In August 2022, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) became Europe’s first to introduce bookable time slots for security checks, allowing passengers to reserve a time they would pass through security. The scheme facilitated a much faster security process, thus improving airport experience for passengers, who quickly embraced the feature, with over 800,000 time slots being booked since August.
The airport has now announced that it is making the process, called BER Runway, even easier. As before, travellers can reserve a free time slot for security control 4 in Terminal 1. What is new is that at the airport, presentation of the reservation QR code, which was previously necessary, is no longer required. Travellers can simply use their boarding pass at boarding pass control. This will detect any reservation automatically. In addition, travellers can now reserve BER Runway 7 days before their flight, which was only possible 3 days in advance.
We are constantly striving to make our services even better.
Thomas Hoff Andersson, COO Berlin Brandenburg Airport
“The new BER Runway makes it even easier for all travellers to reserve a security check timeslot well in advance and only requires the use of a boarding pass for automatic access. In addition, capacity will be increased for the summer holidays, so that all security controls at Entrance 4 in Terminal 1 can be used for BER Runway, if necessary”, explained the airports COO Thomas Hoff Andersson.
How BER Runway works
It is possible to make a BER Runway reservation via the airport website and the BER app from 7 days up to one hour in advance of the respective departure for Schengen flights and up to one and a half hours prior to the departure of non-Schengen flights. Timeslots are offered in a time window from 60 to 360 minutes before departure. When reserving a timeslot, the flight number, name of all travellers and email address must be provided.
A timeslot can be selected at a fixed time every quarter of an hour. Access to BER Runway is indicated in Terminal 1. It can be used from 10 minutes before or up to 10 minutes after the selected time. Before access is granted, the boarding pass is checked and the reservation is recognised automatically.
For example, if the departure will take place on a Friday at 10:00 a.m., the timeslot for the BER Runway can then be reserved between 10:00 a.m. on the Friday of the previous week and 09:00 a.m. (Schengen flight) or 08:30 a.m. (non-Schengen flight) on the Friday in question. With a timeslot at 08.15 a.m., access to BER Runway will be granted between 08:05 and 08:25 a.m. on the day of departure.
The airport company also recommends that all passengers arrive at their respective terminal 2.5 hours before departure. BER Runway, however, can shorten the time required and helps travellers better calculate their stay at the airport. Passengers should however ensure that they allow sufficient time for check-in and baggage check-in before entering BER Runway.
All Runway passengers can also use the general security control access points despite having a reservation. Cancellation of the reservation is then requested.