As I am approaching BER – Berlin’s new airport that had been a devastating 10 years late, my god father’s grin and wink come to mind when he referred to it as “Schönefeld” a couple of days ago. Traditional west-Berliners will refer to BER in spite by its former eastern German name because it feels pretty far away from the Centre of Berlin.
The Taxi company had estimated the time to BER from the house I grew up in as 50 minutes. 25 minutes later I arrived, albeit a bit early. Driving in I am changing my mind about the airport. It just looks and feels like Heathrow’s T2, although London has encroached much closer to it than Berlin has to date.
For each airport I travel frequently, I intuitively know my TTL – Time to Lounge. In Heathrow T2 – the Queen’s terminal – I have it down to about 15 minutes, depending on the length of the check-out line to buy gin at duty free. Why does it take an hour here?
The drop off just feels like LHR T2 somehow, when entering the Lufthansa check-in is easy to find. I still have gold status so I have a Ko special line and I am checked in in 5 minutes or less, including baggage drop. The nice lady says “hey, you need an attestation about your corona test you took, I will let my colleague at the service desk that you are swinging by.” 15 minutes later as #2 in the line I am thinking that I likely have filled this in online already. The paper form I eventually get looks awkwardly familiar to the online one I already submitted. Oh well, the legal disclaimer said to have you documents at the airport, so be it.
In the security priority line I am #4 or so. The guy ahead of me tries to be a gentleman and lets a second lady from the normal line pass. I am already 10 minutes in-line, much longer than I am used to. When unpacking his bag, the friendly security person with very dry humor hands him a plastic bag with the words “We have only done this since 2006, so it s easy to forget that you need it for your fluids.” I miss the “Berliner Schnauze.”
The Lufthansa Lounge is modern, sleek, clean and practical. Late-pandemic individual packaging and distancing are in place. The wireless chargers for your phone don’t seem to work, and there could be more electrical outlets. And why not have more types of plugs like UK, US, China? Aren’t you international, BER?
StageAficionado 