New security system causes major delays at Europe's airports amid peak travel season

New security system causes major delays at Europe's airports amid peak travel season New security system causes major delays at Europe's airports amid peak travel season The European Union recently implemented a new security system to better monitor foreigners who enter and exit. But its messy rollout has upended the summer travel season. DON GONYEA, HOST: Wait times at European airports are, shall we say, up in the air. The European Union has implemented new facial recognition and fingerprinting systems at border crossings and in airports across the Schengen zone. That's the area of Europe where travelers can freely move without being rechecked at borders. It's called the entry exit system, EES for short. It's meant to keep better track of who comes in and who goes out. But the system has caused massive delays during Europe's peak summer travel season, and airports and airlines have pleaded with the EU to temporarily suspend it. Gunnar Olson has been covering this story for the website Thrifty Traveler. Welcome, Gunnar. GUNNAR OLSON: Thank you. Thanks for having me. GONYEA: I understand you've used this new biometric system. So walk us through exactly what the experience is like. OLSON: Well, my experience is probably going to infuriate anybody who sat in one of these long lines because I cleared EES with no line in about two minutes at the Rome airport in May, but I have a colleague who had the absolute opposite experience when he sat in a three-hour line in Copenhagen in June, after the kiosks all went down and they had to switch back to manual processing. So you could say that this experience is at least inconsistent for most travelers right now. GONYEA: OK. And - but then what exactly did they do? Just kind of walk us through