Some travellers passing through the new EU entry-exit system (EES) have faced huge delays at border checks, with some waiting for up to three hours, airports say.

The new rules have gradually been introduced in Europe since October 2025, and came into effect on Friday in the Schengen countries – 25 of the EU’s 27 states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Hundreds of people responded to a Guardian online callout to share their experiences of travelling to Europe since the rules came into effect. Though some said they had a problem-free journey, many reported severe delays, which have caused some to miss their flights.

Travellers described problems with fingerprints not being accepted and additional delays when travelling with children. Many said there was little guidance on using the kiosks. Some also said they had to repeat the registration process on each leg of their journey, despite having already completed it, with no explanations from staff – or no staff available to ask.

Dave Giles, 47, an IT manager from Raunds in Northamptonshire, missed his flight home on 12 April from Copenhagen, where he had been to a music festival with his family, after being caught in long queues at passport control despite arriving hours early.

“When they called the gate and we got down towards passport control, there was a queue of probably 80 to 100 people in front of us and only three kiosks checking passports,” he said. “Before long, one of those closed.”

Staff appeared aware of the issue, but were unable to resolve it in time. “A supervisor was making calls asking them to hold the gate open,” he said, but by the time he reached the front, “the gate had been closed a few seconds before we arrived”.

The disruption left him significantly out of pocket, forcing him to buy new flights for the following day, find accommodation for that night and pay extra parking charges at Stansted. He also had to hire a car and drive from Heathrow to Stansted, as the only available flight landed there. “We’ve got receipts for about £1,800 – it’s probably over £2,000 in total. It’s extremely frustrating.”

Giles said he did not expect to see that money again. “Insurance won’t touch it. The airline said it wasn’t their fault,” he said, adding that he had emailed the airport. “I’d be surprised to get a reply from anybody.”

Georgia, from London, experienced a four-hour delay on arrival at Pisa airport on 10 April. “There were no staff in sight to advise on waiting times,” she said.

For Georgia, who is five months pregnant, it was an arduous wait. “There were people with infants but no special assistance available, or any seating. People in the back of the queue became very hot, stuck in a windowless corridor for hours.

“I sat on the floor and had to tell the people around me I was pregnant and to give me some space because I was almost fainting. They were handing out water, but only when you got to the very front of the queue, which was about four hours in.”

She said she was now apprehensive about travelling in Europe again. “I was meant to fly to Paris this weekend with my husband, but I’ve cancelled the trip just because I couldn’t face it again. I have a trip to Greece coming up, but I saw that they’re now not following the new system, which was amazing news.”

Stuart MacLennan, 49, from Oban in Scotland, found travelling with children particularly difficult. He flew from Glasgow to Málaga on 11 April, where he was met with long queues as a number of flights had arrived at the same time. This delay was a “nightmare”, Stuart says.

He and his wife had to wait with their children, aged one and seven. “There was no real direction as to where to go,” he said. “After about half an hour, we were moved into a different line because we had children under the age of 12. We then queued for two-and-a-half hours before we eventually got to passport control.”

His return journey from Málaga four days later was worse, with a queue of three-and-a-half hours for those with under-12s. Like Georgia, he wants to avoid the system in future. “It would put me off travelling back to busier European airports,” he said.

Other travellers said the self-service kiosks meant to be used to process their registrations had been either not yet in use or not working.

Dylan Thomas, 23, an HR associate from Lincolnshire, experienced delays using the system on two recent trips. He said there had been a two-hour wait on arrival in Madeira on 15 March and on his return journey from a solo trip to Brussels on the Eurostar on 6 April.

“It was ridiculous,” he said. “There must have been about 20 machines, but they all had plastic wrapping on them and couldn’t be used … There was only one person manually checking everyone.”

Paul Coleman, a retired volunteer from Southend-on-Sea, said staff at Kraków airport in early February had resorted to using their own mobile phones. He and his wife, Nicolette faced a three-hour wait at passport control.

“The cameras on the machines weren’t working, so they got their mobile phones out and took pictures of us. It was just crazy,” he says. “There was no explanation of what the hold-up was, no apology.”

Delays could have a particular impact on elderly people, said David, 75, from Durham. On a trip to Gran Canaria in February, he was kept on the plane for 30 minutes due to the queues at Fuerteventura airport. “The first single queue was huge, which everyone had to join, even those who had provided their biometrics previously. They should be separate. Better signage, shown earlier, would speed the process up.

“They had a system where they herd non-EU passport holders into an area with glass partition walls. There’s not enough seats. You’ve got a lot of elderly people standing, with no toilet facilities. If you do have to go to one of the toilets in the other area, you get searched again. It really is a mess.”

He added: “The airlines seem to have abdicated any responsibility. They just said: it’s your job to get to the gate.”

“I think the overriding thing is it’s inconsistent,. You’ve got no idea what’s going to happen when you hit these airports.”