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Emigration control delays from some European airports

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Emigration control delays from some European airports

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Old Aug 7, 2017, 4:57 am
  #76  
 
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MAD just seems to be swamped for people leaving in the 11 AM to 1PM bank to America.

I'd say between 930 and 1130 the lines are very long but otherwise reasonable. And obviously if you use IB metal, there are basically no lines in the non-Schengen corner of T4 main
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 6:40 am
  #77  
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Originally Posted by fransknorge
All my flights between Germany and TLS are id-checked since the Etat d'urgence. They are using the non-Schengen area for all non-domestic flights since then.
Interesting. I think it suggests that there is still quite a bit of confusion locally about implementation and perhaps layout-specific implementation. To NCE, since the start of July, my flights to/from BRU, ATH, and AMS (both terminals) have been id checked and my flights to/from ZRH, VCE, TXL (both terminals) have been check free.
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 7:34 am
  #78  
 
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
What I said is that "Schengen is one of the most safely controlled areas in the world", and I'm not really sure what part you are disagreeing with?

To answer cws's question on location, the 'Bangeman wave' was actually agreed in Madrid in 1992, specifically as a compromise between the EU Commissioner and the Kenneth Clarke.

The new regulation is part of the anti-terror legislation agreed by the Schengen area member states and it started applying in early April. It imposes the comparison of id data with the Schengen database for every passenger, which, in practice, has made scans both longer and harder to waive, but note that even before that, 'passport waving' had been the exception rather than the rule for years and in many countries would even be extremely rare as the 'Bangaman wave' principle itself was in fact abandoned a long time ago.
Basically I do not agree with the main point, I don't think the Schengen Area was one of the most safely controlled areas.

For me, 'passport waving' have been the norm and not the exception. I can't remember a single time in the last five years that my passport has been scanned in MAD (and I count more than 30 flights). Most of the time, quick look at the passport / ID card. Sometimes, just showing the cover of the passport. And in the bad days, Ryanair just dump the flight by mistake in the Schengen Area of T1 and off you go.

And around Europe the situation was not better. Yes, Germans most of the times scanned the passport, but not always, and same in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland etc
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Old Aug 7, 2017, 8:42 am
  #79  
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
"Schengen is one of the most safely controlled areas in the world"
Originally Posted by schrodingerdog
Basically I do not agree with the main point, I don't think the Schengen Area was one of the most safely controlled areas.
Are we speaking the same language? It seems to me that my assertion on Schengen being one of the safest guarded areas in the world, from my very first post in this thread, has been about the present situation not about hypothetical pasts at t-1, t-5 or t-10, about which I did not comment.

That said, as for our compared experiences, maybe I look more worrying than you but having totalled literally hundreds of flights to/from virtually every country within Schengen except Luxembourg in the past 5 years, the passport waving has accounted for well below 5% of my experiences.

Last edited by orbitmic; Aug 7, 2017 at 8:49 am
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Old Aug 8, 2017, 2:18 am
  #80  
 
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
Interesting. I think it suggests that there is still quite a bit of confusion locally about implementation and perhaps layout-specific implementation. To NCE, since the start of July, my flights to/from BRU, ATH, and AMS (both terminals) have been id checked and my flights to/from ZRH, VCE, TXL (both terminals) have been check free.
Someone pointed out in the LX thread that ZRH almost always scans but that it is so quick that most people don't notice. Thinking back on my experiences and paying attention on very recent occasions, that seems to be right.

Anyway - no issues ex-ZRH last Friday night, or indeed on return yesterday evening. Queue was a couple of people max and moved quickly.
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Old Aug 8, 2017, 2:30 am
  #81  
 
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I flew from LYS on Saturday. After security I turned right for the lounge but noticed the long line for emigration control on my left. Yet, when it was time to go to my gate the line was gone and there were no officers there to check my passport so I just walked straight through.
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Old Aug 8, 2017, 3:42 am
  #82  
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Originally Posted by Jpsartre
I flew from LYS on Saturday. After security I turned right for the lounge but noticed the long line for emigration control on my left. Yet, when it was time to go to my gate the line was gone and there were no officers there to check my passport so I just walked straight through.
Ils étaient a la Recherche du Temps Perdu, M. Sartre

Thread Drift - sorry couldn't resist.
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Old Aug 8, 2017, 4:04 am
  #83  
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Originally Posted by PUCCI GALORE
Ils étaient a la Recherche du Temps Perdu, M. Sartre

Thread Drift - sorry couldn't resist.
Sartre vs Proust, now that would be a polemic thread worth having! ^^^
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Old Aug 10, 2017, 12:18 pm
  #84  
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Hopefully things are better but this was MAD Passport Control at 10 AM on July 4th:





I'd never seen anything like it. A complete breakdown in command and control. No employees directing people or keeping order, no tensa barriers herding people where to go. Shoving matches broke out and eventually armed police came out to glare at people. It took me nearly 90 minutes to get to an agent.
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Old Aug 10, 2017, 12:40 pm
  #85  
 
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I've been departing from LIN on a weekly basis over the past few months and, so far (touch wood), never got stuck. There was a slightly longer queue the other day before the LCY afternoon service (a couple of other flights departing from the B25/28's non-Schengen boarding area), but I was through in less than 10 minutes.

G
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Old Aug 10, 2017, 1:03 pm
  #86  
 
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Originally Posted by orbitmic
Are we speaking the same language? It seems to me that my assertion on Schengen being one of the safest guarded areas in the world, from my very first post in this thread, has been about the present situation not about hypothetical pasts at t-1, t-5 or t-10, about which I did not comment.

That said, as for our compared experiences, maybe I look more worrying than you but having totalled literally hundreds of flights to/from virtually every country within Schengen except Luxembourg in the past 5 years, the passport waving has accounted for well below 5% of my experiences.
Sorry for the misunderstanding! I completely agree that now is quite safe.

My experience with the passport waving is quite the opposite, but 75% of my travel has been to and from MAD, and Spain was very well known to don't bother at all scanning passports.
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Old Aug 10, 2017, 3:07 pm
  #87  
 
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Originally Posted by missdimeaner
Probably a dumb question- the last time I departed from AMS I went through some e gates. Is this still the case or is it now a manual check ?
E-gates are available (at least in Departures 3 where the BA checkin is) signed for EEA, Swiss, US, Korean, Japanese, and a couple of others. The one time I have used them (the Privium gate was not working) there were no problems, worked like the Heathrow e-gates.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 7:17 am
  #88  
 
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Originally Posted by flatlander
E-gates are available (at least in Departures 3 where the BA checkin is) signed for EEA, Swiss, US, Korean, Japanese, and a couple of others. The one time I have used them (the Privium gate was not working) there were no problems, worked like the Heathrow e-gates.
Cool !
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 7:31 am
  #89  
 
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Originally Posted by AlicorporateUK
I've been departing from LIN on a weekly basis over the past few months and, so far (touch wood), never got stuck. There was a slightly longer queue the other day before the LCY afternoon service (a couple of other flights departing from the B25/28's non-Schengen boarding area), but I was through in less than 10 minutes.

G
When I was at LIN on Monday afternoon, the queue was small when boarding was called and I left the lounge, 2 booths open (3rd open when I was waiting), and each line had about 8 people. British and EU passports holders got through in about 20-30 seconds, but ID cards and other passports seemed to take up to 2 mins - I had a look back at the screen of the immigration officer when I walked past, and it looked like there was about 5 checks the system was doing.
I was though in about 8 mins.
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Old Aug 11, 2017, 9:33 am
  #90  
 
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Flew from Barcelona on Wednesday evening.

Security took 7 minutes. Would have been faster but they were definitely on a go slow.

Immigration was painless - 1 minute!

Gatwick on the other hand....
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