Originally Posted by
LondonElite
What I meant was, if you are flying in a premium cabin, don't bother queuing up 20 minutes before boarding as most people are inclined to do. All you achieve is spending more time by the cramped gate. Leave the lounge just before boarding is set to start. By then, almost everyone else will normally have been processed and the queue is short or non-existent. I often wait until five minutes after boarding has started because I see no value in being first on the aircraft if I'm in business anyway. This strategy doesn't work if there is another flight leaving shortly after yours, as you get the next group also queuing, so keep an eye out for that.
The last time I flew from TXL, I'd just finished a trip to Australia and New Zealand. So I wasn't minded to sit in the lounge, but got some gentle exercise by walking round and round the A gates doughnut. It was a great way to keep an eye on the queue. If there was still a queue, I did another lap. Eventually, just about everyone had been dealt with, so I waltzed through immigration and security, stood by the desk, waited about 2 minutes and was then number two onto the aircraft. What's not to like about that? There are times and places when priority lanes are simply not worth it.
Originally Posted by
Sam Bee
However, I seem to suffer a lot of delays there, fair amount of fog, ATC delays and whatever. Struggles trying to find a cramped bar to get a drink, impossible to get decent food without long queues, BA flight backing up onto BA flight so the lounge is a state, the claustrophobic nature it can get. It's blatantly outlived it's use. There is no redundancy.
It sounds like flying LCY-TXL or vice versa is a great case of doubling down on most of that!