r/MadridTravelGuide • u/homebodydiva • 5d ago

Transportation Any experiences with today’s rollout of EES at Madrid-Barajas?

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u/Ok-Abies-9431 4d ago

I arrived last Thursday. Most machines were not even on. I got to one that was supposedly working but it wasn't. It scanned my passport and seemed to take my picture, then it gave me a message to go to "line one." The queue was terribly long and an employee came by and I asked what "line one" was. She walked me over to the queue and had me cut in line about halfway in. I got to a real checkin window where the employee checked my passport and that was it. No picture was taken. No fingerprints were taken. Just "Have a nice day."

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u/Ok-Abies-9431 2d ago

Also when I leaved to go back to the US on the following Wednesday, only half of the machines signaled they were working and still none asked for fingerprints. Someone checked my passport and I went on my way. Have a nice day.

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u/DazzlingBee3640 4d ago

What rollout? It’s been a year since it started, EES isn’t new anymore…

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u/homebodydiva 4d ago

That’s what I thought. But I received a alert from Iberia several days ago saying that Spain would be activating the program on October 12 (yesterday).

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u/DazzlingBee3640 4d ago

Haha well it started on 12 October 2025, so they are only a year out! 🤣

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u/No-Sun8565 3d ago

EES has been implemented already for a while. Some of the machines were behaving finicky when I was there two weeks ago. I had to go to another one to properly scan the passport and fingerprints. But with that said, everything was okay. Barajas could do with some better signage but the people are helpful.

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u/castalabata 1d ago

I was wondering about this. My understanding is there would be biometrics for US passport holders. My husband has an EU passport, mine is US. When we arrived I went with him to the EU line and the officer just looked at my passport and waved me through. No biometrics.