We missed Paris flight due to EES despite arriving early to airport
Incidents raise questions about passenger rights in such situations
David Newton and family during their trip to Disneyland Paris - prior to missing their flight home after a wait of over three hours
David Newton
A British family say they felt like never flying again after missing their flight home from a Disneyland trip due to EES delays despite arriving three hours before.
It comes as there are mounting reports across Europe of long waits, and even cases of flights taking off without most or all of their passengers, as the European Entry/Exit System entered full operation last week.
The system, which involves the collection of passport data, fingerprints and a facial image from non-EU citizen visitors to the Schengen area, had been phasing in over a six-month period from October 12, 2025.
France is, however, still facing technical issues, with self-service kiosks and
tablet computers, meant to speed up the process, largely not yet in use.
Briton David Newton said he was left “thinking twice
about flying ever again” after huge delays at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport after family a trip to Disneyland Paris with his wife and four-year-old daughter.
He said there were significant queues on arrival from the UK, related to the new EES procedures, including the taking of fingerprint scans and facial images (at the border guard's desks; no kiosks were in use), with which they had been unfamiliar.
However, the real problems occured on departure, when the family
arrived three hours in advance for their return flight.
Check-in with easyJet and security took an hour and a
half, after which they faced huge queues with what appeared to be “thousands of
people” for passport control, Mr Newton said. Only about a quarter of the available border guard passport booths appeared to be manned.
"No members of staff would explain what was happening or even acknowledge we were there. When trying to explain our flight was due to take off, we were rudely told to stand in line and stop asking questions, that it was all in hand."
"It was just horrendous. A lot of people were returning from Disneyland with children," he said.
After waiting three hours, they missed their flight.
They then had to leave the secure area, collect their luggage, and wait four hours before
they could check in again for another flight. At passport control, the whole
procedure, including fingerprints and facial scans, was repeated, and staff did
not explain why it was necessary when he asked. Kiosks were again out of use.
Delays were worsened by practical difficulties, with
children struggling to follow instructions and disabled passengers unable to
stand for facial photographs.
"It made a lot of people very angry and frustrated, but a simple explanation or announcement could have calmed the situation," Mr Newton, 43, said.
“It was extremely stressful and I was made to feel like a
criminal for simply passing through a border to get home."
Although the family were placed on the next available flight,
the self-employed industrial tools supplier said “a lot of people were missing flights", with some passengers unable to fly until the following day.
Compensation for EES-related delays
He said he would apply to easyJet for compensation.
However, in such situations airlines do not usually give it beyond a replacement flight. This is because EU compensation regulations apply only if
the airline is responsible. Border delays are considered outside their control.
A spokesperson for Aéroports de Paris said: "As regards the roll-out of EES at our airports, at this stage there has been no increase in waiting times at border controls at Paris airports linked to the system’s implementation.
"Whenever there is excessive queuing, we revert to the manual procedure to prevent congestion at our facilities.
"Unfortunately, I do not have enough information to respond to your reader’s case and tell you what caused their mishap. In France, border control falls under the responsibility of the French police, with whom we work closely to ensure the best possible experience for our passengers.
"Nevertheless, we are all committed to improving our services, so I can only advise your reader to submit a complaint to our customer service team, who will be able to investigate their negative experience, provide them with feedback, and report any malfunctions to the operational teams."
Other recent reports of missed flights came from Spain and also Milan
A Ryanair flight from Tours to
Marrakesh also departed without all passengers with delays being attributed to a
gendarmerie inspection and EES-related checks.
