Today with David McCullagh
Rollout of EU’s new Entry/Exit system causes huge disruption for passengers
27 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the EU's new Entry/Exit system and how does it work?
Now, the rollout of the EU's new entry-exit system, known as the EES, continues to cause disruption for passengers in airports across Europe. The system, which officially became operational at the start of last month, replaces passport stamps with digital records, fingerprints and facial scans for many non-EU travellers.
CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, witnessed some of the chaos at Lisbon Airport yesterday. She joins me on the line. Good morning, Clarissa.
Good morning David.
This was supposed to make border checks smoother but you witnessed the opposite in Lisbon airport yesterday. Tell me how bad it was.
It was honestly unlike anything I've ever seen. I mean, I live in London and I travel around Europe regularly. So I had already experienced these very long and chaotic scenes when you arrive as a non-EU passport holder in various European cities. What was extraordinary about what I saw yesterday in Lisbon was that this queue was for people who were leaving the country.
And it was quite literally the longest line I think I have ever seen. It went on and on and on. And after waiting in it for about half an hour, I went to the front of the line and I asked the man standing there, I said, listen, I'm going to miss my flight. And he said, are you flying TAP, which is Portugal's main airline? I said, no, I'm flying British Airways.
He said, sorry, then you're just going to miss your flight. And I did miss my flight, as did nine other passengers on that flight. But it was just this extraordinary scene because there were families with young children with crying babies.
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Chapter 2: What chaotic scenes did Clarissa Ward witness at Lisbon Airport?
There were a lot of elderly people. People who were visiting from all over the world who had come to Portugal mostly for a vacation or tourism. In my case, it was work related and who just could not believe the mayhem that was awaiting them.
As you say, Clarissa, you missed your flight. How long did it take in total to get through all those queues that you spoke about?
So the lines that I waited in in the end took about an hour. Originally, the man had told us to be prepared to wait up to four hours, if you can believe that. But actually, the line, although it was the longest line I have ever seen, it did move. But again, there were so many clear inefficiencies along the way.
I have already given my fingerprints now when I visited Romania, when I visited Spain, when I visited France, when I visited Holland, and again when I arrived in Lisbon, why do I need to give my fingerprints a sixth time when I'm leaving Lisbon? The whole point of the system is supposed to be that once you're registered, you don't need to keep giving all of this biometric information.
So clearly there are some real gaps in how the system is supposed to function and how it is functioning in reality.
And do you have any idea or have you heard any explanation for why it's quite so chaotic?
No, and what's extraordinary is when you talk to people who work in these airports, they'll tell you this is a nightmare. It's no fun for them. It's not like they're enjoying the sights of all these people in the hot summer months waiting for hours on end, some with small babies on their hips. But there's nothing they can do about it.
And I've been told by border control in a number of different European airports, We're fed up. It's not working. We keep telling them it's not working, but we've just been told that we have to keep doing it.
Now, we know that some countries are electing to waive the system, particularly now that we're heading into these peak tourism months, but many others appear just determined to keep plodding on.
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