EES exit worries.

It is clear that the EES process time is quite variable. Some report quick times (my experience in Rome) while others report long waits at the same airport on the same day. Some report going through the entire automated process while others are handled by a passport clerk of which there appear to be fewer.

My assumption is that The key variables are the number of flights arriving at once (for entry), whether the machines are functioning, and whether fingerprint capture is obtained. Having the ability to use egates also makes a difference.

For exit, I would think the process might be a bit more consistent as there wouldn’t be several hundred people arriving at once, but that is just my guess.

If you are on one ticket, I would stick with the original plan. Separate tickets? You will need to change.

I had a terrible time trying to leave Brussels on 4/13/26. In fact it was so crowded and slow I did miss my flight, I had arrived about 2.5 hours before departure. The next day I arrived 6 hours before departure and made it through fairly quickly. As I used up my spare time I now had at the airport I saw people running all out to their gates. What a mess.

Should I just bite the bullet and rebook [at the currently much higher ticket prices]? Has anyone been through the exit process at CDG since this started?

I assume your flight home is on one ticket? Is so they sold you a trip home so they are obligated to get you there. I would take my chances and if the trip home went off the rails let the airlines deal with it.

Has anyone been through the exit process at CDG since this started?

Yep. Took about 15 minutes.

Why does EES apply when leaving?

Entry/Exit System (EES)
https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees

Why does EES apply when leaving?

The short answer is because the name of the system Entry-Exit says so.

People are really overthinking the implementation of this. On entry they are doing a more thorough job of screening, and taking some biometrics that they did not before, on exit, there will likely not be anything additional, except that you will go through an e-gate, your exit logged (you scan your passport and look at the camera) and either sent on your way, or sent over to an officer for further questions.

There have been issues at some airports on exit, but then there was before EES. EES did not do anything to reduce traffic volume or alleviate labor issues. Airports that have a history with issues, will still have issues.

Paul, That was very well explained. Thank you.

Would someone please post the procedure for

1) New traveler arriving non-stop to Schengen airport

2) New traveler arriving with 1 stop to Schengen 1 - connection to Schengen 2 destination

3) Traveler departing Schengen non-stop

4) Traveler departing Schengen 1, connecting flight at Schengen 2

You will experience EES upon your first arrival into the Schengen zone. As I understand it, you will also experience it when you exit Schengen. This all relates to travel by air, rail and commercial sea travel. What happens if someone enters, say, Albania by air and then drives into Schengen for their first entry? No clue.

So, when we have a connecting flight in the Schengen zone, we will do EES at that point. This makes actually getting the connection a little more risky.

So, when we have a connecting flight in the Schengen zone, we will do
EES at that point.

Yes. Cameron Hetitt, an employee of Rick Steves, just wrote about his recent experience with EES and his connecting flight:

So, is Europe's new EES entry system a nightmare for travelers? Or no big deal?

Based on my very small sample size of one, the answer seems to be: No big deal!

A few days ago, I posted about the concerns many travelers are having around the rollout of Europe's new entry-exit system, or EES — requiring visitors to register electronically upon entering the Schengen zone (that's most of continental Europe, plus Iceland, but not the UK or Ireland). Many "travel influencers" are making hay of this change, collecting clicks by making it seem like a crisis. Several of you chimed in with your real-world experiences using EES, which were mostly positive; if you're curious to dive into those reports, that post has more than 350 thoughtful comments.

I promised I'd report back after my own first experience with EES, on a very tight, 90-minute layover in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. And I'm pleased to report it was very straightforward:

8:17 — Plane touches down

8:24 — At the gate

8:31 — Exiting the plane, in the airport

8:38 — At the EES registration kiosk

8:39 — At the "e-gates" to officially enter the Schengen zone

8:49 — Through the e-gates, on my way to my flight

8:59 — At my connecting gate with an hour to spare (9:30 boarding time, 10:00 departure)

That's less than 30 minutes from when I stepped off the plane until I reached my connection, including the full EES process.

What did I learn from this?

First, upon entering the Schengen zone for the first time, you'll use a self-service kiosk to go through a three-step registration process: Insert your passport; get your photo taken (remove glasses and masks); and hold your fingers against a glass panel to be fingerprinted. It very very slick and very fast — and, theoretically, now that I'm in the system, I won't have to do it again.

From there, I proceeded immediately to the e-gates. Here I observed the only delay in the process. One at a time, travelers shuffled into six or eight chutes, where they went through the same three steps — this time to confirm their identity: insert passport; photo; fingerprints.
Some travelers — including me — zipped through in less than a minute. Others held up the line for several minutes. The delay wasn't clear: Maybe they weren't looking in the right place for the photo, or they didn't notice the prompt to be fingerprinted, or their fingerprints simply weren't "deep enough" to be accepted by the machine (a problem I've heard a few reports about). Or maybe, for some reason, those passports were throwing up flags that required separate screening.

Eventually I made it through this process. And... that was it! Next thing I knew, I was on my way to my connecting gate.

While I didn't use them, I did notice that there were several old-fashioned, manual stations for checking passports. If there was a delay at the e-gates, the staff would steer people to that line. And in general, the staff was mindful of tight connections and seemed willing to help those who were in a crunch.
I've been through this same passport checkpoint several times before — sometimes two or three times a year. And even with the older, pre-EES manual processes, I have seen it take much, much longer. I was probably fortunate in arriving at a less-busy time, and your experience won't necessarily match mine. (Based on recent reports, airports in Portugal and Barcelona are struggling more than most,) Even so, I hope this report is encouraging: Even a tight connection can be possible using EES.

https://www.facebook.com/HewittCameron/

It’s great that the EES worked out fine for Cameron Hetitt, but that is a small sample size, it’s almost not worth mentioning it. The reality is that it could work out fine, or it’s possible the process will take hours, the point is there are plenty of people going through hell, and downplaying that experience in a cheerful little social media post like it “probably wont happen” is frankly, pretty annoying actually.

The EES question is, are you physically able to stand in a line with no access to food, water or bathrooms for hours? That’s where we are at right now with EES, and it’s a real possibility, but then again you could get lucky like Cameron did. Do you feel lucky?

The question is, are you physically able to stand in a line with no
access to food, water or bathrooms for hours?

You’re not locked in a jail cell. :-) You can have food and water with you and use the bathroom if you need to.

I had about a 3-minute wait for the EES machine when I entered Madrid last month.

Passport control has always been unpredictable. It’s out of our control. So, there is no sense in worrying about it. It’s going to take as long as it takes.

Tell that to the older overweight gentleman in front of me that had a cane, and ended up sitting on the floor.

Good for you and your three minute wait. Doesn’t change the fact that for many it took three hours.

And you’re not in jail? Where are you going to go ? Get back on the plane? There is also nothing to sit on. Where are you getting the food and water from? You can’t leave the cattle pen.

Ok, I’ll accept that you could actually bring your own little EES survival kit, that has food and water in it. And you could potentially leave the line for the bathroom and come back to your place, but risking raising the ire of everyone behind you that thinks you are cutting. However, three plus hours of standing in a line, interrupted by shuffling forward 20 feet every fifteen minutes is beyond run of the mill travel headaches or “passport control unpredictability”. If you are elderly, or have knee or back issues, it could be a real problem, and you need to ask yourself, “can I do this”?

The whole EES is a complete shambles,some countries are fully implementing it some partially,some suspending it at the busy periods and some not, some countries are not using it at smaller regional airport and some are BUT you just never know. I. Have been in the system since it was first introduced in October but had to go through the system again on every entry to any EU/ Schengen country since ( I travel monthly).some places I have been to like Poland and Madeira have not been using the system and may or may not use it soon, I was in Prague in January where the whole system is fully implemented and it took about 20 minutes to get through the whole lot about average in my experience of travelling through there several times a year, however last week when entering Prague I had to do the full scan again, left and right had finger prints ,face scan and then had to do the whole thing again at the manual passport contol and I am in the system and have been for months, person I was travelling with had to do a basic scan and they had never been through the system before. I head back to the UK on Sunday, no idea what will happen but I will be at the airport with plenty of time..
The system should in theory work fine but it is just not working anywhere near the way it should.Getting through in 10 minutes very possible if you hit things right but a. Hour or 2 in queues seems to be quite normal.
As to the electronic gates,they are the future but I reckon they are going to be a long time in coming for many non EU travellers. Good luck everyone on your travels but Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

I took care of this problem by making the first place we land in Europe our destination. We're taking a trip to Valencia, via Madrid, so we will spend a few days in Madrid before going on to Valencia. In this way, the EES system cannot delay me to the point where I miss a connection. Because there is no connection. We will go to Valencia by train, after we spend a few days enjoying Madrid.

I took care of this problem by making the first place we land in Europe our destination

This is a good idea. Unfortunately I've got 2 trips later this year with connecting flights for both. One in Copenhagen, the other in Lisbon. They're not for several months so I'm hoping some issues will be worked out by then.

I always arr and dep Schengen non-stop, be it FRA or CDG , no other airport coming or going back.

Exiting Prague airport yesterday was the easiest ever,scan boarding pass to get through the go to the new eGates ( they were not there in January) and 5hat was it, no manual check,no passport stamp. Hopefully this is going to b3 5he way from now on but the Czech Republic went for a full compliance early on and maybe that has helped. However they do security at the gate and have introduced new scanners that are a nightmare( usually use 1 tray but this time 4 trays were required) but that is a whole different subject

Thank you, Carrie for that info. We go thru Schiphol in 3 weeks on our way to a RS tour that starts in Hamburg and our connection is tight, thus, I’ve been a bit worried about this. Oh well, this will be our thirteenth tour and I suppose if we miss the group meeting our travel buddies from previous tours who are joining us, can give the group our introductions which will probably require a payback 😂