What happened as the EU entry-exit borders scheme finally took effect?

EU entry-exit system – what happened as the digital borders scheme finally took effect?Simon Calder

Transcript

00:00I'm just about to board a midnight plane to Prague. It arrives in the Czech capital at 11.50,

00:0810 minutes before the entry-exit system comes into effect. I'm really interested to see whether

00:16I am going to be among the first people to have their fingerprints taken as the European entry-exit

00:23system takes effect. Gotta dash. Well, this is slightly awkward. The plane has actually arrived

00:3425 minutes early, which means that it's over half an hour until midnight. I was kind of assuming that

00:42if we got here at 10 to midnight, by the time everybody got off and we reached passport control,

00:48it would firmly be Sunday the 10th of October. But, well, I can't stay on the plane while

00:55everybody else has got off, so I'll have to see what I can come up with when I get to border control.

01:04Well, I actually have been loitering around the terminal at Prague airport until it was well past

01:12midnight, hoping that the border registration machines would be turned on. But, unfortunately,

01:19they haven't. So, it's simply the usual passport control with an officer who stamps my passport.

01:28I guess my experience arriving here in Prague, uncertain as to whether I will be giving my

01:36fingerprints and my facial biometric or not, is actually how it's going to be for an awful lot

01:44of British travellers during the winter. Some places will take them, some places won't. You just won't

01:52know until you turn up. But, just remember, no need to prepare anything in advance, except perhaps

02:01emotionally, to be ready for cues and added stress.