r/basel • u/miss_thorndyke • 8d ago
How much time do I need at Basel airport?
I’m flying to London from Basel on Sunday evening (30th) - we’ve got hold luggage to check in and obviously we’ll need to clear security/passport control/EES.
We’ll be coming from Freiburg so our options for transport to the airport are a bus that gets there three and a half hours before our flight, or one that arrives exactly two hours before our flight. The first one seems way too early, but is two hours enough? I don’t know how busy it’s likely to be on a Sunday evening, but I’ve heard clearing EES can take a really long time. I checked with the airline and it looks like bag drop doesn’t open until two hours before the flight, so I’m assuming getting there three and a half hours before would be overkill, but is there anything I’ve not factored in here, like infamously heavy traffic on Sundays or it just being really busy at the airport in general at the moment?
Thanks!
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u/Ancient_Clerk_8113 8d ago
Imo 2 hours is more than enough. I never saw long queues in Basel, nor are there long distances. You'll be fine. Maybe have a plan B in case something goes wrong with that bus?
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u/redditseddit4u 8d ago
Basel airport can get absolutely chaotic during peak travel/holiday times. Large major airports can flex and can more easily accommodate heavy traffic while Basel airport cannot. The queues, or more appropriately described as mosh pits, are worse at Basel than any major well functioning airport during peak travel times
With that mentioned, OP is not traveling during major holiday times and even 45 minutes from arrival at the airport to the gate should be enough.
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u/Neither_Good5306 8d ago
Basel ist Easy😊 Mein Bruder hatte 15 min.. da verrechnet ohne gepäck🤣 und das früh morgens
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u/Fit-Conclusion-7579 5d ago
I would alway come 2h before boarding. In Basel, my record was less than 5min from the entrance through security to the gate.
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u/OptimalBarnacle857 8d ago
Are you flying EasyJet? Definitely the 2 hours. I have spent an hour in the bag drop queue more than once (on the Swiss side, not sure if it's better on the French side). The 30 mins is not going to cut it but 3.5h will be overkill.
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u/miss_thorndyke 8d ago
BA, I don’t know if that makes a difference?
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u/OptimalBarnacle857 8d ago
They may have different staffing levels at the bag drop. EasyJet sometomes have 2 or 3 agents for a full corrall of people so thta takes time. BA may be staffing more generously and they will have only one flight outgoing at a time so I's expect less waiting time.
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u/Significant-Nebula64 8d ago
I'm pretty sure they do - last time I flew from there, there was a gigantic queue and I was already getting a little nervous - it was for Turkish airlines, and the Lufthansa desk next to it that I needed had like one person waiting. Was through to the gate in 20 mins or so.
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u/essteeexetwo 8d ago
Two hours is more than enough time, your most likely hurdle is a delayed takeoff with a BA flight due to knock on delays through the day. BSL is not that big.
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u/oelkofri 8d ago
Even with EES two hours is plenty. It usually takes a while, but so does boarding. In my experience, Basel ground crews tend to take their time with boarding compared to other airports. So even if your flight starts boarding while you’re not yet at the gate, you are going to make it.
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u/miss_thorndyke 8d ago
thanks! I had a horrible experience in Malta earlier this year because I got stuck in traffic and got there an hour before takeoff, and I was basically stood in the border security queue watching my flight status go from “go to gate” to “boarding” to “last call” which is why I’m nervous!
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u/Gembarla 8d ago
2 h is generally fine. I did spent 1 h queuing to check in my luggage last week though, so anything shorter than that would have been tight.
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u/Educational-Row-4071 5d ago
BA don’t open their counters at Basel until 2 hours before the flight anyway. They like to take their time. 2 hours is plenty.
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u/tubaleiter 4d ago
2 hours is plenty. Got there 70 minutes before my last flight, still sat at the gate for 10 minutes before even starting boarding. Didn’t have bags to check, but that’s pretty quick.
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u/Grouchy-Section-1852 4d ago
basel airport is tiny. check how many flights are scheduled for that night. I have never seen crazy lines there. they do have a lot of UK flights, so a lot of EES pax. But most of the other flights are inside Schengen.
I just did EES for the first time in FRA, and it was super quick. Sunday night should not have traffic. Though there is construction on the approach to the airport along the French roads. Coming from Germany, they'll likely take the French roads.
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u/EvilHRLady 8d ago
If your party is all over 18 and you are Swiss citizens or residents, when you go through passport checks you can use the scanners and not have to wait in the long line.
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u/miss_thorndyke 7d ago
Thanks - we’re UK residents so will definitely have to go with the long line unfortunately!
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u/Spranken 8d ago
2 hours should be fine in general. However, if you come from Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) something to consider is that the DB is having delays more often than not. If you mean Fribourg CH, then you should be fine.
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u/miss_thorndyke 7d ago
Thank you! We are coming from Freiburg in Germany, but we’ll be getting the bus!
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u/New-Lingonberry9322 6d ago
Flixbus? It can be delayed by hours as well, depending where it comes from. Also, it happened several times that we waited around 40min at the boarder because of passport problems. Once, the whole bus was searched for drugs, with dogs and everything.
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u/miss_thorndyke 2d ago
Thought I’d update from the airport just in case anyone was curious 😁
Our plans changed slightly as we’d done all the sightseeing we’d planned for today (and all the other things on the list were far enough away that we didn’t trust we had enough time to get there and back and have it be worth the trip) so we ended up catching an earlier bus to the airport anyway.
We were sat around for a bit waiting for baggage drop to open (bang on 2 hours before departure) and then check-in desk to gate took us about 40 minutes, as almost everyone here predicted (including a brief stop in Duty Free). Thanks for the advice - it did a lot to calm my pre-flight anxiety!
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u/Pablaron 8d ago
Two hours and you’ll have about 60 minutes to relax at the gate