The Hume family from Leeds missed their easyJet flight from Milan Linate to Manchester due to chaotic enforcement of the EU entry-exit system, arriving at the airport nearly three hours before departure. Of the 156 passengers booked on easyJet flight 5420 to Manchester, only 34 boarded, leaving 122 behind in Italy, as passengers on other non-Schengen flights from Milan Linate that morning, including two British Airways flights to Heathrow and an easyJet flight to Gatwick, were allowed through passport control while Manchester passengers were held back. This mass stranding underscores the severe disruptions caused by improper border procedures.
The Hume family's ordeal resulted in a significant financial burden, as they spent over £1,600 for a connecting flight via Luxembourg after being told they would have to pay £330 to be rebooked on the next available flight five days later, highlighting the personal costs of such airport chaos.
EasyJet responded to the incident by saying it is sorry for any inconvenience caused and that stranded passengers will be offered free transfers to alternative flights, aiming to mitigate the travel disruptions for affected customers.
Frontier officials at Milan Linate demanded fingerprints and facial biometrics from all travelers, even though they had been collected on the way into Italy a week earlier, contrary to EU entry-exit system rules, which specify that biometric data should not be re-collected for the same trip.
The introduction of the European digital border control system (Entry-Exit System/EES) has been blamed for long delays at European airports, as it requires non-EU citizens, including Britons, to register biometric information such as face scans and fingerprints, which can then be checked each time they cross a European Schengen Area border. The system has been phased in since October and was meant to become fully operational on 10 April, but its rollout has faced challenges in some regions.
A similar incident occurred at Milan Bergamo involving Ryanair passengers, where Ryanair said that due to passport control delays at Milan Bergamo Airport on 16 April, a number of passengers missed the flight from Milan to Manchester, with around 30 people left stranded according to one passenger.
Ryanair's statement blamed passengers for missing flights, saying that should these passengers have presented at the boarding gate desk before it closed, they would have boarded the flight, shifting responsibility away from the airline.
EasyJet has a history of similar incidents at Milan airports, as earlier this month, EasyJet left passengers behind in a similar incident at another Milan airport, Linate, which was also flying to Manchester, indicating a pattern of issues in the region.
Border control is run by the relevant border control authority in each country rather than by the airport or airline, clarifying that airlines like easyJet and Ryanair are not directly responsible for the enforcement delays.
Last week, a spokesperson for the European Commission told the BBC the EES system was working very well, with no issues in the overwhelming majority of EU member states, but conceded there were a few member states where technical issues have been detected, providing a mixed assessment of its performance.
The implications of these incidents include unknown reasons for biometric re-demands and technical issues in Italy, raising questions about system reliability and procedural compliance.
Unknowns remain regarding the total affected passenger count across Milan airports and what resolution measures Italian authorities might implement to prevent future disruptions.