Companies offering ‘airport concierge’ services say they have seen a spike in bookings since the start of the EU’s EES system of biometric passport checks – so is it worth paying extra for these?
The start of the Entry & Exit System across the EU has led to reports of long queues at some airports as staff struggle to cope with the extra requirements including taking biometric data from passengers.
Although the situation in France doesn’t seem to be as bad as in neighbouring countries, companies that offer ‘airport concierge services’ say they have seen a jump in bookings since the start of the EES full rollout, with the Paris-based MyDriverParis saying it had seen a 40 percent increase within two weeks.
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So will paying for this type of service help with EES?
There are many different companies offering this, and the exact services vary, but in general packages include a greeter at the airport, help with luggage and transfers between the airport and the nearest city, while some offer to help you ‘skip the queues’ at airports.
They do not come cheap – typical packages cost around €200 to €300.
Whether you choose to pay for this is entirely a personal choice, of course, and they can be useful for people with mobility or health issues or those who are not frequent travellers.
When it comes to EES, however, there is no way of paying to skip the process.
Rollout
Although according to the EU’s timetable, the full rollout started in April, in France, it is still not being used for all passengers.
Whether passengers are required to complete EES or not is a decision for the airport, and airports are allowed to suspend it at busy times. It’s not possible to predict in advance whether or not registration is being completed in advance of your flight, you just have to turn up and see, and concierge services cannot influence the decision of the airport managers.
Help with paperwork
Unlike the ETIAS system – due to be rolled out later this year – EES can only be done by passengers in person at the airport (or port, station, etc.), since it is personal biometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans that are being collected.
It is not possible to pay someone else to complete this registration for you, nor is it possible to save time by doing it in advance.
Queue jumpers
One of the side effects of EES has been long queues at busy times, since the EES registration takes much longer than the standard passport stamping.
This is expected to be a temporary measure, since each passenger should only have to complete the registration process once, and then on subsequent trips pass straight through the scanners. However, in the initial phase of the system, there have been reports of long queues at some airports.
This is where a ‘skip the queue’ service might be able to help – although it’s important to check the exact details of what the service is offering, and whether it refers specifically to help with immigration queues (rather than at check-in or luggage collection, for example).
There are, however, some caveats to this – travellers still have to pass through the appropriate queue for their status (either EU or non-EU), and if there are a lot of other passengers that day, they all have to be processed.
The other problem is that in some of France’s airports, ‘fast track’ or ‘queue jumper’ services are only available at check-in, rather than at passport control.
And finally, at busy times, some airports – especially smaller ones – have been merging queues into a single line or closing fast-track services in order to try and get everyone processed.
In short, look carefully at what is being promised and whether it will really help with possible EES delays before you part with your cash.
