Barcelona Airport Experiences

[Lisa86]

Hello

 

Soon to be travelling to/from Barcelona Airport when joining/leaving the Epic.

Just wondering what people's recent experiences have been like in terms of queues and time allowed for flights etc. given the new EU security/passport control checks - made worse with current industrial strike going on?

I know there have been reports of people arriving 6 hours before their flight due to the queues and people missing flights as a result of all the additional checks....just wondering how true the stories all are--worried we'll be stuck half the day in the airport trying to reach the flight or indeed the cruise!

Thanks in advance! :confused:

[KeithJenner]

To get decent answers to this, you really need to state at least the country you are from, as experiences can be different depending on such things.

 

I'm going to take a stab and assume from your question that you are from the UK. In that case, there has always been an issue at Barcelona in that the passport inspection after security is very slow. People leave it too late to go through and then find a long slow moving queue without having left enough time to deal with it. This results in people having to jump the queue, which slows everyone else down even more.

 

I doubt that any recent changes have effected things too much, as it was pretty well as slow as it could be anyway. Having said that, I haven't actually been through BCN this year. If there have actually been 6 hour delays then, yes it has got a lot worse. We always made sure we had about 90 minutes to get through security and passport checks, and that was always plenty. I struggle to see how it could take too much longer than that.

 

If you are basing this on newspaper reports then treat them with a shovel of salt. They have their own agenda to press.

Edited August 13, 2017 by KeithJenner

[CazV]

I found everything at BCN to be very slow. I'm used to the slowness of Spanish airports but this was even slower than I've experienced in the past. I'd suggest allowing extra time going home, but 6 hours before is a bit pointless imo. Check-in won't open any earlier just because people are there.

[Cully1953]

We went through BCN to sail on the Epic at the beginning of June. On arrival at Barcelona airport we did not encounter any noticeable delays. I was a bit worried about our return to BCN for our flight home, we had a 10.20AM flight back to the UK. We self disembarked the ship at 7AM, and I had arranged for a transfer to pick us up at 7.30. This was on time and we were at BCN by 8AM. When we went to check in for our flight, the lady on the desk advised us to go straight through security and passport control. We did this and although the airport was quite busy it took less than an hour to get airside. At Barcelona airport they don't show the actual gate number until about 45 mins before take off but they do indicate which area your flight is departing from (the different areas are letter coded, A,B,C,D etc.) We were in the correct area for our gate in plenty of time.

[twobuckbear]

We went through BCN to sail on the Epic at the beginning of June. On arrival at Barcelona airport we did not encounter any noticeable delays. I was a bit worried about our return to BCN for our flight home, we had a 10.20AM flight back to the UK. We self disembarked the ship at 7AM, and I had arranged for a transfer to pick us up at 7.30. This was on time and we were at BCN by 8AM. When we went to check in for our flight, the lady on the desk advised us to go straight through security and passport control. We did this and although the airport was quite busy it took less than an hour to get airside. At Barcelona airport they don't show the actual gate number until about 45 mins before take off but they do indicate which area your flight is departing from (the different areas are letter coded, A,B,C,D etc.) We were in the correct area for our gate in plenty of time.

 

Thanks Cully1953. Very helpful departure information. We're arriving/departing BCN in near future. Concerned with industrial issues. Have heard horror stories. Hope you had a great cruise.

I hope others post their experiences and keep us updated on delays.

Regards, Judy

[mskaufman]

Last year when we arrived at BCN we found out that there was some kind of work action and our luggage did not show up in the terminal or almost two hours. There were people (not us) who had a cruise that afternoon. At one point the cruise line rep told them it was time to go, luggage or not. The line to report missing luggage was also long. Luckily we were there a couple of days before our cruise.

[Lisa86]

Yes from the UK, sorry should have said. Industrial action seems to have caused a whole host of delays alongside the additional checks being done.

Concerned of course following the awful events of today. :-(