Technical Glitch at Airport Control Gates Causes Longer Waiting Times for Travelers
On Monday, travelers experienced longer waiting times at the border crossing in several airports, including Paris Aéroports (Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly), due to a “national outage.” The outage lasted for three hours before returning to normal around 3 a.m., as reported by Paris Aéroports. The computer system used by the Border Police experienced a breakdown, affecting the Parafe airlocks upon departure and arrival at the airports. These airlocks enable automated screening of travelers entering and exiting the Schengen Area, and the outage was expected to lead to increased waiting times at departures and arrivals.
The Parafe system, which allows border crossing formalities to be carried out in an automated, fluid, and rapid manner, is used in several French airports, as well as train stations and the port of Calais. The outage was national but only Paris Aéroport communicated about it. At the same time, air traffic was disrupted due to a national social movement with cancellations and delays expected throughout the day.
Travelers were advised to postpone their flights by the general directorate of civil aviation. The waiting time at border control was estimated to be an average of 40 minutes for an hour, and travelers in queue were apologized to by Paris Aéroports. Throughout the day hundreds of people found themselves waiting in line at border control causing inconvenience for many.
Only certain airports communicated about the situation while others did not leading to confusion and frustration for many travelers. Despite this inconvenience, travelers were assured that the situation would return to normal as soon as possible.
In conclusion, on Monday, travelers experienced longer waiting times at border crossing due to technical issues with Parafe system used by Border Police which affected several French airports including Paris Aéroport. Additionally there were disruptions in air traffic due to a national social movement leading to cancellations and delays throughout