Budget carrier Ryanair emailed customers on 31 December to flag “significant delays” at Spanish airports—especially Málaga—after the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) went live in trial mode just before Christmas. The automated border-management platform records biometric data and border-crossings of all third-country travellers, including Irish citizens returning home, but teething problems have left passengers in queues of up to two hours.
Irish holidaymakers returning from the Costa del Sol reported missed flights and frantic re-bookings as Spanish National Police officers switched between malfunctioning kiosks and manual stamping. Ryanair is advising passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure, proceed directly to security and passport control after bag-drop and monitor airline alerts for gate-changes.
Travellers who feel uneasy about the fast-changing border procedures can turn to VisaHQ for up-to-date advice on EES requirements, document checks and contingency planning; the service helps Irish passport holders navigate everything from biometric registrations to visa needs for onward destinations, all accessible at https://www.visahq.com/ireland/.
![Ryanair Issues Urgent Warning over Entry/Exit System Queues in Spain]()
Because Ireland remains outside the Schengen Area, every inbound Irish passenger must have both their entry and exit logged, making them particularly vulnerable to the glitches. Travel-management companies have begun rerouting some corporate passengers through Lisbon and Paris—airports not yet trialling EES—to reduce risk.
Spain’s interior ministry insists staffing is adequate, blaming the surge on holiday traffic, while Ryanair has called on authorities to deploy more officers and keep queuing times under 45 minutes. The European Commission says full EES roll-out is slated for October 2026, giving operators nine months to iron out bugs.
For Irish businesses, the incident is an early warning. Once EES is fully operational across the EU, any failure to scan on exit could invalidate subsequent Schengen entries and complicate posted-worker compliance. Mobility teams should start building EES buffer time into itineraries and brief employees on the importance of retaining boarding passes and passport stamps until they receive confirmation that both crossings were logged correctly.
Irish holidaymakers returning from the Costa del Sol reported missed flights and frantic re-bookings as Spanish National Police officers switched between malfunctioning kiosks and manual stamping. Ryanair is advising passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure, proceed directly to security and passport control after bag-drop and monitor airline alerts for gate-changes.
Travellers who feel uneasy about the fast-changing border procedures can turn to VisaHQ for up-to-date advice on EES requirements, document checks and contingency planning; the service helps Irish passport holders navigate everything from biometric registrations to visa needs for onward destinations, all accessible at https://www.visahq.com/ireland/.
Because Ireland remains outside the Schengen Area, every inbound Irish passenger must have both their entry and exit logged, making them particularly vulnerable to the glitches. Travel-management companies have begun rerouting some corporate passengers through Lisbon and Paris—airports not yet trialling EES—to reduce risk.
Spain’s interior ministry insists staffing is adequate, blaming the surge on holiday traffic, while Ryanair has called on authorities to deploy more officers and keep queuing times under 45 minutes. The European Commission says full EES roll-out is slated for October 2026, giving operators nine months to iron out bugs.
For Irish businesses, the incident is an early warning. Once EES is fully operational across the EU, any failure to scan on exit could invalidate subsequent Schengen entries and complicate posted-worker compliance. Mobility teams should start building EES buffer time into itineraries and brief employees on the importance of retaining boarding passes and passport stamps until they receive confirmation that both crossings were logged correctly.
