EU Entry/Exit System Causes Passport Queues, Leading to Over 100 Missed EasyJet Flights at Milan Linate

# EU Entry/Exit System Launch Leads to Missed Flights at Milan Linate More than 100 travellers missed their Sunday morning EasyJet flight to Manchester from Milan Linate Airport due to queues at passport control. The delays stemmed from the EU Entry/Exit System, which became fully operational on Friday and was rolled out across the European Union on 10 April.

The system replaced traditional passport stamps with biometric verification processes.

30am flight to Manchester. Bridgehouse arrived at the airport with ample time before departure, but stood in the passport control queue for about an hour and a half, probably longer. 30am on Sunday. Airport personnel repeatedly called forward passengers bound for London Gatwick and Heathrow, but not those heading to Manchester.

30am on Sunday, staff confirmed it had departed without her and others.

Stranded Travellers Face Extended Delays and Costs Bridgehouse was stranded 1,000 miles away from home for four days after missing her flight and was forced to take four days without pay.

She suffers from anxiety. Stranded travellers, including Bridgehouse, received paperwork from EasyJet confirming their flight had been cancelled. The soonest available flight for Bridgehouse was departing four days later from Milano Malpensa Airport.

She returned to Milan by bus and stayed with her partner who was in Milan on business. EasyJet informed Bridgehouse that a £52 fee would apply to switch her booking to the Thursday departure, but later refunded both the replacement flight and the £52 cancellation charge.

Some travellers reported vomiting and passing out while trying to get through biometric and facial recognition checks at Milan Linate Airport on Sunday.

Carol Boon, 59, from Staffordshire, was on a long weekend hen do in Milan with five others before missing her flight on Sunday. Boon and her group were among at least 100 people left waiting in passport control queues, and the gate number for her flight was not announced until about 90 minutes before departure.

Boon paid for an apartment in Milan while waiting to take a flight to Gatwick on Tuesday.

Max Hume, 56, from Leeds, spent £1,800 to travel via Luxembourg to return to the UK after missing his flight on Sunday. EasyJet offered affected passengers £19 and a flight on Thursday, which would have cost £300 otherwise.

Biometric System Details and Airport Responses The new system obliges third-country nationals, including Britons, who enter the Schengen free travel zone to register biometric information, including facial scans and fingerprints.

Further biometric checks take place when third-country nationals leave the Schengen zone. Until last week, border authorities were allowed to suspend operation of the Entry/Exit System altogether if waiting times became excessive, but now only a partial suspension is permitted.

Joy Oliver arrived at Milan Linate three hours before her scheduled departure time on Sunday but missed her original flight and rebooked a flight to Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Adam Hoijard and his family from Wirral arrived three hours early at Milan Linate on Sunday and spent £1,000 booking a flight to London Gatwick on Tuesday. Hoijard's five-year-old son was affected by the airport ordeal following a trip for his mother-in-law's 60th birthday party.

Initial reports showed passenger waiting times of two-to-three hours at border control during peak times, according to ACI Europe and A4E.

On one occasion, no-one had arrived at the departure gate at the time it was meant to close for a flight, with only 12 passengers arriving 90 minutes later. EasyJet warned passengers to allow extra time for travel before the longer than usual waiting times at passport control. EasyJet provided free flight transfers to those affected by the delays.

An EasyJet flight to Gatwick was held to allow customers extra time on Sunday.

“'While the issue was due to delays in EES processing, which is outside our control, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.'”