Horrific Passport Control Lines At Brussels Airport

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).