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Arguably off topic, but having suffered through BER several times, I have a few tips to share which might reduce your own suffering. First: post-security you w
by biztos 4y ago
Arguably off topic, but having suffered through BER several times, I have a few tips to share which might reduce your own suffering.
First: post-security you will find some of the most disgusting food ever served in an airport, but hey it’s also expensive and the servers don’t hide how much they hate being there! However, there is a little shop near the left-side stairs that sells better alcohol as well as soft drinks, and various food including (last I checked) pretty decent sandwiches. Just get provisions there and have a seat near your gate.
Second: when the security lines are moving too slowly it’s often worth trying the faraway one, which is actually outside the main hall. It’s so insanely counterintuitive, it’s the last one to get backed up.
Third: on arrival you may want a train, and it’s not at all obvious what one goes where nor even which ticket you need. You can use a standard subway ticket with any train departing from the airport, and you can buy that ticket in advance with the BVG app. Oh, and the S-Bahn is probably not the train you want if you’re reading this comment. Just go to Hauptbahnhof and reorient from there, IMO.
Guten Flug!
- kriz9 4y agoI would add two more suggestions here: 1) If you have 50€ to spare always take the taxy to the city center. If you take the train you will hate this airport as much as the one at Frankfurt. You can thank me later. 2) Use security lanes 1 or 5. They are the furthest and less busy. Everyone usually just queues up by the nearest one. Don't trust the indicators.
- ubaltaci 4y ago1) Why though? FEX is really nice, fast and have only couple of stops, it reaches to central station around 30min.
- rob74 4y agoYup, 50 € sounds like a lot of money for a few minutes saved (not to mention that it depends on the traffic situation if you will actually save some time). Of course, depending on where your hotel is and how many bags you have, a taxi may still be the better option...
- thecopy 4y agoAfter arriving in a new city is it very mentally relaxing not having to understand ticketing pricing, zones, best way to navigate, understanding the differences between different types of trains/trams/buses. Especially since airport <-> city is almost always a separate system as well than intra-city transport.
- c0mptonFP 4y agoImagine having "spare" 50€. Unless you're absolutely rich, you probably shouldn't default to using a cab in a city known for it's amazing public transport.
- bigDinosaur 4y agoIf you're doing business travel you can probably justify 50€ fairly easily.
- rejectfinite 4y agoYou think you are rich if you have a spare 50$ ? wow Then I must be mega-rich.
- WHA8m 4y agoby 'spare' I think he/she meant something like "ah, whatever, I don't care" 'not spare' would be: "50€ ? I could buy xy for that!"
- hadlock 4y ago$50 after walking off a $1200 flight, $60 upgrade to board early, and $12 in cocktails is not a substantial amount. Plus lunch/dinner on the way to/at the airport for $40. And you're gonna pay $8-12 to get downtown via public transit, then make a transfer to a bus and walk two blocks to your hotel. Fifty bucks for a taxi is a lot, but a rounding error on a transatlantic flight/trip, and will drop you off in front of the hotel, might even carry your bags into the lobby for you, or at least load them onto a luggage cart.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- c0mptonFP 4y agoYour reasoning makes absolutely no sense. Either you have the budget for luxury, or you don't. If you have the budget to eat at the airport, drink cocktails and pay for early boarding, then you're most likely loaded. If you're not rich, but still pay for convenience services like that, I'd say you have irrational spending behavior.
- Aeolun 4y agoI was so surprised going through security in Schiphol Airport recently. I swear there were 3000 people in line, but they have like 30 security checkpoints, and everyone goes in the same line (maybe one per terminal?), so we were through in 15 minutes. It was amazing. I also never realized how much I appreciate everything in that airport being connected by corridors until I had to navigate CDG and it’s stupid trains and buses.
- rootusrootus 4y agoMy brother just went through Schiphol two weeks ago. Scheduled his connecting flight with a five hour layover just to be sure. Took him 5 hours and 20 minutes to make it through security.
- selimthegrim 4y agoDid he make the flight?
- rootusrootus 4y agoNo, he missed it. He was trying to get to Porto, he ended up catching another flight the next day to Lisbon, and took a train from there to Porto.
- rejectfinite 4y agoRight now there is a crisis due to covid being "over" but allot of staff left/got fired and cant be re-hired as fast.
- fdhsbjasvh 4y agoSchiphol is insane. I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago. Figured I’d go 5 hrs early just in case. Even without check bags I still missed my flight. I went 7 hrs early the next day and just made it due to departure delays. From what I heard they’re not letting people in until 5 hrs before their departure as the airport became too crowded.
- ivan_gammel 4y agoWhat’s the big deal with the train? I always prefer it as it’s faster than taxi.
- Tainnor 4y agoNo idea what the issue with taking a train is. As a local, I'm certainly not taking a cab every time I use the airport.
- hocuspocus 4y ago3. is nice compared to most European cities, even the train to MUC is nearly 4x more expensive if I remember well. And I've missed the last RE to HbF a few times (EasyJet being late often) but the last S-Bahn runs surprisingly late. Same in the morning, you can take the very first U-Bahn at the dawn of the day among drunk people going home, and do the last bit by bus. I never needed a taxi. When I lived there, TXL was still operating, and showing up 3 minutes before the gate opened was an also interesting experience. But I understand people in the neighborhood being fed up it closed down 10 years late.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago> First: post-security you will find some of the most disgusting food ever served in an airport, but hey it’s also expensive and the servers don’t hide how much they hate being there! This also describes all 3 major NYC airports. I have to plan around it and bring food with me.
- xxpor 4y agoThe food at terminal C at EWR post renovation is perfectly fine, if ridiculously expensive. Terminal A sucks though. Can't say anything about B, I've only used EWR for domestic travel.
- joecool1029 4y agoTerminal A is being replaced this year if the new one isn't already open. But yes, the old one sucked, worst terminal at EWR.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoI beg to differ. Compared to PDX, TPA, DEN, SAN, SEA and even SFO, I would say the updated Terminal C is still lacking, especially at those appalling prices. The whole OTG iPad thing is stupid too, and I assume leads back to corruption at Port Authority.
- rootusrootus 4y agoOne of the decisions the Port of Portland made long ago that I really appreciate is that any chain restaurants at PDX (e.g. McMenamins) must charge the same menu prices as their non-airport locations.
- xxpor 4y agoOh, I love the iPads, personally :) Not having to wait around for servers while still being able to sit is fantastic.
- benedikt 4y ago> You can use a standard subway ticket almost. the airport is one stop into zone C, and a “standard” ticket would only be valid in zones A and B. you need either an ABC ticket or a standard ticket + extension ticket.
- rob74 4y ago...or (during July and August) a 9 € ticket.
- notpushkin 4y agoHow often do the ticket inspectors come in right after the airport stop? If it's relatively rare, you theoretically could ride that one stop without a ticket (but of course that would be totally illegal, do not do it).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- jillesvangurp 4y agoThey tend to check the airport trains frequently. Usually there are a few people with the wrong ticket.
- dsego 4y agoI was there recently for a conference, didn't know about the 9eur ticket and got the 10eur 24 hour ticket for zone ABC on the machine. Anyway, forgot to stamp the ticket, of course. The controller didn't give us a fine but warned us to stamp it before we get to the central station.
- ivan_gammel 4y agoI got fined once when leaving SXF, because my ticket purchase in the app went through 20 seconds after departure (I rushed into the leaving train while buying the ticket). So, yes, they do check as early as that.
- enlyth 4y agoI was just there over this weekend, they sold us those 9 eur train tickets saying you can use it for any train anywhere. Then we board the first train that Apple Maps suggested and the first thing we hear from the announcer "9 eur tickets are not valid on this train".
- jonnybgood 4y agoThe 9 euro ticket is only for local and regional trains. However, you can just get about anywhere taking only local and regional trains, but it'll be a very long day.
- notpushkin 4y agoSome more discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31445822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31445822
- iforgotpassword 4y agoWas it a white one (with a red strip)? Afaik these are the only ones you can't take.
- WHA8m 4y agowould be interesting to hear from a foreign how '9 euro ticket' sounds to you. Any opinions on that?
- enlyth 4y agoIt was a nice option to have, because normally it seems we would've paid like 50 euros or something to get around for three days. But it was weird that the tickets reset on the 1st of the month, so we had to buy two of them because of unlucky timing.
- 3D30497420 4y agoWas the train from BER? I'm pretty sure any train from BER airport would be covered under the 9-euro ticket. The trains not covered under the ticket are primarily ICE (inter-city high speed) and anything operated by another company (e.g. FlixTrain).