We are landing in Zurich in September for a two week stay in Switzerland and Austria. I am worried about the ees process holding us up and not being there to retrieve our luggage. I hear the ees lines can be long. Has anyone been in this situation?
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
10548 posts
The lines can be long or they can be quite efficient. No way to predict in advance.
It sounds like your biggest concern is Luggage Security in the pick up area. Here is where an ounce of prevention pays off. Keep everything essential to your trip with you in your carryon. Your documents, your medicine, 2 changes of clothes, any durable medical equipment. While no one wants a bag with their clothing, etc, to disappear, such a rare occurrence is survivable if you have the essentials in your carryon.
Another strategy if you are traveling with another person is to cross pack. Put some of each of your clothes in each checked bag. If one goes missing, at least both of you will have some options. I can attest that when checking two bags at the same time, they almost never come out on the luggage belt on arrival at anywhere close to the same time! One would be sure to make it through.
Now if the airline misplaces your bag that is a different story, but these precautions should help there too.
Posted by
Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden 🇸🇪
1995 posts
Hi there, there's a LOT written about EES on the Forum, you can use the search bar on the home page, or what I've pulled up here specifically about baggage -
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/extremely-long-immigration-delays-and-checked-luggage.
There is no way to predict based upon past experience how long of a wait you might have in Zurich, but it's unlikely to be as long as has been the case in some other airports. Your luggage will be waiting for you.
This is a more general search - https://search.ricksteves.com/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=EES+luggage&button=