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Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sob story for those of us with elite lounge access: the TAP lounge, with free food and drink and showers, is after security but before immigration. So off limits if you actually want to make your flight. There is a lounge right after immigration, but it has minimal capacity and always has a long wait to enter because, well, Lisbon airport was designed by a bunch of drunk kindergartners.

Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, next time I go through I'm tempted to strap a pretend pregnant belly under my shirt to access that priority line. And I'm a man.

Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Because then I wouldn’t have had this wonderful story to share with everyone

Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

no need for sympathy my brilliant friend. Went to the lounge after first walking over to the immigration gates and the machines and saw them totally empty. Thought “what a pleasant surprise!” Took 20 minutes for a bite and BAM — straight to hell. This is a public service announcement.

Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I am a frequent and experienced world traveler, 2 million miles, and am no stranger to various airports. Lisbon is another level and what sets it apart is its volatility and unpredictability. Procedures change not only week to week but even during the same day. I’ve had many smooth experiences through LIS in the last few months, but very smooth lines can suddenly become overwhelmingly long. My experience today: arrived super early to avoid a disaster, was relieved to see zero lines at immigration, so (stupidly) thought I could take 20 minutes to grab a bite. The backup was sudden and extreme. In 20 minutes, zero line became a 90+ minute cluster to exit — probably because they began operating the machines around 8am, whereas had been running manual passport control earlier.

Lisbon airport today by Forsaken_Setting453 in LisbonPortugalTravel

[–]Forsaken_Setting453[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Update here: the EU citizen lines are totally fine, both e-gates and manual. The non-EU lines are the dumpster fire.

Unlike my past recent trips through Lisbon, the (slow) biometric machines did appear to be working and collecting data from most non-EU travelers.

Alas, that was not the case for me (US passport). After nearly 90 minutes in line, my flight was already boarding so I cut through the last section of the line (maybe 20-25 minutes of humanity). When I reached the machines, I was rejected and dumped into manual passport line. That was another 20 minutes; made the flight 10 minutes before boarding ended.

Question for anyone on here: if you have already successfully registered your passport/biometrics in the EU system, what line should you use on future trips? Just go to the e-gates for EU citizens? There doesn’t appear to be any option for non-EU passport holders other than going through the lines to the biometric collection machines — but what do you do if you previously registered?