Ryanair has issued an update over its position on the new European Entry/Exit System (EES), which continues to cause issues for holidaymakers. It affects Brits travelling to the Schengen area, which includes popular holiday destinations such as France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
It is a digitalised system that is replacing traditional stamps in passports. You may be required to register your biometric details, such as fingerprints and a photo, when you arrive. You do not need to take any action prior to your arrival at the border, and there is no cost for using it.
EES officially became fully operational on April 10, 2026. However, problems with the system, particularly during busy spells at popular airports, have led to it being suspended in a number of countries at various times.
Low-cost airline Ryanair was issued a scathing message on social media, calling for the EES rollout to be suspended until September. The budget airline slammed France, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Spain, and Germany for failing to ‘ensure that adequate staffing, system readiness, or kiosks are in place’.
Reports suggest passengers have been delayed for hours because of the new system, with some even missing their flights. Describing the system as ‘half-baked’, the Ryanair statement said: “Despite knowing for over three years that EES would become fully operational from 10 April 2026, France, Portugal, Poland, Italy, Spain, and Germany have failed to ensure that adequate staffing, system readiness, or kiosks are in place.
“As a result, passengers are suffering long passport control queues and, in some cases, missing their flights.
“Ryanair calls on these EU Governments to suspend the rollout of the EU’s passport control Entry/Exit System (EES) until September to ensure that passengers are not needlessly forced to suffer long passport control queue delays at European airports during the peak summer season.”
The system was gradually introduced from October 2025 and came into effect on April 10 in the Schengen countries, which consist of 25 of the EU’s 27 states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.
Holidaymakers’ claims have ranged from there not being enough kiosks to manage the registrations, to problems with fingerprint scanners and having to repeat the process on both arrival and departure.