BCN Lounge Access Upon ARRIVAL in Barcelona
 

We are arriving in BCN on Wednesday morning at 9:30 and hoping we can access the VIP lounge for a few hours until our hotel room is available at 2pm

We are flying in United Business Class and are both Star Alliance and United Gold members. Are we able to access the lounge on arrival from an International flight coming from Chicago? I assuming we need to go through passport control first, but do we still have access to get the lounges from there?

Thanks to all for any advice or help you might be able to provide!

I seriously doubt it, and if you have luggage to collect you would not be able to access the air side again.

Thanks for your reply. We only have carry on luggage and will have all items with us. We have done this are other countries and cities but not sure about BCN. Do you have experience at that specific airport or does anyone else know?

All passengers on non-Schengen arriving flights are funneled directly to passport control (unless they have an onward connection to a non-Schengen destination). You will have to be stamped into Schengen, at which point you will be funneled into baggage claim, Customs, and then the arrivals area (landside). Unless you have an onward connection, you cannot access any of the lounges. There are no landside lounges at BCN.

However, BCN has some nice eateries in the arrivals area where you can hang out for a while. Better yet, save yourself some cash and ride the Metro into town....takes about an hour and will help to use up some time. When you arrive at the hotel, see if they can let you check in early. If not, ask to store your luggage and go out exploring! (just stay away from Las Ramblas and the Plaça de Cataluyna, given today's tragic events there)

Thanks so much for your help and the detail... much appreciated!

Just to add I would take a taxi or Aerobus into town. Aerobus takes 35 minutes to the Plaza Cataluña and it is much more comfortable and direct than the metro.

As for the safety issue, I walked down the Ramblas yesterday, the area is as crowded as ever, the sun is still shining and life is going back to normal here.

Thank you! Glad to hear folks are coming back to the Ramblas and going back to as normal as possible, given the circumstances.

There is no Arrival lounge for LH/UA/LX passengers. *A lounges are invariably departure-only.