Originally Posted by
RaflW
Set. 8, traveling in the reverse, Schengen to non-S, airport staff were calling out "EU passports only" even though the signs above the automated machines area said US chip-enabled passports could use them.
The manual-processing line got really, really long and people were getting sweaty (including me), when another uniformed staffer said "US passports that look like this [finger pointing to small rectangular gold leaf logo that, to me, sort of looks like a chip], CAN use the automated line!" The two "EU only!" uniformed yellers looked confused and a bit put out.
Originally Posted by
woodway
Transited in both directions over the past week and the signs over the automated machines clearly said EU Passports only.
Originally Posted by
RaflW
Huh. If I think about it, the signs indicating US passports could use the automated EU lines were maybe 15 or 20 meters back from the rope line before the machines, not directly over them. By the time I was up close, I was in the huge scrum and hearing the staff say "EU only".
Seems like the signage as well as the staff knowledge could use a significant tune-up? The machines accepted our chip-enabled US passports just fine, and the one staffer seemed just as firm in saying OK as the others were in saying No.
Going from non-Schengen to Schengen the self service gates only accept EU + Swiss. Going from Schengen to non-Schengen, the gates accept EU + Swiss + several others, including US. (The signs clearly state this.) This is probably also why the staff was confused.
Going from non-Schengen to Schengen is a bit of a mess now. Some big signs are up, but they haven't finished the reconstruction and so they're sort of in the wrong place. They have the tiny little signs at the entrance to the mazes, but the lines are usually way longer, so lots of people walk up confused then have to double back. And of course no priority line. Though the lack of security recheck was nice.
Also, apparently the self service gates open at 7am.