A Christmas-week briefing by Expats.cz and VisaHQ warns Czech travellers to brace for a twin onslaught of Austria’s and Germany’s extended land-border checks plus repeated glitches in the new Schengen Entry/Exit System. Queues of up to 45 minutes were reported at minor crossings such as Slavonice and Valtice, while ID inspections on Prague–Vienna and Prague–Dresden trains are adding around 20 minutes to journey times.
Compounding the headache, Prague Airport’s biometric kiosks suffered two crashes in one week, prompting airlines to advise economy passengers to arrive three hours before departure through 7 January. Mobility consultants at AON estimate every hour of lost productivity costs employers about €68 per traveller once salary and overheads are factored in.
Corporate responses vary. Some firms have shifted meetings online or rerouted staff through Munich and Frankfurt; others are offering ‘bleisure’ days to offset travel fatigue.
![Road-and-Air ‘Double Whammy’: Border Checks and EES Glitches Snarl Holiday Getaways]()
Travellers looking for additional assistance can tap VisaHQ’s Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) where up-to-the-minute visa requirements, Schengen updates and personalised email alerts are consolidated in one place, helping both individuals and corporate coordinators pre-empt paperwork snags and navigate evolving border protocols with confidence.
Travel managers stress that holders of Czech biometric residence cards are exempt from EES, yet may still be funnelled into the same queues unless they proactively request the EU/EEA lane.
Recommended checklist: monitor live border-wait apps, use flexible tickets, ensure passports hold three months’ validity beyond travel and maintain real-time channels so assignees can flag sudden delays. With both land and air bottlenecks likely to persist into early January, companies are urged to build contingencies into project timelines and client commitments.
Compounding the headache, Prague Airport’s biometric kiosks suffered two crashes in one week, prompting airlines to advise economy passengers to arrive three hours before departure through 7 January. Mobility consultants at AON estimate every hour of lost productivity costs employers about €68 per traveller once salary and overheads are factored in.
Corporate responses vary. Some firms have shifted meetings online or rerouted staff through Munich and Frankfurt; others are offering ‘bleisure’ days to offset travel fatigue.
Travellers looking for additional assistance can tap VisaHQ’s Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) where up-to-the-minute visa requirements, Schengen updates and personalised email alerts are consolidated in one place, helping both individuals and corporate coordinators pre-empt paperwork snags and navigate evolving border protocols with confidence.
Travel managers stress that holders of Czech biometric residence cards are exempt from EES, yet may still be funnelled into the same queues unless they proactively request the EU/EEA lane.
Recommended checklist: monitor live border-wait apps, use flexible tickets, ensure passports hold three months’ validity beyond travel and maintain real-time channels so assignees can flag sudden delays. With both land and air bottlenecks likely to persist into early January, companies are urged to build contingencies into project timelines and client commitments.
