Long lines at BCN passport control

This is no difference to Europeans arriving in USA, Chicago O'Hare is nearly always like this, Newark NJ is not much better.

The lines for Aliens are rarely fast often 2 hours/ 90 mins. I have twice been close to missing connecting flights onward from Newark/ O'Hare ,despite having 3 hours between arrival and on going flight.

We usually arrive in MIA or LA and have not seen this type of delay. Not the way we should greet our guests either. Need to find a better way. Sorry to those who are having this problem when visiting here. Should be a way to fix it here and overseas for us.

We have flown in every Oct for the last 3 years. Never has it been bad and last year we were thru in less than 5 min. No wait at all. We will be there again in Nov this year. I have been stuck in lines much longer at Tampa.

Just went thru BCN on Monday. Not bad because our passport control was just for our flight (about 200 people) would not let us go thru till about 20 minutes before boarding. We arrived 3 hours before and we were at our passport control with 2 hours to go. Passport control was about 5 minutes to get thru.

That said had friends that went thru the day before on Sunday and it was a nightmare with people pushing and shoving. Took them 90 minutes and they almost missed their flight.

Just went thru BCN on Monday. Not bad because our passport control was just for our flight (about 200 people) would not let us go thru till about 20 minutes before boarding. We arrived 3 hours before and we were at our passport control with 2 hours to go. Passport control was about 5 minutes to get thru.

 

That said had friends that went thru the day before on Sunday and it was a nightmare with people pushing and shoving. Took them 90 minutes and they almost missed their flight.

Yep, that is my biggest concern returning home in cruise day.

We just arrived in BCN...the only wait was for our luggage...

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We just arrived in BCN...the only wait was for our luggage...

 

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Clapping here in California. Since we arrive on Friday morning Barcelona time I am keeping positive that it will go quick since our three plane ride will be long and tiring.

We just arrived in BCN...the only wait was for our luggage...

 

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Good to hear. Only good things about airport from now on.

Keep the good reports coming, our flight isn't until September!

We arrived at Barcelona two weeks ago. No lines at all - straight through and baggage came quickly :)

We arrived at Barcelona two weeks ago. No lines at all - straight through and baggage came quickly :)

Same for us on 4th June after a flight on Jet2,the terminal for Jet2 Easyjet, Ryanair is always quieter than the other Barcelona terminal.

We had different experience 18th June. We were travelling with my mother who was in wheelchair so we were brought through security quickly but I could see main queues were huge. Queues for checking were terrible too. We were early arriving at our gate but a group of 7 girls going to UK arrived minutes late for their flight ( before ours) and were not allowed on. They were protesting that they were waiting for check in to open and went through as soon as it did. That took ages and then They were at least an hour queueing at security and the walk to the gate was as much as15 mins. I felt sorry for them as they seemed to genuinely have been caught out. We arrived 3.5 hrs before our flight, had advantage of quicker passage through security and still had just an hour before departure from when we arrived at gate. Btw announcement on our flight that several people hadn't arrived for plane and we had to wait till bags taken off. I'd guess it happens often here. This was 12.40 Flight so obviously mid morning is busy time at BCN.

Also we had option of booking a 10.40 flight and were assured we d make it ( ship docked at 6am) but glad we took the later option! Less stress..

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We had different experience 18th June. We were travelling with my mother who was in wheelchair so we were brought through security quickly but I could see main queues were huge. Queues for checking were terrible too. We were early arriving at our gate but a group of 7 girls going to UK arrived minutes late for their flight ( before ours) and were not allowed on. They were protesting that they were waiting for check in to open and went through as soon as it did. That took ages and then They were at least an hour queueing at security and the walk to the gate was as much as15 mins. I felt sorry for them as they seemed to genuinely have been caught out. We arrived 3.5 hrs before our flight, had advantage of quicker passage through security and still had just an hour before departure from when we arrived at gate. Btw announcement on our flight that several people hadn't arrived for plane and we had to wait till bags taken off. I'd guess it happens often here. This was 12.40 Flight so obviously mid morning is busy time at BCN.

Also we had option of booking a 10.40 flight and were assured we d make it ( ship docked at 6am) but glad we took the later option! Less stress..

 

 

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There are 2 terminals, terminal 2 which is the old and looking rundown terminal for budget airlines Jet2,Easyjet and Ryanair and terminal 1 for International flights.

We have never to date had any holdups in Terminal 2.

Came through Terminal 2 on Sunday 2nd July. Thankfully they opened our Checkin Desk at 3 hours before the flight rather than 2 hours as the queue at both checkin and then security was VERY slow! I was lucky enough to be near the start of the queue at checkin, so was through in plenty of time for shopping and a coffee.

Are arrivals going any better? That was our problem last year. Waited over 2 hours at immigration as there were only 2 agents and many hundreds of people on line. Awful.

Are arrivals going any better? That was our problem last year. Waited over 2 hours at immigration as there were only 2 agents and many hundreds of people on line. Awful.

It was slow... but not as bad as 2 hours. Baggage reclaim was the slowest I've experienced for a long time.

Arrived on Friday,June 30th and aside from the long walk from the planet was quick and smooth. We had to deplane close to gates which was not fun climbing down airplane steps, then walk a couple of buildings including outside. Quick lines.

When we fly out of Honolulu International back to JFK last year, THAT was stressful; over an hour JUST to get in to the airport since TSA were short staffed. I had to run down the long line to fight crowds and check my husband's luggage so that we didn't miss our flight (and this was a domestic flight!) I can't begin to imagine how stressful it's going to be flying in and out of BCN next year :eek:

Any recent reports from people flying into BCN from the US? We are not flying in until October of this year but just want an idea of how long the wait is for Passport control now and if it has gotten any better. Obviously I understand that it can vary from day to day but hopefully the odds are better for a shorter wait than a longer one.

Thank you

I am sorry to say, but this question -while I understand your reason to ask- it's quite useless, especially in airports like Barcelona`s, one of the busiest in Europe. For comparison, only a handful of US airports have more passenger traffic than BCN. I am a frequent flyer in this airport and the answer is: there's no way to anticipate. There are far too many variables to be able to give a meaningful answer. Sorry.

I am sorry to say, but this question -while I understand your reason to ask- it's quite useless, especially in airports like Barcelona`s, one of the busiest in Europe. For comparison, only a handful of US airports have more passenger traffic than BCN. I am a frequent flyer in this airport and the answer is: there's no way to anticipate. There are far too many variables to be able to give a meaningful answer. Sorry.

Thank you for your response! I understand it can and will be different each day but asked because most of these posts were awhile ago and there seemed to be a government or political issue going on at the time. That seemed to be causing unusually long delays up to 3 hours. So I was wondering if that issue had been resolved and now we just will deal with whatever the traffic that day is.

Thank you again

Any recent reports from people flying into BCN from the US? We are not flying in until October of this year but just want an idea of how long the wait is for Passport control now and if it has gotten any better. Obviously I understand that it can vary from day to day but hopefully the odds are better for a shorter wait than a longer one.

 

 

 

Thank you

We flew into BCN September 2018 and had no issues. It was a long walk from arrival to bag claim and customs but very little wait to clear customs. Maybe 30-45 minutes to grabbing a cab.

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This summer we landed and after a long walk, after we deplaned, we went through customers. we did not face any lines except our fellow passengers. We arrived around 8:30 am.

We flew into BCN September 2018 and had no issues. It was a long walk from arrival to bag claim and customs but very little wait to clear customs. Maybe 30-45 minutes to grabbing a cab.

 

 

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Finger check. 2017

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Thank you for your response! I understand it can and will be different each day but asked because most of these posts were awhile ago and there seemed to be a government or political issue going on at the time. That seemed to be causing unusually long delays up to 3 hours. So I was wondering if that issue had been resolved and now we just will deal with whatever the traffic that day is.

 

Thank you again

The Catalan issue has gone away for now.

Non EU nationals seem to be processed quite quickly unlike when we travel to the US.

Thank you everyone for your responses! We will arrive around 8:30am as well so hopefully won’t be too long but we will be prepared just in case.