By Lena Bauer · Last updated: November 2026 · 9 min read

In This Guide

The Entry/Exit System registers a facial image and fingerprints at passport control for visitors from outside Europe, and at the airports skiers use it has stretched the queue rather than removed it. Geneva Airport itself advises at least two hours between landing and a shuttle or onward connection, its worst day last winter ran to two and a half hours, and Zurich Airport calls one to two hours rare. Your transfer driver follows your flight and the free wait is 60 minutes from the pickup time on your booking, half the airport's advice, so tell the driver from the queue if you will run late.

This guide covers passport control at Geneva, Zurich, Munich and Innsbruck for winter 2026/27, who is exempt, whether the system can still be paused, and what it means for the pickup time. Our border crossings guide covers the road borders and the vignettes, and the flight delay guide covers a late flight rather than a long queue.

Quick Facts: EES at the Alpine Ski Airports (2026/27)

QuestionShort Answer
Who has to register?Non-EU visitors on a short stay of up to 90 days in any 180, unless they hold a long-stay visa or residence permit from a country that runs EES.
Since when?Live since 12 October 2025, fully operational at every external Schengen crossing since 10 April 2026.
Geneva AirportWorst day of the January and February 2026 ski holidays: 2.5 hours, said an airport spokesperson. No average is published. The airport advises at least 120 minutes between landing and a shuttle or onward connection.
Zurich AirportUsually acceptable; in rare cases one to two hours when several non-Schengen flights land together.
Munich AirportReported at 60 minutes against 31 a year earlier, from a study quoted by the trade press. 119 self-service terminals.
Innsbruck AirportRunning since 19 November 2025, with extra border posts. No wait figure published.
Can it be suspended?The EU power to pause biometrics at busy crossings ended on 6 September 2026. Do not plan on a pause.
Does the driver wait?On TransferBnB, 60 minutes free from the pickup time entered on the booking; the driver follows your flight.

Sources: European Commission, 2026; Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), 2025; bluewin (Keystone-SDA), June 2026; Genève Aéroport, Munich Airport and Innsbruck Airport, 2025 and 2026; Travel Radar, August 2026; TransferBnB terms, 2026.

How long are the EES queues at Geneva Airport?

On the worst day last winter, two and a half hours.

A Genève Aéroport spokesperson gave that figure to the Swiss press for a day in the January and February 2026 ski holidays, when more than 70,000 passengers use the airport, as bluewin reported in June 2026. Geneva has run EES since 12 October 2025, and the checks are carried out by Switzerland's Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), which told the same outlet that the system works well overall but has lengthened inspection times.

The airport publishes no average. Its border control page says waiting times at border crossings are not available and that the airport takes no part in the checks, which are Swiss authorities' work. What it does describe is the sequence: part of the check is done at self-service kiosks with staff to help, a traveller with a non-biometric passport or a child under 12 goes to a staffed counter, and someone already registered can use the lanes reserved for European travellers.

What the airport does publish is advice. Its FAQ says passport control may take longer, particularly during busy periods, and recommends allowing at least 120 minutes between your flight's landing and the departure of your shuttle or onward connection, to complete arrival formalities and collect your luggage.

That is the number to plan a connection that leaves at a fixed time around, and it is twice the free hour a private pickup gives you. Some press reports say three or four hours; the figure an airport spokesperson confirmed is two and a half. The airport doubled the number of agents in the arrivals hall and put a dedicated team on luggage pile-ups, The Local reported in February 2026.

Read all of it as a range, not a forecast. The 2.5 hours is the worst day on record, not the usual one, and nobody has published the usual one.

The page says nothing about the France Sector, so the pickup there is covered in the border crossings guide. For the airport itself, our Geneva Airport transfers page lists the resort routes, and the Saturday changeover guide explains why the busiest queues and the busiest roads fall on the same day.

How long is passport control at Zurich Airport with EES?

Usually acceptable, and in rare cases one to two hours.

That is the Zurich Airport spokeswoman's own description to Keystone-SDA in June 2026, again via bluewin. The long waits come when several flights from outside the Schengen Area land together, because each first-time visitor gets a personal file recorded by the Zurich Cantonal Police, who run border control there. EES has operated at Zurich Airport since November 2025, a month after Geneva and Basel, per the BAZG announcement.

In Switzerland the system applies only at airports and only to flights from outside Schengen. A connection from another Schengen airport brings no EES check at all. Swiss, EU and EFTA citizens can use the automated e-gates, which Zurich Airport's news page of 22 September 2026 recommends, so a mixed party splits at the door and the registered passports wait for the others.

One bank of long-haul arrivals is enough to push a landing to the slow end of that range. If your Zurich Airport transfer is timed for a landing among several non-Schengen flights, expect that end. Our Swiss Alps airport guide weighs Zurich against Geneva and Basel.

How long should you allow at Munich Airport?

Longer than before, and nobody official will say by how much.

EES has been in use at Munich Airport since April 2026. The airport has installed 119 self-service registration terminals at selected checkpoints, while the identity check still happens at the German Federal Police counter. Children under 12 and travellers with reduced mobility are handled at staffed counters, and Munich Airport's EES page tells passengers to arrive earlier than usual, especially on flights from outside Schengen, without a figure.

The only number comes from a Financial Times and Qsensor study as reported by Travel Radar in August 2026: Munich at 60 minutes, against 31 a year earlier. The report does not give the month, so treat it as a sign of direction.

That matters to a Munich transfer more than to most, because the airport sits on the way to Tyrol, Salzburg and the Bavarian Alps. The Munich Airport routes page has the resort runs, and the Munich Airport guide covers the terminals.

Is EES running at Innsbruck Airport?

Yes, since 19 November 2025.

Innsbruck Airport's press release of 21 November 2025 announced the start, a test phase to prepare for the winter season, and additional border control posts for both entry and exit. Its managing director called EES a major challenge for the winter season and said he expected it to settle after the start-up phase. Trade press at the time pointed to non-European winter guests, the British above all, as the group affected.

No wait figure for Innsbruck exists in any source we could verify, and we have left out the wait-time tracking sites that quote one, because their dates contradict the airport's own. What you can plan on is the same procedure as the other three: registration at the border posts, a facial image and fingerprints on the first entry, and no stamp in the passport, and the same two-hour rule of thumb.

For the onward leg, the Innsbruck Airport routes cover the Tyrolean resorts, and the Innsbruck airport guide has the rest.

Who has to register, and who walks straight through?

Every non-EU visitor on a short stay, except the groups below.

The Entry/Exit System covers non-EU nationals travelling for up to 90 days in any 180 in the 29 countries that run it. It records the travel document, a facial image and fingerprints, and it replaced the passport stamp. The European Commission's list of who is exempt is short.

TravellerRegistered in EES?
EU, Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian and Swiss citizensNo
UK, US, Canadian, Australian and other visa-free visitorsYes, fully on the first entry
Children under 12 from outside EuropeYes, but their fingerprints are not taken
Non-EU holders of a long-stay visa or residence permit from an EES countryNo (Cyprus and Ireland permits do not count)
Non-EU family members of an EU or Swiss citizen, with a residence cardNo, whether or not they travel together
Nationals of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, Vatican passport holdersNo

Exempt travellers still show their passport and permit; no fingerprints or scan are taken. For a mixed party, read the table by passport: a British couple on holiday are both registered, while a British partner who holds a Swiss residence permit is not, whoever they travel with.

ETIAS, the separate travel authorisation that will cost €20, is not in operation yet, per the EU's own ETIAS page, so it adds nothing to the queue this winter.

Has EES been suspended?

Not by the EU, and you should not plan on it.

Until 6 September 2026 member states could pause biometric registration at crossings with excessive waits. That temporary power has ended, although eight EU countries and Switzerland had asked for it to be extended, per IamExpat. Since then ID Tech has reported that nine countries, Switzerland and Germany among them, still pause at selected crossings with Brussels not enforcing against them. No list of crossings has been published, and Austria is not named in the report.

The idea that Geneva is exempt dates from a February 2026 trade report describing a temporary suspension there. Genève Aéroport's page today describes EES as running, and so does everything else we found. A pause, if one happens on your day, only shortens the queue. It is a bonus, not a plan.

Will your transfer driver wait while you are in the queue?

For the first hour, yes, at no charge.

On TransferBnB the free wait at an airport is 60 minutes counted from the pickup time you entered on the booking, and the driver follows your flight. That hour has to cover passport control, your bags and the walk to the pickup point, and Geneva Airport's own advice for a connection is twice as long. Two landings show how little room it leaves.

A black passenger van waiting outside an airport terminal in winter

If your booked pickup time is 14:10 at Zurich and you land in one of the rare slow spells and clear passport control after an hour, and the free time is already gone at 15:10, before the bags.

If your booked pickup time is 14:10 at Geneva on a peak Saturday and you clear after two and a half hours, and you reach the kerb past 16:40, an hour and a half after the free wait ended.

Past the hour, a longer wait depends on the driver's availability, and after a big delay the driver cannot always stay, so speak to the driver when you land. Message the driver from the queue, not after it, and tell TransferBnB if the queue is clearly going past the hour. Our flight delay guide sets out how the free hour, no-shows and re-timing work.

Our advice at all four airports is the one Geneva gives: if anything on a fixed time waits for you after landing, allow at least 120 minutes. It is our rule of thumb, not a measured wait, because no airport publishes an average and the queue depends on how many non-European passengers land together.

Does EES slow the trip home?

It adds a step, and Geneva sends third-country travellers to standard counters when they leave.

Munich Airport notes that departures from the EU are recorded in the system too. Neither airport gives an exit queue figure, so the sensible reading is that the outbound drive to the airport needs a little more margin than the airline's own check-in advice already suggests. Leave the margin in the pickup time you book for the return leg, because that is where a late driver cannot be fixed by messaging.

What should you do in the queue?

Get ready before the counter, and keep the driver informed.

  • Documents: have the passport out and open at the photo page, with any cover removed, as Genève Aéroport asks.
  • Kiosk first: a biometric passport lets you register at a self-service kiosk where one is offered; children under 12 and anyone with a non-biometric passport go to a staffed counter.
  • Return visitors: if you have been registered before, use the lanes for registered travellers where the airport has them.
  • Message the driver: a short note that you are in passport control, with a rough time, from the queue.
  • Flag a long queue: if the wait is heading past the free hour, tell TransferBnB so it knows you are on your way.

Book a transfer that follows your flight

Post the trip with your flight number, then choose an offer.

TransferBnB is a marketplace: verified local carriers who drive the route send offers, and you choose one. The 60 minutes of free waiting at an airport are included in every offer, and the price you accept is the price you pay. Start from your route, from our ski resort transfers page, or book your transfer directly.

AI-generated images.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long are the EES queues at Geneva Airport?

There is no published average. On the worst day of the January and February 2026 ski holidays a Geneva Airport spokesperson put the wait at two and a half hours. The airport says it does not take part in the checks and that waiting times at the border are not available, and waits varied with the season, with the ski holidays the busiest. Allow for the worst case on a peak Saturday.

Is EES causing long delays at Zurich Airport?

Sometimes. Zurich Airport's spokeswoman said waits are usually acceptable and in rare cases reach one to two hours, especially when several flights from outside the Schengen Area land together. EES has run there since November 2025, with the Zurich Cantonal Police carrying out the checks.

How early should I plan for passport control at Munich Airport?

Plan for longer than before. Munich Airport advises arriving earlier than usual, especially on non-Schengen flights, and publishes no figure. One study reported by Travel Radar in August 2026 put the wait at 60 minutes against 31 a year earlier. The airport has 119 self-service registration terminals, and the German Federal Police finish the check at the counter.

Do British skiers go through EES at Innsbruck Airport?

Yes. EES has run at Innsbruck Airport since 19 November 2025, and British visitors on a short stay are registered with a facial image and fingerprints on their first entry. The airport added border control posts for entry and exit and has published no wait figure.

Who is exempt from EES?

EU, Icelandic, Liechtenstein, Norwegian and Swiss citizens, nationals of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, Vatican passport holders, non-EU holders of a long-stay visa or residence permit from an EES country (Cyprus and Ireland permits excepted), and non-EU family members of EU or Swiss citizens who hold a residence card. Everyone else on a short stay is registered.

Will my transfer driver wait if I am stuck in the EES queue?

On TransferBnB the free wait at an airport is 60 minutes, counted from the pickup time you entered on the booking, and the driver follows your flight. After a big delay or a long queue the driver may not be free, which depends on their availability, so speak to the driver when you land and message from the queue if you will run late.

Has EES been suspended at Swiss or German airports?

The EU power to suspend biometric registration at busy crossings ended on 6 September 2026. Some reports say Switzerland and Germany still pause at selected crossings, but no official list exists, so do not count on a pause on the day you travel.

What time should I book my transfer pickup after landing at Geneva?

Book it for your landing, put the flight number on the booking and message the driver from the queue if you will run late. Genève Aéroport advises at least 120 minutes between landing and a shuttle or onward connection that leaves at a fixed time. On TransferBnB the free wait is 60 minutes from the pickup time you entered, the driver follows your flight, and a long delay depends on the driver's availability.

Sources and Data

Related Articles