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Intel: Navigating the Lisbon Airport

This airport requires advanced intel to keep sane.

Oh gosh, this one just makes me anxious. There are a lot of things to know about arriving (and departing) at Lisbon's airport. It's not an easy place to navigate - an older, convoluted series of spaces that were built for a by-gone era. Today's crowds due to Lisbon's popularity have only made navigating the airport worse. There are plans for building a newer airport much farther out from the city - but the finale of that project is over a decade away.

After having traveled through this airport nearly every other month for the past four years, here are a few, expert tips:

FLYING INTERNATIONALLY? - SKIP THE MAIN SHOPPING AREA

If you're on a flight outside of the Schengen Area (meaning flights outside of the European Union to the US, Canada, or the UK, for example), you will need to clear passport immigration before heading to your boarding gate. But, this can be deceiving. The main terminal of the airport after security serves EU destinations (gates 7-26), and there's a central mall for shopping, a good food court, and big lounges. It is tempting to stop and wait for your flight in these areas. But non-EU destinations (gates 41-47) are beyond this area, and you must clear immigration to reach those gates. The immigration lines can be very long, and we know of many people missing their flights for making this mistake. Advice: get past immigration at least 90+ minutes before your flight departs. Unfortunately, the Gate 41-47 area is much smaller, there are just a few small cafes and shops, so it is certainly less appealing than the main area. Sorry!

The main shopping and food court areas for the EU-bound gates: a tempting place to stop and wait.

Often times, the lines for immigration leading to gates 41-47 (US/Canada/UK bound flights) can look like this.

The waiting area for gates 41-47 (for non-Schengen, US/Canada/UK bound flights) are much less appealing.

IMMIGRATION / PASSPORT CONTROL

As with all European Union airports, there are lines for EU-passport holders, and then "All Other Passports" (which tend to have longer lines). But, there are also lines for "Electronic Passports" which Canada and US Citizens can use to scan their passports electronically and proceed through the gates. In order to use these gates, however, you must have entered the EU and exited the EU via a Portuguese Airport. (e.g. You cannot have landed in Madrid or Paris from the US first, for example). Note: a new system is currently being installed (causing chaos in the Lisbon Airport last week) and is expected to be up-and-running by the Fall, so stay tuned.

Electronic Passport lines for US (and other) Citizens

LOUNGES

There are a few good lounges for travelers in business class, Star Alliance Gold members, or holders of Priority Pass memberships.

In the Schengen-bound Main terminal, the TAP Premium Lounge (Star Alliance) and ANA Lounge (Priority Pass) is located upstairs above the central shopping area atrium. These tend to be crowded at times, but offer a lot of seating, and have showers and private changing rooms.

In the Non-Schengen area past Immigration, the TAP Atlântico Lounge is smaller, newer, and often over looked since it is just past the immigration booths.

Atlântico Lounge (Post-Schengen), and the ANA Lounge (Schengen)

BUSES

This is probably the most annoying 'feature' of the Lisbon Airport: there aren't enough gates (jet-way walkways that connect the plane to the building) to service all of the flights coming into and out of the airport. That means that many flights are unloaded/loaded via buses on the tarmac. Expect to be loaded onto a bus, shuttled out to the plane, and board your plane via stairs. If you don't have to do this, consider yourself lucky!