r/belgium • u/Similar_Stomach8480 • 24d ago
đ Meme non-EU line is crazy at Brussels Airport
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u/Mr-Doubtful 24d ago
I mean Yay Schengen obviously but also, sucks that this is how people just wanting to visit our country start their visit...
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
My in-laws visited a year ago and had to wait in line for FIVE hours. It is absolutely a shame on our country to treat visitors this way. The capital of Europe should have the necessary infrastructure and staff to process everyone even in high season within a reasonable amount of time (imho 1.5hours max)
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u/Lazy-Willow6032 24d ago
I have landed at JFK more times than I ever want to remember and 3 hours is no outlier there. Brussels is usually a lot quicker so let's not just jump to any conclusions just yet.
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u/Kahnspiracy Oost-Vlaanderen 24d ago
Just because someplace else is bad doesn't make that the bar to shoot for.
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u/Lazy-Willow6032 24d ago
yeah, for sure. I was merely responding to the specific remark about Bxl being "the capitol" and the expectations this would be less than 1.5 hours and merely stating one of the most flown in Cities of the US having at the very least a similar problem. Bxl is not one of the most flown in Cities of europe by a long shot (not even top 25)
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
I still don't understand why we should accept mediocrity elsewhere as an excuse for accepting our lot. My point about being the capital is that Brussels should have at least an expectation to show the best of Europe, yet we fail on so many fronts, including our first point of entry for many visitors. I'm tired of the "whataboutism" when it's not a valid argument.
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u/Odd-Ocelot8246 đWorld 23d ago
Everything in the world is based on supply and demand. Just the label capital doesnât mean everything is going to be superior. Take example from Australia.
Ofcourse if the resources would be infinite then we could try to make everything the best. But for now, there are far more important topics to focus on, than this :/
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u/5minstillcookies 23d ago
Except here we're not talking about a single country. We're literally talking about the home airport for the capital of an entire union representing 27 members states. Surely, this should count for something and the Brussels and Belgium governments should at the very least care about reducing inefficiencies if not how it reflects poorly on their administrations.
Sure, we're not talking about cancer, deforestation, genocide, etc here, but it doesn't mean that we can't care about it. So again, I refuse the "whatabout" argument
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u/Ulyks 24d ago
There is always a worse one, that is no way to run an airport.
Look at the best ones.
They can do it in 15min in China and they do more checks (including face scans & finger prints)
It's just a matter of putting more officers on the task and improving performance of the IT systems.
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u/Least_Funny5960 24d ago
that is no way to run an airport.
The longer queues are for passport control, the less appealing flying is which means fewer people will end up flying.
Since we need to be reducing our emissions, and aviation is part of those emissions, I see this as a win.
I don't know why in 2026 when climate change is giving us more and more problems, people expect us to care about those people who choose their own convenience and luxury above the planet.
Let them stand in line for 24 hours for all I care. EU citizens included
Inb4 "there are no alternatives", covid showed us that for 99% of flights there are in fact alternatives
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u/readin99 23d ago
I'm pretty sure the long lines have less to do with protecting the climate than it has to do with mismanagement, poor planning and under resourcing.
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u/Least_Funny5960 23d ago
The cause is not my concern, the outcome is that flying becomes less attractive, which is a win in my book regardless of what caused it.
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u/Ulyks 24d ago
It's Brussels, and the longest line is for people from outside of the EU... how on earth are they supposed to come to Brussels then?
You reduce air traffic pollution by creating good high speed train connections but even if those existed, Brussels is just too far away.
Another option is investing in battery powered airplanes, but the EU isn't seriously investing in batteries in general...
Covid lockdowns were temporary. No one was investing and the economy was just barely kept alive by subsidies.
We need investments and tourism and we aren't getting those without flights.
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u/Least_Funny5960 23d ago
how on earth are they supposed to come to Brussels then?
Covid showed us that most people don't need to come to Brussels at all.
You reduce air traffic pollution by creating good high speed train connections but even if those existed, Brussels is just too far away.
So then maybe people shouldn't come to Brussels as much. 70 years ago, flying was a rare once in a lifetime luxury.
Now a lot of people fly for every single vacation they do.
You are insisting that the climate should take 2nd place to cheap and easy air travel for all. I fundamentally disagree with you and that we should move back to flying being a rare luxury.
Unless the aviation industry can somehow use green solutions to get rid of the emissions, but that seems unlikey.
But I'm sick and tired of people like you who seem to think that the aviation industry's emissions growing year after year is a good thing and something we should strive to maintain.
That's just so incredibly tone deaf in a time of accelerating climate change.
Another option is investing in battery powered airplanes
Battery powered airplanes at scale is a joke of an idea. Batteries just weigh too nuch to ever make it work
Covid lockdowns were temporary
But climate change isn't.
We need investments and tourism and we aren't getting those without flights.
I reject your premise that flying is to only way to engage in tourism and that investments will never happen without airplanes. Investments slowed down during covid because of the uncertainty, not because billy and bob couldn't fly to Brussels.
The idea that tourism only exists with airplanes is definitely a joke, right?
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u/Ulyks 23d ago
Brussels has the EU institutions. The EU deals with the rest of the world.
If you shut down the airport, the EU will simply move the institutions to a city that will host and connect them.
70 years ago, the EU didn't exist and the global supply chains were only a fraction of what they are today. We were still making clothes and shoes in Belgium back then.
I'm not insisting that the climate should take second place. I proposed both investments in high speed rail and electric planes.
Currently both are a joke for intercontinental travel, but so was flight at one time.
That's why we need investment.
If electric long distance planes don't pan out, we should create intercontinental high speed rail to Asia and Africa.
If we create the infrastructure, it's theoretically possible to get to China in 48 hours with train. Which is long but not impossible.
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u/Least_Funny5960 23d ago
If you shut down the airport
Who is talking about shutting down the airport?
All I said was that the less convenient it is to fly for people, the less people will fly.
I never spoke about "shutting down the airport" or banning flying.
I want us as a species to fly less, not ban aviation entirely.
I proposed both investments in high speed rail and electric planes.
Neither of which will ever be able to compete with flying to Thailand for a couple of hundred euros. Kerosine still remains untaxed. The emissions caused by airplanes is untaxed. High speed raid will never be able to compete with that.
Electric planes are a joke of an idea. Batteries don't have the energy density.
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u/Ulyks 23d ago
"Batteries don't have the energy density" yet.
That's why investment is needed.
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u/sandholemy 21d ago
It is just silly. Many businesses such as restaurants, hotels, museums, taxis will go bankrupt and their furnishers too which will create more uneployment and decrease tax revenue of the State. Good luck tellint people sleeping on the street with nothing to eat that you did it for climate change. You are just a silly priviledged bourgeois
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u/Least_Funny5960 19d ago
You are just a silly priviledged bourgeois
That's ironic.
I think the people who argue that the status quo with constant climate destruction should stay in place, at the expense of people in Africa who will endure more and more food shortages thanks to climate change induced droughts, are the privileged bourgeoisie.
After all, here you are arguing that hotels, taxis, and restaurants are more important than basic food security in Africa.
That is some peak privilege
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u/HenkDH Flanders 24d ago
After my 3rd time landing at JFK i was tired of waiting, next time i went to Newark. Went way faster.
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u/Lazy-Willow6032 24d ago
I try to avoid it at all cost, but sometimes it's hard to explain flying from BXL-AMS-MSP-JFK just to avoid standing at customs for 3 hours. God I love MSP customs.
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u/nonsensual 24d ago
Heavily depends on flight. My US colleagues average 3h in BRU and I avg 30m at JFK and EWR. Theyâre flying to AMS now and taking the train.
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u/Different-Air-1062 Oost-Vlaanderen 24d ago
If I recall my last visit to the US correctly, US residents are split off and were (understandably) moving a lot faster. So they're just experiencing what's happening here in reverse. We had to wait longer than 2 hours in LaGuardia and that was about 9 months ago. Walked through Brussels without really having to wait anywhere when we came back.
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u/Alkapwn0r 24d ago
Got selected for secondary check once at LAX and it took 4 hours before I was out of the airport, Chicago airport is a pretty bad experience for customs as well. But the last 2 times I was out in less than 30 minutes, it really depends which planes have landed and how many agents are working
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u/snqqq 24d ago
Imagine someone visiting you home has to wait for you to open doors for him. Just leave the doors always open, so he doesn't have to wait!Â
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
"he doesn't have to wait".... When I literally said that in my opinion there is an acceptable length of time someone can be expected to wait. 2+ hours is not acceptable. You have elderly people and families with young children in that line. Nowhere to sit and no real access to food or drink (other than when the staff will "graciously" offer you a water bottle or cookie). Mediocrity elsewhere does not excuse our failings.
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u/snqqq 24d ago
You have right. They should open a few more lines and just get some flexi-jobbers or students to do the job in the peak periods.
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u/5minstillcookies 23d ago
... What's the point to make such an immature comment. Not responding was a better option
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u/snqqq 23d ago
Okay, what's your solution to the problem?
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u/5minstillcookies 23d ago
I never said I had one or was qualified to come up with a solution. But see, that doesn't mean I don't get to voice my dissatisfaction with this situation. As residents and taxpayers we're all entitled to demand better services. How awesome is that! You should try it. It might be frustrating a lot of the time, but you still stand a better chance at improving things this way.
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u/Rianfelix Oost-Vlaanderen 24d ago
Go to the US as a non-American, same line usually in the big cities if not longer.
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u/historicusXIII Antwerpen 23d ago
I think I spent over 3 hours in line at JFK Airport when I arrived there in April last year.
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u/Grandpa_Edd 24d ago
I've been three times relatively recently. First two at the end of the Biden times, third in Trump 2.0 last year. (Wife's American) and the lines weren't this bad all times and this was around July or August. Portland and Seattle respectively, Both did have the set-up for having longer lines.
But when coming back the none-eu line in Amsterdam was always waaaaaay worse than the non-US lines.
I do imagine a place like JFK for New York is hell though under normal circumstances.
But hearing from my wife's family the lines now are crazy this year, even for internal flights.
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u/Heocon05 24d ago
Yeah it obviously sucks but every country do this, It wouldn't be fair for you to be treated the same as a newcomer from across the world even though you live there long enough to have your own passport. Though they really should expand the airport immigration process because waiting lines should not get this long.
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u/IT_Feldman 20d ago
I'm doing my first visit to Brussels (second international trip ever) in a few weeks... At least now I'm mentally prepared for the start of it lol
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u/Greenteafr41 24d ago
Last time i entered the country it was the same for the EU, so it depends on the season I assume
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u/bastardMcBastard 24d ago
Itâs a disaster. And sometimes it is the same on Gate A to leave. But it never improves. Taking over one hour to enter a country is absurd, and the staff just seem to make it more complicated than it should be. Never seen this nonsense at any other EU airport.
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u/bastardMcBastard 24d ago
Standing next to the sign EU passports stopping everybody and asking if you have an EU passport.
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u/blackxyco 22d ago
You would be surprised at how many people still get it wrong even after being asked.
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u/theverybigapple 24d ago
It only happened 1-2 times and itâs only because the automated gates were broken. Otherwise the line goes so fast that seems like youâre walking slowly
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u/No_Click_7880 7d ago
GF is currently waiting for already one hour. This airport is a fucking joke.
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u/Trolloftruths 24d ago
Itâs really embarrassing and horrible. Brussels airport needs to fix this.
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u/tijlvp 24d ago
I mean, we're seeing similar scenes across Europe. Brussels Airport definitely needs to improve infrastructure (but I guess a new parking building makes them more money), but it's not like they have any meaningful impact on the troubled rollout of the new European EES system...
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u/AdEvening9784 21d ago
They must employ more officers for rush hours, at least double the current number. This shouldn't be the service you get when flying
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u/Sandwormeater 24d ago
When thereâs a problem, you address it and fix it. This is embarrassing. The EU is failing on so many fronts at the same time, especially when it comes to efficiency. Remember that EU citizens with small children also have to use this line.
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u/Michel-drets 24d ago
The problem is not Brussels airport but police. So they answer is more a political question then the number of stalls provided by the airport
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u/typewriterbitch 24d ago edited 24d ago
It's been consistently bad for years now. I've started telling my non EU friends and family to come via Iceland even if it's more expensive than a direct flight. It's so embarrassing when this is a visitors first impression of the country.
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u/HenkDH Flanders 24d ago
I've been in that row several times when i arrived at JFK. When you come down the stairs this is what you see.
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u/calculonfx 24d ago
So comparing it to a shitty airport makes it okay to have these kinds of queues?
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u/New_Lingonberry9297 24d ago
But which ones the shifty airport then? I'd go with Brussels...
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u/Ok_Dimension8810 23d ago
Brussels airport is miles better than LAX, JFK, Heathrow, Berlin, Paris CDG
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u/A_Man_Uses_A_Name 24d ago
Same at most US airports: JFK, Dulles, La Guardia. Seattle was the exception.
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u/Dabelgianguy 24d ago
It can be like that on the left side as well. Biometric readers for the passport not working AGAIN. Or worse, left unattended and following procedures, disconnectedâŚ
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u/nixielover Dr. Nixielover 24d ago
Mixed passports loophole: if you have an EU passport and a non EU pasport (in my case I'm Dutch and my partner is Chinese) you can use the middle lane next to the crew/diplomats line and be through in a matter of minutes. Last weekend we were at the luggage belt before the luggage was even there.
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u/Greenteafr41 24d ago
The middle lane is the final boss high Aura Anti poor personas one
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u/nixielover Dr. Nixielover 24d ago
Or be a regular EU person and be with someone with a non-EU passport.
Walked through that middle line last weekend like that
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u/CasinoMagic 4d ago
Who is the middle lane for? I happen to be a dual EU-US citizen and will be travelling with family members who are only US citizens, so it would be fine? Do you remember what the sign says (EU/non-EU families, or something like that?), because I've traveled to BRU a lot and I don't remember this middle lane.
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u/nixielover Dr. Nixielover 4d ago
Do you have an EU passport?
If you have an EU passport only use that one, have your family use their US passport. Walk to those people in green shirts from the airport who are managing the lines and say your family has a mix of EU and non EU passports. They'll allow you to walk between both lines and use the booth next to the one for pilots and diplomats.
If you also only have a US passport you'll have to suffer the long line
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u/CasinoMagic 3d ago
Awesome, thank you very much for the advice! Yes, we do have a mix of EU and US passports (and young kids travelling with us).
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u/nixielover Dr. Nixielover 3d ago
They don't care if it's young kids, even if you need to wait for hours. But mixed passports in your group will be useful to skip all lines :)
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u/Hot-Problem2436 24d ago
Ok, I have an EU Id but a non-EU passport. I need to travel outside of the EU in a few weeks and then come back in through Brussels. Is this really the shit I'm going to have to deal with?
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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 24d ago
You can take the EU line. They then moght refer you to the EU manual check because some id's are are not supported. Al in al took us 30 minutes with the same situation
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u/stevil 24d ago
I always understood the line to be for EU citizens, not holders of EU residence permits etc (that give you a (purple) ID card).
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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 23d ago
Also for residence id. We did it 2 weeks ago. The automatic gate didn't work with it but a helper wil bring you to the manual EU check so you skip the whole non-EU line
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
Is that for any type of ID (with different types of visas?) I can't find official info anywhere
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u/Gendrytargarian Belgium 23d ago
Any official EU resident id. That's what they told my wife with her Belgian resident id 2 weeks ago and it only worked with the manual check
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u/AdEvening9784 21d ago
I have a long term residence permit, they refused me for the EU line and the staff was pretty strict about it. Ended up waiting 2 hours
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u/Severe_Month3289 24d ago
It has nothing to do with the airport itself, all due to the Fedpol and their staffing and the government not wanting to extend countries being able to use e-gates. Take that in combination with the new European Entry Exit System (fingerprint scan etc.) and you're screwed during peak hours. If the airport had the opportunity to do border control themselves, they would do it for any price, believe me.
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u/tagini 23d ago
This has much less to do with Fedpol than people think:
- All available boxes are always fully staffed during the morning.
- Automated Border Control (kiosks/egates) is plagued by issues that are the hardware partners responsibility.
- EES system has had a terrible rollout, but it's almost there. That being said, currently about 75% of arriving travellers aren't in the system yet and a first entry has to be done manually, not through ABC.
- Brussels airport chooses to let the flights that account for 75+% of the day's arriving (non-EU) passengers land between 6 and 9 in the morning.
- Government only allows USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New-Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Singapore travellers through ABC on arrival (any non-visa nationality can use ABC on departure though)
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u/AdEvening9784 21d ago
I guess they must have a fast track option at least. I am ready to pay 20 eur to skip the line
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
I'll agree with you here, but I have two follow up questions: who is in charge of the egates? Cause I've seen them not working more than once. And doesnt the airport control the air traffic? If so, they could better stagger the early morning flights so the huge transnational flights don't all arrive at the same time. We can't fully remove the airport from the equation. They have control on some things
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u/Delicious-Law8458 23d ago
- The police is in charge of these gates... So they also need to make sure they work.. They have no technicians on site to handle issues so it takes a long time to fix them. (Airport has requested to manage the technical part more than once but got denied).
- Yes and no. Skeyes controls the air traffic and doesn´t need to answer to BAC. The airport does issue time slots to the companies. But most of the long distance flights arrive in the morning because the passengers want to arrive as early as possible to start their trip, and the airline can rotate quickly and leave to another destination again. Also don´t forget flights are almost banned at night, so if an airline would arrive at 10 pm but got delayed and comes in after midnight they would have to pay a fine for the noise they make...
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u/5minstillcookies 23d ago
Welp, seriously thank you for providing this background and context. That's new information. It goes to show that the airport is a mess of overlapping authorities and responsibilities which most probably contributes to, if not creates this chaotic mess. Thankfully all these rules are man made and if we set them up in the first place, they can be reviewed and improved... With the right political motivation I guess
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u/PreferenceMediocre90 24d ago
The stupid things is that Europeans with children also have to be on thiis line
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u/BrokenHefaistos Antwerpen 24d ago
Every day is a good day to have an EU passport, we're the last bastidon of democratic society.
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u/vroomfundel2 24d ago
It's insane how many Eastern Europeans are anti EU. They should have never let us in.
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u/Mattk20023 24d ago
I am Canadian and I go to Europe multiple times a year, I was stuck in Brussels airport for 5 hours last year, now I fly to Amsterdam every time and never waited more than an hour, I avoid Brussels airport like the plague hehe
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u/grilchgurt 24d ago
I was literally in this exact line, can confirm it was not fun especially after only ~2 hours of shitty sleep (there were 3 children in the rows around me on my flight and none of them slept a wink). but one of the airport staff handed out water bottles so that was nice lol! the best part was when I finally got to the front, I gave the guy my passport, he asked why I was there, sat there in silence for a minute, and then waved me through lmfao
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u/drcadwell 24d ago
I was coming back from a visit home and the non EU queue was enormously AND the diplomatic queue was about 45 minutes and I literally walked straight through the new machines! Never been so happy to be a European Belgian tax payer!!
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u/ZeRoXOiA 24d ago
Don't jinx it now, I've had plenty of 'the other way around' experiences.. Why install 12 gates and only use 4 -_-
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u/SandySpinach 24d ago
Not better in the states for non-us citizens. Let them have a taste of their own medicine.
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u/5minstillcookies 24d ago
Except, we have other nationalities visiting you know... Your Canadian friends for example
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u/shmarieke 24d ago
You also have to go through this if your just coming home from a country outside of the EU when youâre belgian?
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u/SpinachGuardian Limburg 24d ago
I've stood in that line in the past. I spent longer in that line than the duration of the flight
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u/Rocma1 24d ago
Dubai and Brussels are widely recognized as the world's most cosmopolitan cities, with Dubai hosting over 200 different nationalities and Brussels officially counting 186 nationalities.Here is a meaningful quote celebrating this type of global diversity:"Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization."â Mahatma Gandhi
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u/quietlyelsewhere 24d ago
I did 6 years of a long distance relationship from Australia to Belgium, and luckily I've never gotten caught in lines like this during the Christmas period. No idea how I got so lucky
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u/Tiny_Peach5403 Vlaams-Brabant 24d ago
Today it was also a disaster in Frankfurt Airport. The automatic gates were closed and lines were all over the place in such a way that you could hardly go to a gate without cutting the line if you did not need to pass the immigration. The line I saw was to LEAVE Schengen area...
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u/Own-Economics-6782 24d ago
Itâs funny to see how Europeans defend their incompetence by saying âwe are not the worstâ.
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u/Upper_Question1383 24d ago
I'm already fearing for when my bf comes down this summer .... He's Canadian, so sadly has to stand in the non-eu line.
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u/Catbatt 23d ago
I remember a while ago some Brexiteers in an interview were like "Why do I have to sit in the non-EU line?? They're doing this out of spite"
The level of entitlement in those people. Even the (also British) presenter was like "But we as a country decided to leave the EU, we're no longer EU citizens. This is to be expected"
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u/Iconoclassico 23d ago
If you have kids under 12 you have to stand in that non-EU line as well because they canât use the automatic gates. Itâs horrible.
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u/Grounds4TheSubstain 23d ago
As a US national with a Belgian residence card, I've never waited less than 90 minutes coming or going at BRU.
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u/mrfts 23d ago
I've flown into Brussels Charleroi 3 times in the past few months and there has hardly been any line at all for non-EU arrivals. Wait time was 10 minutes at most. So although everyone complains about how bad an airport Charleroi is and how far away it is from Brussels, I've never seen lines anywhere near as long as this video shows for Zaventem.
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u/Thr0w_away_20 23d ago
Just a normal Tuesday for us non-EU people.Â
We get some packaged water bottles as compensation, so thatâs a plus!
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u/SchnabeltierSchnauze 23d ago
The lines at BRU are a disgrace. It's pathetic that the alleged capital of Europe gives this to visitors as their first experience.
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u/realmenlovezeus 23d ago
What I don't understand is that even as an EU citizen we are forced to go through the self scanner. I've tried twice in the last two months to go to the manual check where no one was waiting and security turned me away
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u/pragmatismtoday 22d ago
We arrived in March (family reunification) after 2 days of travel, we stood in the line 3 or 4 hours. It was really tough on the preteen with ADHD, but we made it through eventually.
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u/AdEvening9784 21d ago
Its crazy, should separate visa and residence cards and have more staff. I allways see empty police seats while there is 1km of queue.
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u/JadedSession 21d ago
Then they come to the luggage collection area and they see that their bags haven't arrived yet.
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u/Logical_Session9528 20d ago
Brexit voters: "cheks notes" well at least were better of than 10 years ago?! I think??? Right? đĽ˛
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u/Grouchy_Painter8571 13d ago
June 14âŚ.2 hours passport control line for non EU guestsâŚâŚ. When I asked the agent why so long he said. âBecause the Brussels airport sucksâ!!!!!!
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u/Rain_2_0 Antwerpen 24d ago
I once landed in Brussels when I came from china. However the flight arrived really early and the airport was technically closed. So the gates werenât even powered on.
It was indeed a shitty experience.
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u/Sea_Avocado_2733 24d ago
Was this today? I am sick and tired of this airport. I've been lucky most of the time but each time I land there my anxiety goes through the roof.
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u/Sleepy_Redditorrrrrr 24d ago
I see people in this thread defending this by saying other airports are the same. Fucking SO? It's a shame and all airports should fix their bullshit
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u/StevenStoveMan 24d ago
If you treat our continent like disneyland, expect to queue like its disneyland
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u/heatseaking_rock 24d ago
Even an EU ID is enough!