Berlin Brandenburg Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Shocking experience. Been there a few times now and it’s awful. The worst is security. They take ages to check one person and seem to take joy in their slow checks whilst passengers are sweating missing flights. They are rude and full of sense of power. It’s really sad when the concern should be some efficiency amongst the security. I saw multiple families sweating missing flights. And the crazy thing is the airport wasn’t even that busy. Super bad signage to know where to go. No cohesion or spirit at all. I fear the next time I have to go. And know I will have to get to airport at least 3 hours before my flight and if you combine checking luggage with security that might not even be enough time.

✅ Trip Verified | After so many years of problems, delays, and gross mismanagement you'd hope that when this airport finally opened it would be a triumph of design and modernity. Regrettably not so. I have passed through the airport 5 times since June and each time it's been a tiresome and unpleasant experience. On the departure side it was a little disorganised and muddled. Lots of queues and clusters of people with nowhere to go. You had to fight your way through them. Appallingly poor signage, followed quickly by overly long queues for security in horrible, hot and unventilated conditions, overseen by a rude and utterly incompetent staff member whose purpose appeared to be both unhelpful to people who asked questions, as well as making the experience as disorganised as possible. And absolutely zero effort to provide for social distancing. Following this there is the marathon walk to the gate: there are absolutely no travelators to help with the unreasonably long walks through this airport, it's an absolute disgrace. One feels so sorry for old people, disabled people, anyone in a rush, or feeling off-form. While waiting for flight there are very few amenities by way of food and beverage, the wise will brave the REWE shop on the way in, and purchase some supplies. Lesson learned. There aren't enough toilets and they can be difficult to find. Added to this they are not maintained well and are smelly and dirty. Welcome to the ongoing age of face-masks and personal disinfection product. You'll need them. On the arrivals side many similar issues arise - the extraordinarily long trek to baggage reclaim and exit: one of the most badly signposted experiences ever. The trip takes you right through the departures side where you are battling against the flow of outgoing passengers, and you frequently feel that you've gone the wrong way - why? - because the signage disappears, you have to trust your instincts to find the way. Must be really bewildering for foreign visitors. Another problem appears to be the constantly non-functional escalators, and malfunctioning flow control gates. Each time I've passed through at least one escalator in at least one direction is 'defekt'. This means that people have to carry their luggage either up or down a stationary stairs. Again, my sympathy is with older, and physically challenged people. The flow control gates regularly display red 'out-of-order' signs, or as I once witnessed, trapped a person inside! You have to hold your nerve going through because as well as being scary, there is also a recorded, aggressive female voice screaming at you, in English, to 'turn back, you're going the wrong way!' Utterly idiotic and incompetent. Oh, and, be careful not to trip over the ubiquitous 'repair' crews. The joyful and warm welcome that was so evidently absent at both Schönefeld and Tegel airports is even more absent here. Is this a Berlin thing, or a German thing? As soon as you arrive you already feel as if you've done something wrong, or broken some rule; it's like being in East Germany! There are many other issues but in summary: this is a truly, deeply, awful airport. It's deplorably badly planned, people unfriendly, already outdated, and generally unfit for purpose. Knock it down and start again, this time hire a globally successful airport design team, not a psychopathic sadist.

✅ Trip Verified | First of all, let’s be clear that BER is a massive improvement over the grubbiness of Tegel and Schönefeld. It’s easy and straightforward to get to by public transport, well connected by train and S-bahn. The land-side departures area is spacious, Airside feels a bit more compact though, with all (well, most) duty free and food options concentrated in the central departures area. Towards the gates it gets more functional quickly, with only a single snack counter on the way to the furthest gates. There are only vending machines beyond passport control (at least, beyond B40). There are some areas where it falls short significantly. Signage and wayfinding: confusing. BER uses a burgundy on beige colour scheme, signs are often parallel to the direction of travel. It looks distinguished, but it is too inconspicuous to be helpful. Key destinations, such as the security checkpoints (there are 5 separate ones), are not immediately obvious are very difficult to find. - accessibility: supposedly the airport has travelators, I however did not find them. The airport isn’t super big, but there are still some fairly long distances one has to walk. Escalators are blocked by massive bollards (good luck getting a carry on case through in a normal fashion), and there don’t seem to be any lifts to get to the ground floor gates. I'd hate to be a disabled person flying with the likes of Ryanair. All in all, it feels like the airport (quite logically) is yet to benefit from 10 years of advances in airport management and design. Let’s give it a bit more time, it’ll be all right in 2030.

✅ Trip Verified | Awful airport with terrible signage and service. Being a German, I am ashamed with such an infra project. The connection and service of DB could also be much improved.

Not Verified | Traveled from and to BER several times. I do not like to complain but I sadly have to say that this is a super family-unfriendly airport, especially with buggy policy. Depending on the staff, sometimes you are allowed to go to the gate with your small and foldable buggy, sometimes they ask you go through another security check (of course after queuing 30' in the line), sometimes they shout at you because you have done what was recommended the previous time but for some reasons one month later is not valid anymore. On our way back, we waited more than one hour (!!!) to get foldable buggy back, while waiting with 2 overtired children. No water-fountains! We still have to buy plastic bottles? And above all several cases of very very rude personal, not everyone but many, at gate, security check as well as in the shops. Shocking service level.

✅ Trip Verified | I have travelled a lot of airports in the world and this is the worst I have ever experienced. It would embarrass a third world nation - I can’t believe this airport cost as much as it did. Check in was chaotic - lines intermingled and no organisation. You then go onto security which was totally overwhelmed despite lower traffic due to Covid - how will the airport cope when traffic recovers?! The queue was not socially distanced, the room was hot and poorly ventilated and the whole experience took over an hour. Genuinely awful. An employee then gave me the wrong directions to the lounge, meaning I went through immigration - only to discover the lounge was before. The toilets were then closed and there was hardly any food. Honestly please reopen Tegel - it was a class act compared to this airport. It looks nice but it is seriously deficient and isn’t the main airport of a global capital.

Not Verified | The worst experience I have ever had at an airport. It makes Berlin an ugly place. The members of staff on security control are so rude, in-fact all of the security get off on shouting at you and have a power buzz thinking they are higher than you, it is pathetic. So disappointed because I had such an amazing time in Berlin, I am young and pretty laid back and have travelled a lot to airports but this for me has been the worst. Also the design of the airport is completely useless, mass queues constantly, no help or direction.

Not Verified | Like many others have said: this airport is not fit for purpose. The security check is the least efficient I have ever seen - only one person can be processed, using tiny boxes so it takes ages. When I unpacked my hand luggage rather swiftly the woman working there told me to calm down. Nobody at security made any effort to work with a sense of urgency. Also there is no place to actually pack one‘s hand luggage after the screening. Whoever designed this airport must only travel with a small purse. The food court and cafe feel like being in a small town - table service with one waitress! The free WiFi didn’t work. Finally, when boarding all passengers were boarded at the same time (regardless of whether one had children, a disability, or first class ticket). Overall, there is a lack of inclusivity and efficiency.

Not Verified | Disaster! No luggage drop in. Few escalators. No passenger conveyors and worst of all tremendous lines for security check. Shame on Berlin. Learn from Munich or Frankfurt! Scandal.

✅ Trip Verified | Tegel was chaotic and low on service, but it was close to town and somewhat passenger friendly. BER was over 10 years late and the result is a shame for German engineers and architects. Looks like they forgot that passengers have to navigate these endless corridors without any walkways. Up to 30 minutes of non assisted walking for some gates. Endless lines, starting at the rental car drop off, to check-in, to security, and so on. Shops are closed, no seats to wait once you get to your gate and a nightmare to navigate. Totally useless signs. If you find someone working here he will send you off in the opposite direction. Conclusion: a total mess. Friendliness? Looks like this airport which served East Berlin still has not arrived in 2021.