In the early stages of the rollout of the EU’s Entry & Exit System, French border points were largely spared the chaotic scenes seen around Europe – but in recent weeks waiting times have got noticeably worse.
From long queues to missed flights, passengers at French airports are increasingly reporting problems at passport control since the full introduction of EES passport checks on April 10th.
The EU’s new system of biometric passport checks – with fingerprints and facial scans – has been phased in gradually since October 2005, and at first it seemed that France had largely missed the long queues at airports that were seen in neighbouring countries such as Spain and Italy.
But since the end of the six-month introductory period on April 10th, more and more passengers in French airports have been reporting long queues at check-in and passport control.
Although non-EU nationals living in France are exempt from EES checks, many French airports do not have separate queues for residency permit holders, so delays and long queues affect all travellers.
Mael Cornic, travelling from Bordeaux to the UK on Sunday, posted pictures of long queues and chaotic scenes at departures in Bordeaux, adding that there was a single queue for all passport holders.
My flight boards in 15’. Well done #BordeauxAirport.
— Mael Cornic (@maelcornic.bsky.social) May 3, 2026 at 10:13 AM
He made his flight, but added: “The flight was supposed to be full but there were at least a dozen empty seats when we took off. Make of that what you will.”
Another traveller commented: “Bordeaux airport is the worst – chaos since the start of this system.”
Several travellers have also reported long queues at Paris Charles de Gaulle airports, where EES self-service kiosks appear to be going unused – as shown in this photo taken at Charles de Gaulle on April 24th.
Unused EES kiosks at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Photo: The Local EuropeThe budget airline Ryanair claims that queues of 1-2 hours are common in several French airports.
The company said in a statement: “Despite knowing for over three years that EES would become fully operational from April 10th 2026, the French authorities have failed to ensure adequate staffing, system readiness, or kiosks are in place.
“As a result, passengers are suffering long passport control queues and, in some cases, missing their flights. Long queue times for passengers are already in excess of 1-2 hours at Beauvais, Marseille, and Nantes airports, where a lack of staff and system outages continue to cause unnecessary disruption to our passengers.”
Ten days after the April 10th full implementation date, a Ryanair plane took off from Marseille airport to Marrakesh, leaving behind 83 passengers who were stuck in passport queues. The airport said that the issue was due to a lack of border control agents and long queues, but did not specify whether this was related to EES.
Several Italian flights have also departed without passengers who were stuck in passport queues.
The EU has already introduced a ‘flexibility measure’ that allows airports to suspend the most time-consuming parts of the checks – collecting fingerprints – during busy times.
However, in France, it is expected that this will be used only during peak travel times such as over the July-August summer holiday period.
European Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert said that Member States, if needed, “can always prolong this gradual rollout period until September.”
He added: “This means that by April 10th 2026, all Member States will need to fully deploy the EES across all their border crossing points and register all third country nationals crossing their borders.
“After the completion of the roll-out, Member States will still be able to partially suspend EES operations where necessary during a period of an additional 90 days with a possible 60-day extension to cover the summer peak.”
“This will give Member States the necessary tools to manage potential extended queues.”
Greece has already decided to suspend checks in some areas until after the end of the summer holidays.
What about other entry points to France?
When it comes to entering France by ferry, Eurotunnel, or by train, the picture is somewhat different – because full EES checks have not yet begun.
Despite April 10th being the target date for the implementation of full checks, most passengers on the Eurostar, Le Shuttle, or cross-Channel ferries are still not being checked.
Operators say they are still waiting for the go-ahead from French officials to roll out checks to all passengers, and most are still operating only very limited EES pre-registration (for example, only Eurostar first class/carte blanche holders are doing EES registration, while at the Port of Dover, only coach passengers are using the system).
It’s not clear when the full checks will start, and what impact they will have on waiting times.
Have you travelled between France and a non-EU country since April 10th? Please share your experience in the comments section below