Arrived at Munich airport 5/29/26 at 7:30am on Delta.- only our plane in line at the time. Deplaned plane as the first 20 people to get off. Reached machines to take passport, picture and fingerprints with no line- only 8 machines though. Took 3 out of my 4 fingers on first try- yeah!! As I have trouble getting my fingerprints to take for my yearly background check for my job. Able to do in minutes but no questions asked. Long line formed quickly behind me so airport officials telling some people to skip and just go get in line to do manually. Everyone had to stand in regular immigration line and I still had to get my passport stamped. I basically registered but they were not really using it the right way yet. Took 30 minutes in the line to have passport stamped as they only had 2 people and they were very slow!! If I had been further back in the plane it would have taken a while. The line quickly backed up as I was waiting. Figure at least a couple hours for some people.
Posted by
Chicago
4184 posts
I had a similar experience in Madrid 2 weeks ago. We were the first group off the plane, so the EES line was not long. The machines were a little finicky. I had to scan my passport multiple times, retake my photo, and scan my fingerprints four times.
My brother-in-law and I were asked a series of questions; my sister was not. The questions included: Are you staying long-term or do you have a visa? (No.) Purpose of visit? (Tourism.) Do you have proof of financial means? (Yes.) Type of accommodation? (Hotel.) Length of stay? (We selected our departure date on a calendar.)
What surprised me was that after using the EES machines, we then had to wait in a second line for the eGates, where we scanned our passports and had another photo taken. And after that, we then proceeded to a third line to see a border officer to have our passports stamped. I thought using EES meant we no on longer had to see a human to get our passports stamped.
Posted by
near San Francisco
6304 posts
Oh my, little did I know how glad I would be to have a 4.5 hour connection in Munich for my upcoming trip.
Thanks for these insights.
Posted by
Brooklyn, NY
4943 posts
We’ll be flying a direct flight to Naples in 4 weeks. We’re very happy we don’t have a connecting flight this time. I will report on our experience.
Posted by
Midwest
83 posts
We had problems with fingerprints in Frankfort in February, but we are now registered. The process took about 10 minutes from registration to going through the immigration line. All of the lines were open at 8:00 AM.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
672 posts
A tip from a friend from when Global Entry back to US required you put your fingers in the scanner is to first touch your fingers to your forehead. As you age your fingerprints thin and the cabin air is dry exacerbating that. But a bit of moisture from your forehead can make a difference. No idea if that would help for the new EES scanner but just in case!