Airports around the world often have a special VIP terminal separate from the usual passenger spaces. This is to cater for important people such as Heads of State who may be visiting.
What is not commonly known is that these services can be used by anyone willing to stump up the cash. You can treat yourself to an expedited departure or arrival experience for that special occasion.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services
In Ireland, you can book what they call Platinum Services for VIP passengers. You can see the video below showing the services. On departure, this gives you a dedicated car park and terminal entrance and a meet and greet.
https://youtu.be/CwptsIPBo50
After this is private check-in and security screening before entering your private suite to relax, eat and drink before your flight. Naturally you are then chauffeur driven to your aircraft. On arrival, it is similar but in reverse. Rates start at €204.
London Heathrow VIP
People in London have it a little better. The Heathrow VIP service starts with a luxury car collecting you from your house and driving you to the airport. From there it is all pretty similar to what is offered in Dublin.
Overall Thoughts
These services are for the properly wealthy type people and are common at a lot of airports. Airlines offer the services also, such as Qatar Airways offering the Al Maha Arrivals services in Doha.
Other carriers such as Lufthansa take their First Class passengers from the premium terminal in Frankfurt to the aircraft in a private car. British Airways do the same for certain passengers on tight connections at London Heathrow.
What do you think of these VIP services? Have you used them? Would you? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via British Airways.
Audi A6 image by Karl Köhler on Unsplash
They have it at Oslo Airport as well.
https://avinor.no/en/airport/oslo-airport/plan-your-trip/vip-terminal/vip-service
Nice and less usual topic.
There are many more airports offering such services. Off the top of my head:
KIV has a VIP terminal with the following services: drive to and from airplane, lounge with snacks, dedicated security, immigration and customs, dedicated Duty Free shop, business services, limousine to city.
OTP has a VIP service including: special security and immigration lanes, VIP lounge (no different from normal ones, just emptier), drive to plane.
VIE has a VIP service including: drive to plane, dedicated immigration, security and customs, special (really good) lounges and meeting spaces, drive to city.
MUC has a VIP section with cut-off lounges (individual appartments) , separate immigration, drive to airplane, meeting rooms, good catering from a dedicated menu.
GVA has a VIP service including a lounge (tied to Swissport), and priority, but not dedicated, security, inmigration and boarding.
Also worth mentioning is the ‘Accueil personalisee’ offered by AF at CDG (and I think ORY), on their own tickets as an extra service which means someone to guide and offer you absolute queue priority for everything.
That’s a fantastic list you’ve put together there, thanks very much for the heads up! Looks like it’s quite common around Europe and I imagine in many large airports around the world. I imagine some people use these exclusively when they travel, while for others it would be a treat for a special occasion. For example I can see people using it to start off a honeymoon or on arrival in some far flung place to expedite proceedings. Thanks a lot for that, really interesting! 🙂
Yes, looking around, most European airports have some VIP service, except the smallest ones which don’t at all (mostly because nobody would buy it, since there are no lines in), or in some cases they have state-exclusive VIP. One example would be TSR, where there is a Protocol terminal, but exclusively for state officials, not for purchase (I saw Flyertalk referring to this as “true VIP”). KIV also has a third terminal, separate from the normal and the VIP one, called the ‘Hall of official delegations’. Usually the experience in the paid-for VIP is actually better than the ‘true one’ since it also includes catering. The official halls of Europe’s airports at least are geared to looking pretty in a press conference and not more than a glass of water to drink.
As for use, I personally used all in my list, except VIE, and some official ones. At my home base (OTP) I don’t go without, because of the security lines which are usually quite long. In CDG I use the AF service for short connections, and in KIV always since it’s really inexpensive, given the exchange rate; while everywhere else it’s a question of special occasions like you say. I generally do not see many other users at the same time, which is a blessing since it guarantees absolute priority and the services’ resources are not overstretched (they usually do not have more than 2-4 cars, 1-2 minibuses and 4-5 lounges, if individual).
I should also add, in North America, the SAVM service at YUL which provides pick-up from the city, escort through the airport and priority boarding. But the security check is just priority lane (as opposed to absolute priority or separate lane like some of the others), and the lounge is what you have access to on your ticket / pass, or for extra cost.