Europe’s new biometric border wants four fingerprints from American visitors. Many of them would prefer to give it one particular finger instead. The Entry/Exit System was declared fully operational on April 10, before the Summer crowds arrived and began testing what “fully operational” meant. Now airports are packed, connections are tight and older travelers are spending the opening minutes of their vacation trying to persuade a kiosk that they still possess fingerprints. Under EES, passport stamps give way to facial images, fingerprints and digital travel records. The rules apply to Americans and other non-European visitors making short stays in the Schengen area. On their first crossing, travelers register their passport details, face and fingerprints. Later checks are supposed to be faster because the information is already stored. The database also records entries and exits and identifies possible overstays, taking over from the passport stamp, which was administratively imprecise but at least made a decent souvenir. The strain is most visible at the registration kiosks. A 72-year-old woman told Connexion France that she tried five times to register her fingerprints at Rome Fiumicino before being sent to a long line for an officer. A new report published Sunday describes similar trouble involving elderly and visually impaired passengers, along with three-hour queues and entries or exits going unrecorded. Some travelers were left wondering whether the database now regarded them as overstayers. The fingerprint failures themselves are no mystery. NIST research has found that age affects fingerprint image quality, with older people more likely to produce borderline-quality prints. Moisture and occupation can also affect a sensor’s ability to capture a usable image. Scars and years of manual work can make prints harder to capture, which is why older people may need several attempts to produce a usable image. The kiosk merely decides whether