Spain/Portugal/Gibraltar - Barcelona airport early morning flight transportation question...

I am staying right off of La Ramblas and have a 635am Flight on Alitalia to Rome...I see the metro starts running at 5am. I guess that would be cutting it to close to take the metro to the airport? How early do you recommend I get to the airport? How much should a taxi charge to get to the airport from the La Ramblas area. Thanks! ^

Yes you're right, the first train of the morning (weekdays) won't get you to the airport until 5:53am. The Aerobus from Plaza Catalunya isn't an option either at that time of the morning (first departure at 5:30am). Taxi's are metered and should cost around 30 euros.

Regards
Latitude40

Thanks Latitude! another 2 question...is the airport busy that time of morning? Do you think I need to get there 90 minutes early?

Thanks! :D

Hi remphish1

I haven't flown out of BCN at that time of the morning, but I doubt it will be too busy, just a few domestic and European departures.

I believe AZ minimum check-in time at BCN is 40 minutes but personally I would aim to get there at least 1 hour before if you have luggage. AZ flies out of the old Terminal 2 which is quite large. Once airside, there are a few places to grab breakfast if you find you have time on your hands.

HTH :)
Latitude40

Thanks again! I appreciate your help! :D

Don't know when you will be flying but note that as from Oct 25th. will be flying from the new Terminal 1..

Don't know when you will be flying but note that as from Oct 25th. will be flying from the new Terminal 1..

Thanks for the heads up..will be there in November.

Can you do on-line check in? Do you travel with hand luggage only? If the answer is “yes” for both you can compare with my early departure times from BCN:
* For a 6.10am morning flight from T1, the taxi picks me up (in central Barcelona) at 5.15am.
* For a 6.30am flight, pick-up at 5.30am.

The taxi ride takes 25 – 30 minutes at that time. And I make it from the taxi to the gate in about 5 minutes. There is no wait at all at security. The terminal will be a bit busier once KL, AF, AZ and partners start using it at the end of October, but it’s only an increase from 70% to 80-85% of capacity.

Of course, I would not recommend this to anyone that does not know the airport... :D But it gives you an idea.

There is a night bus right from Plaza catalunya to airport. It leaves every 20 minutes and takes about 40-60 minutes to reach airport.

http://www.emt-amb.com/links/DetalleLinea.asp?pagLinea=lineas/n17.htm&CodLinea=%27N17%27&idioma=%27%27

Nightbus map

http://www.emt-amb.com/links/nitbus.htm

Thanks Koby and El Cid! Great info! El Cid do you know how much the bus cost pp is? Thanks! ^

Thanks Koby and El Cid! Great info! El Cid do you know how much the bus cost pp is? Thanks! ^

If you have a transport card in advance, its a single trip (10 trip card is 7.7€). If you buy a ticket on board, you pay probably around 2€ for a single trip.

If you have a transport card in advance, its a single trip (10 trip card is 7.7€). If you buy a ticket on board, you pay probably around 2€ for a single trip.

Cool..thanks again! :D

Just returned from a trip that involved a 6:30 am SN flight from BCN T1 to BRU. It was booked as an AA codeshare as part of a larger itinerary so online checkin was not allowed. We checked with SN in the airport the night before when we returned a rental car to find out if the earliest hotel shuttle (5:00 am; arrive airport about 5:20) would do or if we needed to take a taxi to get there earlier.

SN ticket agent said to get there 2 hrs ahead. Uncharacteristically, we took that advice -- we were *very* glad that we did. At 4:30, there was already a line of 25 or so people waiting to check in for the 6:30 flight. By 5:00, when we got to the front of the line to check in, there were about 75 or so people behind us.

Security was not bad even though they had very few lines open. It took about 10 minutes to get through that line.

So, if you can check in online (not connecting on from Rome, not on codeshare) then an hour should suffice. If you have to check in in person, then 1.5 would seem the bare minimum. With 2 hrs, we had time for a quick breakfast between check in and security.

Remember that it can be a *long* way to the gate in T1 since it's laid out like a sword.

My wife and I are also concerned about our return trip to BCN for an early 6:00 am flight on KLM. We'd rather arrive 2 hours prior to departure, but that puts us leaving the apartment we've rented at 3:30 am. Would a cab be the most dependable method of transport? We really don't speak Spanish, but think that advanced arrangements should be made. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There is a night bus right from Plaza catalunya to airport. It leaves every 20 minutes and takes about 40-60 minutes to reach airport.

http://www.emt-amb.com/links/DetalleLinea.asp?pagLinea=lineas/n17.htm&CodLinea=%27N17%27&idioma=%27%27

Nightbus map

http://www.emt-amb.com/links/nitbus.htm

Looking at the map it turns out that we are staying walking distance from the Universitat Night Bus stop. How safe is it to be on the street walking to the stop at 3 am? Any advantage to walking further to the origin stop in Plaza Catalunya? We just don't want to get robbed and would pay for the taxi if necessary.

Looking at the map it turns out that we are staying walking distance from the Universitat Night Bus stop. How safe is it to be on the street walking to the stop at 3 am? Any advantage to walking further to the origin stop in Plaza Catalunya? We just don't want to get robbed and would pay for the taxi if necessary.

As long as you are not alone and are on a main street, there is nothing to worry at all. Violent crime is rare anyway.

My wife will be with me. We will be hauling luggage so everyone will know that we are tourists. The second stop at the University is closer for us, so we should be in good shape unless the bus fills up at Catalunya. I wouldn't think that would be happening at the end of October.
This will save us quite a bit of money. I'll check out the exact location of the stop during the day.Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Just wanted to report back after our trip to help anyone who might find this thread in the future.
Thanks to el_cid_cdor for the great information regarding the N17 Nit Bus. We pulled our luggage 2.5 blocks to the University (second) stop for this bus and it arrived at 3:05 am. Others were waiting for buses there, so we were not the only ones on the street alone. The bus was spotlessly clean, as were other forms of public transportation and the city itself. A young fellow offered to move out of his seat so that we would be next to our luggage, which we placed in the standing/stroller area. The t10 metro ticket we had used for moving around the city allowed us to make the trip for under 1 euro each, which would surely have cost around 40 euro for a cab ride at night. The trip lasted 45 minutes and carried a number of people working at the airport and was otherwise not half full.
I gave our t10 ticket, which had 3 remaining fares, to the fellow who had offered up his seat. He was overly appreciative. All in all a great experience for both my wife and me. It took some convincing to get her to ride the bus at that time of morning, but she admitted that it had worked beautifully.

I took the nitbus and it couldn't be easier. I also took the train from the airport which wwasn't bad either. Thanks for everyones help. I save a lot of euros on taxis which I later spent on Tapas :D

How's the traffic from Barcelona downtown to airport on Friday afternoons? Have to make BA flight at 4:35 PM to London -- traveling on club for hopefuly faster check-in. When should one leave downtown?

Wondering if anyone can help with some airport arrival advice for an early morning flight out of BCN. I've got an award ticket for my wife and I, my parents, and my sister. My parents, wife, and I are leaving BCN at 6:50am on AF to Paris (then on to different flights home to SFO). My sister is currently on our flight to CDG as well (then home to JFK), but I'm thinking of changing her to a better flight home on AZ through FCO. Her flight would depart at 6:25am.

I've got an airport transfer set up that will pick us up at our apartment on Passeig de Gracia. It's scheduled to pick us all up at 4:20am so should put us at the airport 2h before our 6:50 flight, but it would get my sister there roughly 1.5 hours before her flight. Is this going to be enough time for her to check luggage and get to the flight? Are the Air France and Alitalia check in areas and gates in the same part of the airport?

Also we are all flying business class, is there an expedited check-in and/or security for that?

I've never had security in BCN take more than 10 mins. Do you guys have status? Most airlines usually have separate biz class lines. 1.5 hrs should be PLENTY of time, considering this is a schengen flight. All of these airlines use the new T1.

1.5 hrs should be PLENTY of time, considering this is a schengen flight.

+1
For a 6:50am flight from BCN, and with on-line check-in done, I normally arrive around 6am-6:15am at the airport. So your daughter should be fine arriving around 5:30am for her flight. (Is the airport even open at 4:45am, when you plan to arrive? :confused:)