difference in the second and subsequent experience after what I've taken to be the initial first-use registration?

TheShape

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82074331#Comment_82074331

Have experienced the process twice:

1st experience Rimini, Italy - May. No terminals. Fingerprints and photo taken at a manned booth for myself and my partner. On exit, I just presented my passport. I believe my partner presented passport and had fingerprints rechecked but will confirm with her and edit this post. To confirm, fingerprints taken again for my partner

2nd exprerience, Barcelona - July:

Flew into Barcelona Weds 15th July approx 9am. Queued first for the EES terminals, as did everyone. Having scanned passports, I was directed to the E-gates and my partner to a border officer where her fingerprints were re-taken. Don't know if there had been an error in taking or recording these in Italy. Both got through in approx the same time. Total time to comple was around 25 minutes.

Returning Sat 18th July. Got to the airport around 5:30pm (2.5 hours before flight). Plenty of machines to use. No queue. Checked and straight through E-gate for both of us.

MEM62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82074327#Comment_82074327

Yes, it was Terminal on and the trip was in November last year.