Q&A: what are my rights If I miss my flight due to EES queues?
What happens if your flight takes off without you due to delays caused EES queues?
Q: If I miss my flight due to EES queues, who is responsible?
A: Biometric and facial recognition checks are now in place after the introduction of the new European Entry-Exit System (EES). However, the transition to this new system has not been smooth. A recent easyJet flight took off from Milan to Manchester, leaving 122 delayed passengers behind.
EasyJet acknowledged that the passport control queues were “unacceptable”, and even though they delayed the flight by an hour, it still flew with only 35 passengers on board.
Unfortunately, in this circumstance, airlines are not obliged to find you an alternative flight or compensate you in any way. Passengers have no support and must sort out and pay for other last-minute travel arrangements. In this case, EasyJet did agree to waive the flight transfer fee to ease the pain.
No one, it seems, is willing to step up to offer help for the flyers in this situation. The expectation is that travellers should allow ample time – at least three hours – to cater for the delays caused by this new system and have all their documentation ready to show.
If your flight is part of a package holiday, then contact the tour operator, though there doesn’t seem to be much support in place to cater for travellers caught up in this situation.
The Package Travel Regulations say: “Where a traveller is in difficulty, the organiser must give appropriate assistance without undue delay … helping the traveller to find alternative travel arrangements.” Nevertheless, if they do help you find alternative arrangements, you will still be expected to pay.
The best bet is to refer to your travel insurance, though it is unlikely there is a provision for this scenario.
Delays and hold ups also cause other issues.
We have found increasingly that long queues at passport control on arrival have meant significant delays before we can get to baggage pick up. When we finally get there our bags may have been taken off the carousel to make room for the the next flight’s baggage. Last time we found there were only three bags left going round, two of which were ours. Anyone could have taken them. We were 55 minutes queuing at passport control alone despite having got through the biometric stuff reasonably fast.
There is a growing security issue here that it seems no-one in the industry is bothered in addressing in the slightest. You can only move through the airport at any stage at the speed permitted by the airport. So, turning up hours earlier does not help. You just have to wait longer.
Security hall, same problem. So congested that you rapidly lose sight of your trays and have to get to the collection point asap before someone pilfers the contents.
And it does happen, same as theft from the luggage hall.
Not good enough.