Brits in the Canary Islandsare experiencing chaos at the airports following a major change that was rolled out. The EU's new £1.1 billion Entry/Exit System (EES) is currently being tested for non-European travellers.

There were long queues and dense crowds at Tenerife South on Friday (November 21) due to testing, with frustrated passengers waiting for hours to complete the new biometric entry process. The rollout has already been difficult, with a system glitch knocking out six of the 10 biometric kiosks the day after opening, leading to huge queues of more than 1,000 holidaymakers. The EEScollects the fingerprints, facial images, and passport information of non-EU citizens. As the scheme gradually rolls out, travellers will soon not need to have their passports stamped. The new system is being introduced to make border crossing quicker and more efficient. The EESwill be fully rolled out by April of next year, according to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, meaning the automated checks will run alongside manual ones.

Despite this, as the scheme is still in its early stages, holidaymakers have been warned that they may face significant delays at the airport and to arrive earlier than normal.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, said: "Make sure, where possible, you're leaving yourself between three and four hours from the point of entry.

"If you're not leaving yourself enough time and you unfortunately arrive at an airport where there is a bottleneck, which in a lot of places there are already, this is going to add another layer of frustration and delay."

This comes after it was announced that EES checks for car passengers going through Dover have been delayed until 2026. It was meant to be introduced on November 1, already being in place for coach passengers.

In a statement on social media, the Port of Dover said it was looking to avoid "any significant changes for passengers just before the busy end-of-year period".

The port has been working with the French authorities with "a shared determination to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the gradual ramp-up period".