Departing for Prague CZR next week with a 3hr layover in Copenhagen. This will be our Zone Entry/Exit site.
Are there any recent experiences or insights for navigating this new aspect?
Have there been significant problems or delays?
Copenhagen does not yet utilize the Travel to Europe phone app.
On the Travel to Europe App webpage, it says the only countries where you can use it to date are Sweden and Portugal.
Thank you.
The primary question was with respect to efficiency/delays, overall experience with the EES when entering through Copenhagen.
I have an EU passport and it’s been a few months since I’ve passed passport control at CPH, but based on what I have read and heard recently: It varies, and seems to be difficult to predict ahead of time.
CPH is usually an efficient airport, and it is my impression that is still the case the (vast) majority of the time. By that I mean there may be a little bit of a line, but it won’t take long to get through.
However recently there have been spikes with long wait times at passport control when entering or exiting the Schengen area at CPH.
You have 3 hours, that’s way more than you would need no matter what, and will leave you with extra time at the airport while you wait for your onwards flight.
I just arrived Copenhagen on May 5 and there were long lines at security for departures. Passport control entering the country was fast; however, I asked the gentleman at passport control how quickly departures were and he said it depended on whether the system was working. There are several lines to depart: some with handprint required and some with facial id. The security assistant that I spoke with said if you are stuck in line and your flight was departing, they would move you to the front of the line.
@CAL GAL
Thanks very much for this information! Very glad to know.
Cheers!
As of a month ago when I went, arrivals at CPH were no longer than elsewhere, but departures were a disaster. Huge crowds, poor signage, lots of stressed travelers. We made it but give yourself 2 full hours from check-in to gate, don't skimp on the time.
The security assistant that I spoke with said if you are stuck in line and your flight was departing, they would move you to the front of the line.
This is exactly what happened to us.
Arrived Monday morning
4 lines of non-EU Passport Control
Took approximately 40-45 minutes for us to get through
Unable to use the self-serve “chip-enabled” kiosks because non-EU
It wasn’t terrible, but mattered less because we had a 3.5 hour layover ahead of us. We weren’t in a rush
Good luck when you get to departure. Passports on entry was always a thing, so the systems and infrastructure are there. Passports on departure is relatively new, and the systems (at least at CPH) had not caught up yet. Hopefully things are improving
Transferring from Prague back to US via Copenhagen.
12:00 on a Monday
We got through Exit Passport Control in 15 min. with 2 hours to spare before our departure
CAL GAL and Darren, I am confused as I just read a RS article on EES and Rick said " But Europe wants to know when you arrive and when you depart — it’s called the Entry and Exit System, after all — so you’ll also go through a similar process before your return flight. Since you’re already registered, you’ll skip the kiosks and go straight to the e-gates, where the system can confirm it’s you departing ." It appears you did not find this happening.
The lack of e-gates is part of the lack of infrastructure I'm talking about. Schengen commanded the use of a system that doesn't exist yet at most airports.
Since you’re already registered, you’ll skip the kiosks and go
straight to the e-gates, where the system can confirm it’s you
departing ." It appears you did not find this happening.
This might be the plan for the future, but it's definitely not happening now.
When I departed Copenhagen this past Saturday, my only option was the human border agents. Same when I departed Madrid in March—it was a human border agent when departing.
If you look at the date of just about every article written about EES, it's prior to 4/10/26, the fully operational target date for the system. The articles extol how the system will work, but not how the system is actually working. In fact, the only info I've seen about EES has been by passengers arriving and exiting Schengen ports of entry posting on social media and this forum.
I understand now... in the future [and whenever that is is questionable] things will work as they are designed to work . Before that ...good luck.
Thanks for your real life responses.
Mid July, we arrive CPH from US and fly out from CPH the same day to Krakow. It's our first trip to europe this year. What should we expect?
Hi diana.margaret.k, Unfortunately, there is just no way to predict the time that will be spent going through passport control. By July, the EES machines may be in use, or not. That might speed things up or slow things down.
Do keep an eye out for airport staff that will be pulling people out of line if their flight is scheduled to depart soon.
Good luck!
Just returned from two weeks in Denmark and Norway. Our first entry was Copenhagen and encountered no issues registering and took about 10 minutes wait time. We also departed out of Copenhagen and after being in line to enter C gates for about 1/2 hour they directed particular flights to E gates with no wait for customs. We were plenty early for this reason and it went smoothly. Arrived with plenty of time at our gate. Arrival into SFO thru Global Entry also a breeze. Only slow down was about extra 1/2 hour wait in the air due to runway construction.
And here is my update on entering/exiting Schengen area at Copenhagen Airport.
Arrived Friday May 29th, and then connecting to Gdansk, Poland.
Arrival EES passport control - took about 20 minutes. BUT I was early off the plane and noticed long lines behind me shortly after I got in line.
Departing, a different story! Had three+ hour layover from Helsinki,, flying to JFK from Copenhagen. I believe I was leaving from an E Gate location. Mass of people going to those gates! No way to know how to que, and so you just moved up as you could. Finally a staff person, with yellow vest, came by and indicated EU passports to left, non-EU passports to right. This was the same designated lanes coming in. BUT coming in there were clear lines, here we hadn't reached a point of lines - just a mass of people.
Staff did come through and call our certain flights, moving those folks forward. The flight to JFK was called and many of us in line raised our hands for that flight, and were moved forward. All in all, I think I was about 50 minutes. There did not seem to be any issue with equipment - which takes your photo matching you up to the biometric data taken on the way in. You still show your passport to a passport control officer and I noticed that the two people in front of me had to answer several questions from the officer. Got to the gate about ten minutes before boarding started, so no extra time!
