My transit at Brussels Airport was marked by a horrifically slow-moving line with hundreds of people waiting to proceed through passport control at 9:00 am.
Passport Control Lines – Brussels Airport
I ate breakfast in the Brussels Airlines Schengen Lounge (A gate area) and then proceeded over to the non-Schengen part of the airport (B and T gates) for my flight to New York. As I turned the corridor, however, I was shocked to see hundreds of people simply standing around waiting in line, with queues stretching back way beyond the security checkpoint.
Thankfully, I fished out my Aufenthaltstitel (German residence permit) and used the EU lane, even though I am not sure if I was eligible for it.
It appears that since my late autumn trip, Brussels Airport has installed e-gates in this area, such that nationals from the UK, US, and Canada no longer have to wait in line to see an agent.
That’s the bigger point of this post…who has been through Brussels Airport recently and can report on their experience? Is it always that bad?
Because I’m not going through the airport again if I have to endure waits like that…it’s absurd inefficiency and just another reason why BRU is my least favorite major airport in Western Europe (still not as bad as Bucharest, though).
My data point is from Oct. 2019
It was as terrible as you experienced I have been avoiding it ever since… would be interested to know if the E gates have helped
My data point is from around 2018, I believe, and I have made it a point of avoiding BRU at all costs.
Hi Matthew.
On the 8th of November 2024, me and my family flew through Brussels on the way to Boston vis Chicago.
We were in the queue you’ve just mentioned for 1 hour and 38 minutes. When we finally got to the gate, the flight was already closed. Luckily United was aware of the situation, and re-booked us on a later flight via Washington. There was another 6 people in the very same situation.
Really, worse than Lisbon even?
For some reason, I like remote gates…but LIS is terrible too.
Nice to see nothing has changed since I was last there in 2018…same thing happened to me.
I have traveled regularly to/from Brussels and never saw such long passport queue. Generally very few people.
Get used to it Boys and Girls from ‘Merica. I have been traveling on aerospace business globally for the last 40 years. There were times I experienced this, as well as pat-downs, interrogations as to intent in Country and bag searches when the US peed off a “friendly” country. In my case I dealt with this in Germany, Vietnam and especially Canada numerous times. Mexico may be next. The local CBP staff were not subtle as to why this was happening, it was a result of US policy/politics. It was intentional and malicious and precisely designed to send a message.
So as the US Polyester Pachyderm crowd waddles off the airplanes in places like Cancun, they should prepare for such and spreading to other Countries as well.
Not a great experience I agree. BUT as a European enterring the US via L.A. or N.Y. on numerous occasions, the waiting time can horrendous as well. And after a 9 or 12hrs transatlantic flight, not the greatest welcome to the US!
My data points are from 2019, 2021, and 2022. Horrible nightmare every time. Avoid BRU at all costs.
I flew out of BRU last summer and don’t recall it being bad. May depend on time of day. CDG T1 has the worst border control lines I’ve experienced. By the way, I see you went to an A lounge first. It is an oddity of BRU that the best lounges are not on the non-Schengen side, but I’ve been contented with the non-Schengen lounges. Some time you should review the SN business class product. Notwithstanding that it is not the best airport (I particularly dislike running their shopping mall gauntlet), you can get good deals and upgrades out of BRU.
May 2024, and yup, somehow with my Mexican passport I was able to use a much shorter line, but still, not a fan of the airport at all, especially the Star Alliance Gold lounge situation.
I flew through BRU on Feb 9th coming from Geneva arriving around 8:15AM. Walked right up to the e-gate with my US passport. There was no line and I was through passport control in under a minute.
Hi Matt,
I fly through BRU quiet frequently (about 2x per month) back to the U.S. so all my flight I have to clear passport control. It’s been very hit and miss, and there is usally no rhyme or reason of when it’s busy at least for me. My departing flights are always in the morning. I’d say about 50% I’m through within 5 minutes or less. But other times the line has been massive as you’ve said and I’d wait around 30, but have up to 90 minutes before. The new e-gates installed recently though have helped a ton since they accept U.S. passports. I am not sure why some mornings it is extremely busy and others it is super efficient. I do know that BRU airport serves as a big star alliance hub for flights to Africa, so maybe it has to do with the timing of those flights? Other than that I can say I’ve had your experience many times before and never know what to expect at BRU airport so always err on the side of caution and show up 2 hours early, and relax in the Schengen lounge.
Just traveled through BRU (WAW-IAD) last week. Passport line for non-EU was less than 30 minutes. Didn’t see e-gates so would be curious where they are.
I DETEST the passport control lines at Brussels Airport, particularly for non-EU passport holders. So much so, I’d rather transit ANYWHERE ELSE in the Schengen area the next time I visit Brussels. The last time I went was August 2019, though. Can US passport holders use the e-gates these days?
“BRU is my least favorite major airport in Western Europe” Dittos. Frequent traveler to Africa and I avoid going through BRU, either direction because of that airport.
Was there in Nov and missed my flight to EWR by minutes because of passport line. They said they could put me on the flight to IAD but going from Polaris to an economy middle seat…did not take that option
Two things to note:
1. This is nothing compared to what we European face when entering the US. I’ve stood in line at Dulles for almost 2 hours before being seen by CBP.
2. In most European airports (certainly BRU and London, to name just a few), e-gates are available to US citizens – with or without a European residence permit. Not sure if the queues you’re referencing in BRU are for the manned passport control (those can indeed be brutal, I’ve witnessed them and it’s beyond my comprehension how bad they are), or for the UK + US + CAN e-gates, which are separate from the EU e-gates. If the latter, this would be quite unusual. In fact, as a European citizen I’ve occasionally been redirected by staff to use these e-gates when the dedicated EU ones have more than a dozen people waiting in line (which doesn’t happen often), that’s how empty they usually are. Datapoint is from Dec 2024, and I’ll be travelling to/from BRU again next week, so I can report back.
Mike, I acknowledge how bad the USA is…no one is defending the disgusting US approach to passport control for foreign visitors, but that is not the issue here…
It’s so amusing when US citzens whine and whinge about passport lines in other countries. I would open a special desk for you, one per airport staffed by the most miserable and objectionable passport officer that could be found and it would then be for you, just like the welcome we’ve all been getting in the US for decades. If US numbers were slack we could mix in a few visa dependent people selected because processing them will take a long time. A wait of about two hours for you should be the minimum.
You never miss a beat attacking the US, James. I detest Trump too, but just because the US passport experience is so bad does not justify the poor passport experience in Brussels, especially when it is so much better in other European airports.
Stop making a false equivalency. No one is defending the US here…
US passport control lines at US airports have improved a lot for Belgian visitors coming off non—stop flights from BRU. Use MPC and it’s likely the MPC-using Belgian clears faster than most Americans.
BRU’s bad passport control lines are nothing new. I faced them so often that I half-joked that some could make a small business of their own for claiming EC 261/2004 compensation due to missing flights out of BRU because of this mess.
Apparently some moderators on FT didn’t like that I know BRU like the back of my hand, and so one of them did what they could to disappear some of my comments about that.
I’ve flown through BRU at ton, as recently as March 2024 and I don’t recall any significant wait. I’m surprised others are saying it’s common, though I would probably agree that BRU is my least favorite Western European hub (I don’t like MXP either).
Regardless, I’m ready for ETIAS to get here so we’ll have e-gates everywhere, and no more of those boring Schengen stamps cluttering our passports.