 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello,
I'm just looking at booking the transfer from Geneva Airport and its one of those online systems where you book a timeslot. I've never flown into Geneva so have absolutely no idea how long it usually takes to clear baggage reclaim, customs, immigration etc. I know it depends on many factors such as weather, strikes etc. I just want to know on average how long it usually takes, do i give myself 45 mins and end up rushing or 90 mins and end up sitting in the aiport for an hour twiddling my thumbs? Its quite a late flight, 20.50 so I'm hoping most of the charter flights will be long gone.
And before any of you smarty pants pipe up...Yes I did try the search facility and No I didn't find anything. Only about a million threads about car hire.
Thankyou.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Dorset Andy, It's not too bad, 45 minutes or so depending on how busy it is what luggage you have (skis?), etc.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Having missed two transfer buses before now, I'd give yourself 60 mins at least.
Your flight may be late and the baggage can take a while to come through.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Better to be safe, I guess I'm usually there on quiet days/times
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Dorset Andy, we've certainly been driving out in hire cars within an hour of landing, so agree with Mosha Marc, . We don't have skis though, but do have to wait for the hire car desks.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've done it in about 20 minuts, but the bus was specifically for a group so would have waited
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Dorset Andy, The biggest unkown is the plane going to be on time, the trouble with late flights is that any delays during earlier flights during the day can have a knock on effect so that your plane is late. From landing to pick up I would allow 1 hr, if you are through in 40 mins the chance is that the hire car would probally arrive early any way so you would not have to hang around.
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last time we did it - in august but with skis - it took 40 minutes, but the 2 times before, in the winter, have taken 80 minutes (waiting for skis ) - saturday mid morning arrival - and almost 2 hours...they took us to one terminal and our luggage to the other!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Cheers me dears.
I think I'll book the later bus then, and if I get through earlier I'll try and blag a seat on the earlier one.
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| Quote: |
I think I'll book the later bus then, and if I get through earlier I'll try and blag a seat on the earlier one.
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Sounds good to me. if the earlier bus isn't full you should get on it, no problem. I meet people at Geneva quite a lot - and I agree with the sort of variation reported above - flights are quite often a bit late, though usually once on the ground, it's quite quick (this is all on the scheduled side - I have no experience of charters in Geneva).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I pick up people weekly at Geneva in the summer (when it's quieter than winter!) and it is very, very unusual for anyone to make it through within 30 minutes of their flight arrival time. I'd say 45 minutes is normal.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'd go with 45 too, though have never had the pleasure of a Saturday arrival.
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You know it makes sense.
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Sorry for thread revival but has anything changed here? My flight is scheduled to land on Sunday April 7 at 2.20pm. I’d like to book the 3.30pm bus. Sound realistic?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Went mid Jan, it was quick like 20mins to get through. As some have said need to account for delays though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Last time I landed it was as quick as it could be. 25 ish mins with skis collected as well. (Friday night).
Previous time to that was about 1 hr 15 mins. Most of that was waiting for skis. (Saturday afternoon/evening).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| sbooker wrote: |
| Sorry for thread revival but has anything changed here? My flight is scheduled to land on Sunday April 7 at 2.20pm. I’d like to book the 3.30pm bus. Sound realistic? |
Brexit is the big change. The non-EU/Swiss passport queue can now be significantly longer  . We had a 30 minute queue on one occasion last year.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@sbooker, it depends very much on what’s arriving just before you. If it’s a Saturday with lots of UK flights and you have an Emirates A380 as well it can be horrible at passports. But a Sunday after easter should be ok for UK flights, and if the timetable is similar to today the big Middle East flights (Dubai, Qatar) are in a bit earlier so should be out of the way.
My mate sent me a photo of what looked like a horrendous queue yesterday but they were through in 30 mins or so.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Quite a few of our friends and family have missed transfers on account of the passport queue ... 90 minute waits not uncommon ...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I've flown into Geneva for skiing 3 times this season and:
- First time (early Dec.) had a passport queue of precisely 2 people, maybe 5 minutes wait for bags, so through in 20ish minutes. But the flight itself was delayed about an hour.
- But the last time (late Jan.) the flight landed on time. But it took 55 minutes to queue and get through passport control, though this did mean skis were already out and bags in the process if being delivered by the time I got to the baggage hall.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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50 minute queue for passport control at midday on Saturday 6 January.
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Thanks all. I think I’ll take a punt. After Easter and Sunday might help.
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@sbooker, you ought to be through in an hour - though that assumes your plane is on time! As @andy from embsay says, it's when several UK flights coincide with a big plane from the Middle East that things get hairy. That can create a huge line, which takes time to clear even with all the border booths in use.
After the last time that happened to us (we were very stressed but did get our transfer) the next time we charged off the plane and got ahead of everyone else - and found border control completely empty. We were out of Arrivals within 15 minutes.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I will be on a Qatar flight. I’m coming from Australia.
I assume I’ll have to get my ski bag before going through customs etc? Or do I go through border control then grab bags?
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@sbooker, passport control first, then you collect your luggage.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@sbooker, then there is a customs area (red and green) but I’ve never seen anyone there.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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It's just incredibly variable. Half term Saturday 5pm - 2 mins. Same going home - huge tensa barrier setup by the C-gate passport control, but nobody in it and about 8 passport desks staffed and idle. Other times I've waited 20-30mins.
Frustrating really - feels like however you plan, you're either going to miss a tight connection, or have hours to wait for a long one.
Whatever the UK's faults, our passport control (and airport security) is 10x faster than the "famously efficient" Swiss. And also better than Amsterdam, Berlin & many more.
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The last twice I've transited Geneva have been mid week and out of ski season. The delays (and the length of the walks) were really bad. We stood at least an hour in passport control departing Geneva last May. There were people with small children and babes in arms. At least I could just shuffle along, reading my book. Arrivals seemed to involve a lot of walking and queuing too. It seems completely unpredictable. Both times we were renting a car, which cuts down the stress a lot, compared to a transfer time-slot.
Having used Geneva a lot in the past, both for my own travel and meeting friends and relations, I'd say that the delays seem worse now, despite all the fancy new building.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| Whatever the UK's faults, our passport control (and airport security) is 10x faster than the "famously efficient" Swiss. |
You obviously don't fly from Manchester!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We went thru GVA last season and whilst I can’t recall the timings, our “private” transfer had a flex option for about £20 extra (don’t hold me to the extra for the flex tho, that’s a total guess from memory!). That might be your best option… you might then have options for earlier or later depending on the other variables on the day?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Well on my last flights in and out of Gatwick it's been very efficient, including quick, courteous and helpful security.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@sbooker, You won't be skiing on your arrival day so why not take the risk out of the equation and book a later bus?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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One of the secrets of stress-free air travel (and I've done a lot in the past, including many longest-haul flights and some very basic airports) is not to fret about what you can't control and ALWAYS HAVE A GOOD BOOK. The only time this maxim let me down was transiting Los Angeles. I'd underestimated how much I was likely to read between London and LA and needed to buy a new book. But I couldn't find a single one in the transit facility shop that I wanted to read.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| j b wrote: |
| snowdave wrote: |
| Whatever the UK's faults, our passport control (and airport security) is 10x faster than the "famously efficient" Swiss. |
You obviously don't fly from Manchester! |
Fair point! Maybe I should qualify U.K. as “London” 
I hear Newcastle is pretty good though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@snowdave, as is Edinburgh, usually.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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In mid January (i.e. term time), albeit on a Saturday, we had a 90 minute wait to get through passport control. In fact it was so long that by the time we got into the baggage pickup area they had taken our flight off the announcement boards and had to ask. To add to the pain there seemed to be no mobile reception in the baggage hall and so we missed multiple calls from our transfer driver (who fortunately waited for us).
It's going to be a long time before I opt for GVA again.
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| sbooker wrote: |
| Thanks all. I think I’ll take a punt. After Easter and Sunday might help. |
Which company are you looking to get a bus with and where to?
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| snowdave wrote: |
| Whatever the UK's faults, our passport control (and airport security) is 10x faster than the "famously efficient" Swiss. And also better than Amsterdam, Berlin & many more. |
You obviously don't fly from London Stansted... 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Orwell, that looks 60+ minutes? Grim.
All very frustrating. Before the UK left the EU I rarely queued at GVA for more than 5 minutes, mostly with less than five or six people in front of me waiting to clear passport control.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Sun 3-03-24 16:59; edited 1 time in total
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