We arrived in Greece on first day of the new EES program,
It took 2 hours to get through customs as it was not loading info or pictures quickly.
We are flying into Amsterdam in September, so our data, and pictures should be in the system.
Has anyone else flown into Schiphol recently and can tell us about delays?
Is it easier the second time through EES?
There is a thread on this topic: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/netherlands/ees-amsterdam-experience
From what I read, previous experiences, even recent ones, are no predictors for tomorrow or the next day.
FWIW, my daughter arrived from Toronto last month and was thru EES and Passport Control in less than 40 min. Her BFF arrived from NYC an hour later and took an hour to get through.
From everything I have read, if you are exiting the airport at Schiphol, prepared to stand in line awhile. If you are making a connection, they will often expedite your registration to get you through. Not sure if this is still the case or not. We fly in next week and have a short connection, so we’ll see.
We had absolutely no problems in April, about 20 minutes. I feel that predicting wait times withEES is like predicting the weather. Good luck!
As to your question about is it easier the second time after already registering, not necessarily.. The challenge is that so many countries are skipping the EES entry for various reasons that other countries feel they need the entire EES process each time.
I registered for EES in Rome. Used the machines, no problem, smooth as silk. When I exited there they glanced at my passport, did not scan it, and waved me through. This created issues later on……
My next entrance at Helsinki they told me they were putting everyone through the process no matter what since they were unsure about consistency. It actually worked to my benefit since Italy botched my exit there was no record of my departing Schengen zone from previous trip. The kind agent took time to document for me.
Summary, expect the unexpected and go with the flow…….
