JohnC6
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I'm posting this mainly for the benefit of those who will be going on holiday into Europe in the coming months, especially the busy summer period.
We are now in Tenerife. We arrived yesterday. At the Tenerife airport we were able to leave the plane ahead of most of the passengers as we had seats in row seven, infront of the wings and away from jet exhaust heat .We pay extra so I can get any decent shots, mainly of clouds but also to exit the plane quickly. Because we did that we arrived at the newly-installed biometric machines ahead of the crowd and no doubt, also of passengers from other flight arrivals. Those obliged to go through this system are non-EU citizens and, in addition,non-Schengen countries.
There were about 30 units set up to take eye scans and four similtaneous fingerprint scans. Only about five were showing a green light for use. Passports are to be placed on the scan plate and you have to look at a scan camera for a photo scan.. A series of questions had to be answered. Are you here as a tourist or business ? How long will your stay be ? Date you intend to leave ? Do you have accomodation booked ? Do you have enough money to cover your stay ? Do you have a credit card ?Do you have a return ticket ? My wife and I got through in about 20 minutes and there weren't that many people in the queue when we arrived at the scanners but when we turned away from them there were three solid lines of people..as most will know ..those roped-cordoned 'lanes'. Below our level..we were on the first fllor..were long lines of passengers who we assumed were departing and having to go through these scanners. We collected our luggage and went to the desk of the taxi company we'd booked through. A wonderful Mercedes took us to the hotel. It cost €83..a half hour journey. Before that I'd gone to the Tui tour reps to make sure we were off their passenger list for their coaches. The reason I mention this is because on past transfers we've had to sit on the coach for a long time..the longest wait was 50 minutes while they waited for Tui flights from eg..Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester etc. Then the bus calls at several hotels en-route to the one we were staying in.
With the delays re the scanners,goodness knows how long the wait would have been before departure. We weren't aware of the initiation of that system when we booked the taxi so it turned out to be an even better move. Another important advantage, at any time, was that we arrived at the hotel very quickly and were in our room within 15 minutes of arriving..not arriving with a crowd off the bus. We now book taxis each time but use the tour bus on the return so that we're 'covered' re the flght if there's a hold up en-route..eg an accident or very heavy traffic which wouldn't be the case going by taxi..ie privately..
There were such long delays at Geneva airport...the skiing season..that the system was abandoned and the old system of presenting a passport to a human being ...lol was reinstated. Infact,in Madeira in November we did go to a desk and present our passports and the Border officer..we now realise with hindsight..asked us the very same questions that were shown on the scanner machine. We'd never been asked those questions prior to that. Worse still, is that the. EU authorities concerned with this new system have stated that passengers arriving over the busy summer months are likely to face very long delays..quoted was 3-5 hours. They also said that individual airports can put the system on hold if they can't cope. At our scanners there were a couple of officers assisting people. I was surprised that after our scan and before we collected our suitcases we did have to go to a desk to show our passports. I told one of the officers assisting passengers that we had been through the scanners which, obviously, included our passports but she said we had to go to the passport-checking desk/kiosk...a bit unnecessary,I thought. It just took a few moments,though.
The hotel wi-fi drops out often so please bear with me if anyone responds and reasonably. expects a reply. 99% of the time I'll give a courtesy 'like' anyway if no reply is needed.
25C here each day. 30-35C on the balcony. The waves on the rocks are bit noisy,though..just like strong gusts of wind. Btw. We got 1.13 to the pound online delivered to the Tui travel agent in town..it was 1.12 there...but at Birmingham airport forex desk a shockingly-low 96 cents.Do the maths..lol....
We are now in Tenerife. We arrived yesterday. At the Tenerife airport we were able to leave the plane ahead of most of the passengers as we had seats in row seven, infront of the wings and away from jet exhaust heat .We pay extra so I can get any decent shots, mainly of clouds but also to exit the plane quickly. Because we did that we arrived at the newly-installed biometric machines ahead of the crowd and no doubt, also of passengers from other flight arrivals. Those obliged to go through this system are non-EU citizens and, in addition,non-Schengen countries.
There were about 30 units set up to take eye scans and four similtaneous fingerprint scans. Only about five were showing a green light for use. Passports are to be placed on the scan plate and you have to look at a scan camera for a photo scan.. A series of questions had to be answered. Are you here as a tourist or business ? How long will your stay be ? Date you intend to leave ? Do you have accomodation booked ? Do you have enough money to cover your stay ? Do you have a credit card ?Do you have a return ticket ? My wife and I got through in about 20 minutes and there weren't that many people in the queue when we arrived at the scanners but when we turned away from them there were three solid lines of people..as most will know ..those roped-cordoned 'lanes'. Below our level..we were on the first fllor..were long lines of passengers who we assumed were departing and having to go through these scanners. We collected our luggage and went to the desk of the taxi company we'd booked through. A wonderful Mercedes took us to the hotel. It cost €83..a half hour journey. Before that I'd gone to the Tui tour reps to make sure we were off their passenger list for their coaches. The reason I mention this is because on past transfers we've had to sit on the coach for a long time..the longest wait was 50 minutes while they waited for Tui flights from eg..Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester etc. Then the bus calls at several hotels en-route to the one we were staying in.
With the delays re the scanners,goodness knows how long the wait would have been before departure. We weren't aware of the initiation of that system when we booked the taxi so it turned out to be an even better move. Another important advantage, at any time, was that we arrived at the hotel very quickly and were in our room within 15 minutes of arriving..not arriving with a crowd off the bus. We now book taxis each time but use the tour bus on the return so that we're 'covered' re the flght if there's a hold up en-route..eg an accident or very heavy traffic which wouldn't be the case going by taxi..ie privately..
There were such long delays at Geneva airport...the skiing season..that the system was abandoned and the old system of presenting a passport to a human being ...lol was reinstated. Infact,in Madeira in November we did go to a desk and present our passports and the Border officer..we now realise with hindsight..asked us the very same questions that were shown on the scanner machine. We'd never been asked those questions prior to that. Worse still, is that the. EU authorities concerned with this new system have stated that passengers arriving over the busy summer months are likely to face very long delays..quoted was 3-5 hours. They also said that individual airports can put the system on hold if they can't cope. At our scanners there were a couple of officers assisting people. I was surprised that after our scan and before we collected our suitcases we did have to go to a desk to show our passports. I told one of the officers assisting passengers that we had been through the scanners which, obviously, included our passports but she said we had to go to the passport-checking desk/kiosk...a bit unnecessary,I thought. It just took a few moments,though.
The hotel wi-fi drops out often so please bear with me if anyone responds and reasonably. expects a reply. 99% of the time I'll give a courtesy 'like' anyway if no reply is needed.
25C here each day. 30-35C on the balcony. The waves on the rocks are bit noisy,though..just like strong gusts of wind. Btw. We got 1.13 to the pound online delivered to the Tui travel agent in town..it was 1.12 there...but at Birmingham airport forex desk a shockingly-low 96 cents.Do the maths..lol....
