The time Brits have to spend in airports is being tripled in some instances, according to experts. It is thanks to the new EU entry/exit system, which means Brits have to go through extra steps when arriving in an EU country. The digital Entry Exit System (EES), which was introduced this year, requires non-EU citizens entering the Schengen area to register fingerprints and a photo when they arrive.

That same information is then checked when they leave. Although kiosks are often used for this process, some European airports have seen long queues forming for non-EU passport holders, including UK citizens. Rome's Fiumicino airport is one of these airports, with both passengers and airport staff complaining of the delays the new system has caused. Ivan Bassato, the airport's Chief Aviation Officer, told the BBC of increased wait times for passengers, with the publication reporting that some have tripled.

He revealed that, on average, the time taken for UK nationals to get through the border has risen from seven minutes to 20 minutes.

He revealed: "We are not at the point where you have the same quality of the process [as] before the EES."

He added that "certain aspects" of the system need fixing, as others in the travel industry have said that the system contains bugs that need to be taken care of.

Superintendent Pedro Oliveira, who is in charge of border control at Faro airport, said that wait times there for Brits have increased from around 10 minutes to half an hour. He also warned that, if more planes arrive than expected, wait times could increase to over an hour.

He added: "[EES] makes us very dependent on the technology…. servers often are intertwined and connected, so sometimes something that happens in Warsaw affects our system here.

"At times, there are just complications with the server of the European Union. Sometimes crashes happen in all member states at the same time, and we need a few minutes to reboot everything."

Tourists have previously been left stranded in European airports due to these longer queues. Earlier this year, several passengers on a flight from Milan back to the UK did not make their flight.

One of Europe's busiest airlines, Ryanair, has warned passengers to allow extra time for these checks.