The European Union began a new Entry/Exit System in 2025 but it became fully operational in April this year, unloading the heat on summer travelers. In the new system, they are now collecting fingerprints and facial images of travelers but resulted in massive chaos at the airports as people are missing their flights waiting in those queues.
The video of CNN journalist Clarissa Ward went viral as she said she missed her flight while she was waiting for two hours for her biometric data collection.
Ward showed the huge queue of people with non-EU passports who wanted to leave Lisbon. "I stood in the longest line I have ever seen in my life (no joke). All because of the EU’s recently updated Entry/Exit System, which requires biometric scanning for every non-EU passport holder. I saw lots of elderly people and families with small children. People who missed connections. Others who missed flights. Me included. Airport staff only let TAP (Portugal’s main airline) passengers cut the line if they were seconds away from missing their flight. Everyone else? Good luck," Ward wrote.
