For most of the history of ESTA, there have been some people arriving at US airports of entry without an approved ESTA despite being required to have one to travel by air to the US. Airline/agent error and IT issues on one or more side of the travel have been part of the picture of how that has happened for US VWP users.

Having a printout showing an approved ESTA doesn’t necessarily mean that the ESTA is still approved as valid for use, but airlines have been known to accept the printouts at times. At least when systems are up, the airlines flying to the US get feedback from the USG about whom should be allowed to travel to the US and who shouldn’t. In some cases this feedback to the airline even prevents US citizens, including those with a US passport loaded in the PNR, from being able to fly back to the US — much of that is related to the US no-fly list enforcement, but some of it isn’t.

When ETIAS/connections for ETIAS goes down on one or more side, it may make a mess of the travel and create even worse and slower lines at passport control than is already the case. That’s what has happened at times when US CBP has found some people to have arrived at a US airport of entry without approved ESTAs or if the involved systems for US-bound air travel and arrival processing at airports of entry aren’t working like usual. But it’s even worse when the CBP computers or electricity at an airport aren’t working in the DHS/CBP inspection facility as usual.

For a US-Swedish dual-citizen already with a valid US passport and ticket to travel from Idaho to the Schengen area but lacking a currently valid Swedish passport, going from Idaho to a place with the equipment to issue a standard full duration Swedish passport isn’t ordinarily as cheap and easy as flying on the US passport to Europe and getting the Swedish passport issued in Sweden. The proportion of Swedish consulates/embassies with Swedish passport-issuing equipment in place year round is much lower now than it was say 20 years ago, and the cost of issuing a passport to applicants outside of Sweden isn’t necessarily the same as for issuing a passport to applicants inside Sweden, with or without a rush.

To acknowledge that an increase in costs in time and money in the real world is a hassle seems to be anything but hyperbolic. To fail to appreciate the fact that such increase in costs is a hassle seems to be it own form of being patently hyperbolic.

I wasn’t a fan of ESTA having a cost, and I’m not a fan of ETIAS having a cost.

It’s a hassle no matter how a lawyer may try to slice and dice a word before or after a discussion about the word. . And yes it will cause some EU citizens a hassle and will hassle.

When automated/self-use kiosk border control went into place in various parts of the EU, it was often said it wouldn’t cause a hassle for any EU citizens. But it too has. ETIAS won’t hassle as many EU citizens, but it will hassle some.