BEY Beirut to Heathrow gate time

Old Oct 12, 2019, 8:04 am
  #76  
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1,110
Whilst all of these things about the entrance security being removed (comment date in June 2019) and everything being a breeze even at 06:00, I honestly couldn't have had the complete opposite. I arrived at 5.45 for the BA flight at 8am on 21st July 2019. The entrance security was still very much in operation (as well as the many other unnecessary security checks after that), the queue was horrendous, filled with people happily pushing in front of you but creating a fuss if you do the same, rude people in general, and I managed to board literally as one of the last passengers at 7.45am. Never again! Honestly, it made a lot of airports that I previously thought were bad, actually seem quite good! But with the entrance security apparently definitely gone, I presume things have genuinely improved as this was the worst bit of it.
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Old Oct 12, 2019, 9:28 pm
  #77  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAGGL, A3G, Accor Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, LHW Sterling
Posts: 1,305
Greetings from the rather spiffy Ahlein lounge at BEY.
I just timed my journey to the lounge to provide a data point.
On the 8am flight(with HBO and Y)
05.59 arrive
06.01 first boarding card check complete (no scan).
06.04 check in complete (included short chat about the weather , new lounge and security arrangements etc)
06.09 security completed
06.11 passport control completed (note the new staggered desks were mostly finished and being used)
06.14 lounge arrival

So 15 minutes soup to nuts for that. Ill report back on the later bit , if anything of interest!

Edit:

Update on boarding .

They called us to boarding an hour before departure, and we actually started boarding 40 minutes before departure.

We boarded from gate 12. The airport is small and it was a three or four minute walk .

The extra security check was by hand , no machines and liquids seemed ok by this point so no problem re-filling water bottles etc in the lounge.

The manager had great fun organising some old BMI tensa-barriers into a complicated spider like arrangement which worked very well corralling the various group numbers into the right place and the process was good.

All in all a very straightforward affair and if I was doing again I might shave another twenty minutes or so off my arrival time .

Last edited by Woodbinerich; Oct 13, 2019 at 4:47 am
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Old Oct 14, 2019, 5:06 am
  #78  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Programs: ME, EK, LH, IC
Posts: 2,411
It's very much hit or miss to be honest... I am glad you had a seamless experience at the airport. It seems to be getting better (i.e. they are getting better with the queues) and they are staggering those a.m. departures on both sides. My hiccup was with the security check (this was 10 days ago). Only 1/3 of the positions were operational (I wonder if they have them all operational now), so there was a bit of a bottleneck there. So from check-in to the lounge, it took us a good 40 minutes. Happy to hear that things are improving. On a separate note, I flew in last night from London and went through immigration in what looked like a temporary set up, so I know there is still more work being done there (for both incoming and outgoing passengers). Fingers crossed...
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Old Nov 20, 2019, 10:03 pm
  #79  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: Various memberships
Posts: 532
3 hours is definitely overkill in November!

Currently sat in the new BA lounge (Ahlein Premium - complete with BA representative doing the rounds asking what we think of it).

We arrived at 04:55 for the 08:10 flight. No check-in gate displayed and by 05:40 was starting to get concerned. Decided to go to the check-in area (as far as I can see it doesnt matter if you use East or West) and after a walk along the desks found the check in gates were open. Probably 20 mins from here (had OLCI and Silver so used C queue) until getting to the lounge.

Obviously YMMV but 2 hours would have been plenty.

As an aside absolutely loved Beirut and highly recommend it. Dont be put off by the reports of protests etc. Some posh shops were closed due to the demonstrations in the downtown souks area but because people have been scared off the tourist attractions are practically empty. About 10 people in the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek and we had the Jetta Grotto for just our tour group (about 12 people)

TE
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Old Nov 21, 2019, 1:24 am
  #80  
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: London, Bordeaux, Scottish Highlands
Programs: BAEC, Krisflyer
Posts: 104
Left BEY on 0810 on Monday hbo. Had just over 2 hours at airport. Plenty of time to go through security and visit Ahlein lounge. Not affected by protests although ongoing. Visited Annjar on Sunday. There was just our group of 7 and driver.
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