We are in Portugal now, entered at Lisbon from Chicago on Saturday, March 28. Line at entry for passport control was almost exactly 2 hours. Travel to Europe app was no help. Pack your patience and deal with it for the time being apparently as EES systems information is being gathered. Everything after that has been a dream and Portugal is lovely.
Posted by
Chicago
4196 posts
Thanks for the update! "Pack your patience" is great advice as there is no way to predict or control the wait times.
Posted by
Atlanta
37 posts
Just came back from Lisbon on Thursday. We got through security with no trouble, but passport/immigration was a different story. We had Fast Check, but I'm guessing the regular line was at least an hour. Our flight was delayed for nearly an hour waiting on passengers to clear passport control. I'm sure people missed their connections in the US. (I don't know if it had anything to do with EES.)
Posted by
8 posts
We are seniors arriving from Canada at Lisbon Airport 11:00 am Wednesday morning...I know..... bad time and I wish I had had the forsight to route into Lisbon through another airport. I'm expecting a long lineup for passport control and yes I know the obvious of using the toilet facilities before getting in line. But even then, 2 or 3+ hours is not going to be easy, probably impossible. My assumption is that once in that line you're trapped with no option to go back and return. And going back to the end of a long lineup is just a catch-22 situation. I'm sure this must be a common problem. Can anyone give me some advice and hopefully some piece of mind?
Posted by
Chicago
4196 posts
Jwarford, Hopefully a weekday will be less busy than a weekend.
It sounds like you’re traveling with someone. It might be possible for you to leave the line while your traveling companion holds your place. I’ve done this with my sister at O’Hare passport control.
Apologize to the people around you and say “sorry emergency.”
My sister has anxiety over the availability of toilets so I can relate. Even though they say stay hydrated on the plane, I would try to limit liquids. You can hydrate later once you’re through passport control.
Good luck!
Posted by
8 posts
thankyou carrie