New EES. Should we be worried?!

[The Lone Sniper]

If have tight flight turnarounds at eg. London, will this cause bother?

Edinburgh Airport is affected by the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES).

This phased-in system, which began on October 12, 2025, will replace the manual passport stamping with electronic entry and exit records.

On your first visit to a country using the system, you will need to register at a self-service kiosk, providing your biometric data (fingerprints and photo) and passport details.

Once registered, a record is valid for three years, and subsequent visits will require a simpler passport scan and a single biometric scan.

[Souness]

Very worried 

[Broath Boy]

So, if exiting the UK for the first time since this was introduced is it in the UK you input your data or your destination airport (ie Athens airport)?

[stocky]

We were in Madrid last weekend.

Some people had to do the new system, fingerprint etc, they were trying it out.

I believe it is the destination airport, not the UK departure one you need to register.

 

Another Brexit bonus 

[PSJ84]

It’s done on arrival so a London connection will be fine. The system in Athens may not even be fully operational yet, so you might not have to do it this time. I would be sweating a bit if I was on the flight that gets in on Saturday evening though.  

[kumnio]

Had to do it a few weeks ago, no hassle.

You look at a camera, you stick your fingers on a scanner. That is quite literally it, there's nothing to be concerned with.

[GLOSTA]

4 hours ago, The Lone Sniper said:

If have tight flight turnarounds at eg. London, will this cause bother?

Edinburgh Airport is affected by the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES).

This phased-in system, which began on October 12, 2025, will replace the manual passport stamping with electronic entry and exit records.

On your first visit to a country using the system, you will need to register at a self-service kiosk, providing your biometric data (fingerprints and photo) and passport details.

Once registered, a record is valid for three years, and subsequent visits will require a simpler passport scan and a single biometric scan.

I went to Brussels on Eurostar the week it was launched. They were only making business class do it.

Thing I was at had loads of people from outside EU who had come in via airports and none of them had an issue.

Gradual rollout is better than the one big hit plan they had previously.

[Orraloon]

1 hour ago, kumnio said:

 

You look at a camera, you stick your fingers on a scanner. 

There's bound to be at least one person in front of you who tries to do it the other way round. Looks in a gormless fashion at the scanner for 5 minutes then sticks their fingers up at the camera. 

[kumnio]

14 hours ago, Orraloon said:

There's bound to be at least one person in front of you who tries to do it the other way round. Looks in a gormless fashion at the scanner for 5 minutes then sticks their fingers up at the camera. 

Sadly, that will most likely be the case

[Rich NATA]

Can confirm there was nil finger-scanning at Athens when I arrived on Saturday.

[wanderer]

Last weekend me and my wife were in Rome and Ciampino had it in place.... probably added 10 or so minutes more than usually spent at passport control

[GLOSTA]

Just landed in Athens from London. EES nor in operation. So usual queue.