Hello there. I've been trying to find this answer and haven't had much success. Seems I read that we need to be at the airport 2 hours before our flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam. Is that correct? Or, do we need to be at the airport 3 hours in advance since our ultimate destination is Minneapolis?
Thanks in advance for any help!!
Check with your airline. They usually have info on their website. Barcelona is a very chaotic airport and I'd leave as much time as you can. Once inside, there are some things to do - food is pretty good and lots of shopping for last minute souvenirs.
You flight to Amsterdam is a domestic flight. It doesn't become an international flight until you leave Amsterdam. Depending on time of day, mostly likely two hours is more than adequate. Because of the connection, I am assuming that you have an early morning flight from Barcelona. You will be fine with two hours.
Thanks Frank!! yep you are correct, our flight is bright and early at 6:00 a.m. (agh!!!) We're considering just not sleeping at all and leaving for the airport at 3:30.
I tried googling my airline and after 20 minutes gave up and came here. Delta's search engine is not very user friendly.
Thanks again, appreciate it!
If it is a 6AM flight, 5.30 is going to be more than adequate. At 6 am you will have most of the airport to yourself. It is just check in an walk through security. There will be no line.
Opps - Douglas is correct -- I meant to say 4.30.
^^ You can't expect to show up 30 minutes before your flight and everything will be fine. You need to check luggage at least an hour before and boarding begins 20-30 minutes prior. And your gate might be a 15 minute walk from security.
Toby's plan to leave for the airport at 3:30 for the 6:00 flight is good. It's about 30 minutes to get to the airport so you'd arrive by 4:30 at the latest. That gives you over 90 minutes. You could push the departure back 15-20 minutes, but I wouldn't recommend any more than that.
Edit - Thanks for correcting Frank. I thought that was unlike you ;-)
Toby,
I've used early morning flights on some past trips including last September out of Vienna, and would suggest leaving at least two hours. As I recall, the trip from Barcelona to the airport will be about 45 minutes. Traffic should be light at that time of the morning, but be sure to pre-arrange that trip with your hotel.
Which airline will you be using on the flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam?
There probably won't be much a queue at security at that time of the morning, but it's still wise to be prepared for "unexpected delays". At that time of the morning, I found that a lot of the food service joints in the airport still hadn't opened, and even getting a cup of coffee was a challenge (there WAS a queue for that). By the time you're heading for the departure gate, there should be a place open where you can buy a sandwich or something. Food will probably be available on the plane at extra cost, but I've found that the quality is not usually that good, and it's overpriced.
so, here's what happened at the front desk when I ordered the taxi for 3:30.....the clerk tried to talk me into having the taxi come at 4:00, that it's a 25 minute ride (we're close to Placa Espanya if that helps, going to google shortly), that security will take 5 minutes. so I compromised and said 3:45. I always like to leave enough time and now reading these replies I feel like changing it back to my original plan. I don't think the airport is 45 minutes away, from what the front desk clerk said and our previous experience.
Still, I think that leaving at 3:45 should be plenty of time judging from these replies. Boarding starts at 5:20. I wondered if there would be any food/drink available at that time so good to know.
Thanks all!!
also, all we need to do is drop our bags as I've already checked them in online....
