The controversial EU border checks that have caused disruption for Britons at airports throughout the continent have not been suspended by Portugal or Italy.
According to reports earlier this week, the two countries would suspend the new Entry-Exit System (EES) regulations, much like Greece did.
All non-EU travellers must visit designated kiosks at border crossings to provide fingerprints and facial scans as part of the system; nevertheless, certain airports have reached a “breaking point” due to these requirements.
Some vacationers have missed their flights after waiting hours to finish inspections due to the chaos caused by long lines around Europe.
However, the European Commission said on Thursday that Portuguese and Italian airports will not be stopping the system, despite pleas to stop additional inconvenience before the summer.
It coincides with speculation that additional European countries, including Spain, France, and Croatia, would decide to abandon the EES, which might cause the regulations to “collapse like a house of cards.”
This week, Seamus McCauley of the travel agency Holiday Extras asserted that nations might be forced to violate the EU in order to save the livelihoods of those who rely on tourism.
“Countries won’t sit back and let Greece take their trade because they won’t face EES delays at airports,” he continued. Since employment are at stake, doing so would be politically poisonous.
All non-EU travellers must visit designated kiosks at border crossings to provide fingerprints and facial scans as part of the Entry-Exit System (EES).
The launch has been a complete disaster, with long lines causing chaos throughout Europe and some vacationers missing their flights after spending hours at border checks (Malaga Airport is depicted on January 2, 2026). The Greek economy depends on British tourists for £3 billion annually, and it has appropriately decided not to endanger that due to EES’s malfunction.
Ryanair and other airlines have also urged nations to halt EES, calling the scheme “half-baked.”
“Governments are trying to roll out a half-baked IT system in the middle of the busiest travel season,” stated Neil McMahon, the organization’s chief operations officer.
Passengers are suffering as a result of having to wait in queue for hours at passport control and sometimes missing flights. The answer is straightforward: governments ought to halt EES until September.
The biometric checks were initially implemented in October 2025 and were supposed to be fully functional by last month, but there have been ongoing delays.
One of the busiest airports in Spain, Alicante Airport, has been “pushed to breaking point” by staffing shortages and the system, according to local police.
A British vacationer who missed her flight was detained in the hub with her daughter at Málaga Airport, which has also been affected.
The 38-year-old Michelle Maguire and her daughter were scheduled to return from Malaga to Liverpool via plane, but due to travel delays that ultimately cost the family £1,000, they did not arrive home until 24 hours later.
The airline described how numerous airports, including as Málaga, Alicante, Lanzarote, Tenerife South, Gran Canaria, Reus, and Fuerteventura, might have wait times of up to two hours.
A parent claimed on Reddit that airport employees did “nothing to help” and that they were had to wait in queue with their sobbing kids for over three hours with “nowhere to go other than the lavatory.”
Pictured: The EES system is causing pandemonium for vacationers in Milan Linate.
The Italian cities of Bergamo, Malpensa, Fiumicino, Ciampino, Venice, Turin, Palermo, Pisa, and Naples have had especially long lines.
Long lines have been seen at the airports at Beauvais, Marseille, and Nantes in France.
According to Eleni Skarveli’s director, Greece recently discontinued the regulations in an effort to “ensure a smoother and more efficient arrival system.”
The modification could “significantly reduce waiting times,” according to the director of the Greek National Tourism Organization in the UK.
Greece’s decision is widely regarded as a calculated effort to safeguard its critical tourism industry, which is mostly dependent on British tourists visiting popular sites like Corfu, Crete, and Rhodes, which can each see over 2,000 UK arrivals per day during peak season.
According to The Association of British Travel Agents, Greece is predicted to be the fifth most popular destination for British tourists this summer, behind the United States, Spain, France, and Italy.
“In contact with Greece to clarify the situation,” according to the European Commission.
The regulations do not permit “blanket exemptions for nationals of specific third countries and for an extended period of time,” but they do permit checks to be deferred for brief periods of time in extraordinary circumstances.
It occurs at a time when airlines are still struggling with skyrocketing jet fuel costs brought on by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Travellers have been advised not to alter their travel plans despite airlines cutting 13,000 flights worldwide this month.
According to reports, there isn’t a fuel scarcity in the UK right now, and backup measures are in place in case things go worse.
