Markie

I flew from DUS last week and found out a few things to share:
- The check-in desk opens 2 hours before the flight
- There are three desks - Club/Elite, Bag Drop and Check-in queries. No machines and BA does not appear on airports machines
- Boarding pass for Club gets you through Priority Security but this is a bit of joke as non-proprity passengers can merge in to it
- The lounge is on the far left of Security, up one level - lift or stairs
- The gates for LCY are bussed and for LHR usually a jet bridge. Allow time for passport checks as these were very slow - lots of close examination of documents and just two counters
- Back to Back is easy for LHR but not LCY - LHR arrive and depart from same location so no security or passport check. LCY bus drops at far end of terminal
- LCY is one bus on arrival

BERbound

Sounds a lot better than BA at Cologne, currently on the LGW service waiting for passengers delayed at border control.

To summise :

- No OLCI at Cologne for BA
- One Club check in and one Y check in, however passengers only queuing in one line and no one policing it.
- No fast track security- No lounge
- No boarding in group numbers , just a scrum.
- Remote bus gate
- No cabin divider on today's aircraft

At least it sounds like they are trying a bit harder in DUS.

Airprox

1. Unless there is a particularly large gap between services on days when BA cuts out the early afternoon LHR, there will almost always be one desk open all day.

2. Priority security is policed by German dedication to following the rules. Interloping foreigners do sometimes filter in unfortunately. There are more security lanes upstairs, but there is no indication as to how many are open and what the queue situation is compared to downstairs until you ascend.

3. Passport checks have never taken more than about 30 seconds for departing for me, for inbounds it depends what other flights are departing soon from the 35-38 gates, if there are not many departing pax left to process then someone usually switches booth to deal with more arrivals. In any case, if you are in club and off the inbound promptly you will be through in a few minutes. Inbound from the bus then it is every man for himself.

4. The bus for LCY and gate for LHR is not always the case, sometimes they are the other way around, particularly in the mid-afternoon. It depends entirely on the LCY schedule for the day, the aircraft always overnights in DUS and does LCY returns back and forth. When it is a day with no mid-day trip the LCY aircraft will definitely be parked remotely. B35 and B37 are the contact stands, B36 and B38 are the bus gates.

5. There is a flight of 14 steps from the gate to the jetbridge, which must take in each direction, so if you cannot manage more than a few stairs you should request assistance.

6. DUS is an extremely "peak-y" airport, most of the time it is a fantastic airport and I'm glad it is my local, beats CGN, BRU and AMS by an absolute mile. If it is the first day of the German holidays then steer well clear!

EDDLEGLL

Agreed, in summary I actually find it one of BA's best EU outstations.

++ The (3rd party) Hugo Junckers lounge is very good - decent selection of drinks and snacks, magazines and newspapers and adequate seating. Nice apron views too.
++ Security is never really much of an issue especially as you can chose to go through A-Gates (usually more lanes open) and then walk airside to B-Gates where the LHR flights almost always depart. (Never had much luck with the C-Gates security but can be used too). Priority does also work better at A gates (still not perfect though).
++ Distances are short (AMS anyone??) and it's usually not over-crowded.
-- Passport checks at B35-38 (when departing) - this can sometimes be a bit of a pain. It can be a "peak-y" problem if you arrive late ish and 120 EasyJet pax for a (later) flight are already queuing. This unpredictability can be annoying and risky but this is my only complaint.

Vinotraveller

I use it a couple of times a year, a decent enough experience. We did have a slightly funny experience back in March 2019 - on arriving we found the passport control totally unmanned. A good 25 minutes before they turned up to process us.

Markie

There was no desk open between the 7am departure and about 0830 which is when the desk opened for the 1030 LHR and 1020 LCY flights.

1P

If you want total chaos and the possibility of missing your flight, fly BA from Malta to LHR. Check-in is a complete farce!

Truthmonkey

Frustrating BA only fly to LGW from MLA, not LHR. But I share your frustration at the short check-in window and (seemingly) poorly managed queue system. I've never managed under 20-30min wait for the CE/status desk.

BOH

Add GOA to the "chaos" of a BA destination. The "highlights" are:

1. Sometimes a separate CE and ET desk but when they CBA to have them separate there is no attempt to control who is in the CE queue and everyone just uses which one they want to.
2. Sometimes both desks are simply ET ones
3. Very long queues just to bag drop as virtually every pax engages in a conversation with the agent....wanting to change their seat, asking about train times in the UK etc.
4. The Lounge! There is only one desk open on entering but this is also a check-in desk and baggage drop for the premium pax of all airlines. So if you happen to try and get in when a family is checking in 6 suitcases and a pet and want to discuss onward connections, change their seat assignments on all sectors, argue about excess baggage fees it can take 15-30 minutes just to enter the lounge. For some strange reason the desk agents absolutely will not break off for just 10-20 seconds just to check someones BP to enter the lounge....you must queue and wait until family-of-four have been seen to It happens about 50% of times I reckon....between 10 and 15 minutes usually just to get in the lounge!
4. Often chaotic scenes at outbound passport checks, usually when the BA LGW and Blue Panorama Tirana flights are departing within 30 minutes of each other. In late December we queued for 50+ minutes to get through and the BA departure was delayed some 30 minutes due to this. In the summer we picked up a 90 minute slot restriction into LGW because of delays at outbound passport checks at GOA......3 desks but only one official working and 2x A320 pax loads to process

QueenOfCoach

I have flown DUS-LHR many times on BA and never have I had to wait more than just a minute or two for outbound passport checks. Usually I walk right up to the officer and get my outbound stamp.

Concerto

I think DUS is an ok airport and I am using it regularly because one of my bases is in the area. The Kötter security guys are usually quite nice. The Hugo Junkers lounge is totally ok, especially if you go upstairs. Sometimes the airport does go into meltdown, around the beginning of holidays as others have said. I've seen security stop and get so backed up that they were no longer letting people through the BP scanners. In terminal B, I would suggest heading immediately to the section upstairs and just forgetting the whole priority security thing: it's a joke in egalitarian Düsseldorf.

pinkcat

Only downer in Dus is that the Qatar desks are somewhat primitive compared to other QR gates around the world

Airprox

So primitive that they don’t exist?

South London Bon Viveur

My only gripe is passport control. On my previous two visits I've returned on the evening service and there has been an EZY flight and also a LCY departure (from memory) meaning that the queues can back up a bit. Lots of confident looking pax (both card and non card holders) marching purposefully towards to their gate only to look aghast as they realise that the long queue they marched past is the very same long queue they need to join to get on board 😀

FlyingScientist

I experienced
– opened 2 hrs before flight
– opened 2 hrs 15 min before flight
– opened 1 hr 50 min before flight
– was already open when I arrived 2 hrs 20 min before flight

Did not work for me on 3 Jan 2020...
– Used other gate and merged back.