Geneva Airport bus or walk to arrivals

A snowHead

When landing in Geneva is it the norm to walk to the arrivals or are passengers put on a bus to take them there? Trying to decide whether there is any benefit in paying for a seat near front of plane in a (likely futile) effort to avoid being stuck at back of passport control queue. If a walk there may be some merit, if a bus absolutely no point whatsoever.

A snowHead

Who are you flying with? I'm normally fly with BA and they pretty much always park at a gate so no buses involved. I think I've been bussed just once in many flights.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We mostly use Easyjet, and the majority of the time the plane parks at a gate - EJ seems to get the ones furthest from passport control and a long walk! But it is sometimes a bus.

The queues mostly seem to depend on how many planes arrive close together from non-Schengen countries. Though it may be more of a problem with the new requirement for registering ID details, we will find out in a few weeks.

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Are you travelling with others whom you'll have to wait for anyhow or on your own?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Only 2 of us, arriving with Jet 2

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Never used J2 to GVA but on Easy Jet have had a mix of bus or straight to stand and walk. Used BA once and that was straight to stand and walk.

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The Toblerone shaped building which houses the arrival and departure gates is interminably long and they only ever seem to use the 4 gates at the very end! GVA is my least favorite airport (maybe rivalled by Milan Bergamo) for unnecessary walking and inefficient faffage. The water fountain is at the opposite end to the gates, everything is riotously expensive and you have to print out a code from a machine to get WIFI. Still, It's closer to the alps than Cambridge bus station......

After all it is free

I've generally been straight to stand at Gva but only ever been on scheduled flights. Might Jet 2 go to terminal two, and would that make a difference?

I think they do go to T2. I ended up in T2 once in the last three years and I flew out from Leeds on Jet2 once in the last three years. I think these occurrences must be connected for all that I put them out of my mind!

Like a Hell Hole, but worse.

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If your flight has started already, then you can use FR24 to see where it normally 'parks'. If it's on the main terminal, then it'll almost certainly be at the eastern end, because that's where the non-schengen gates are for flight departures.

IME the 'full service' carriers get first dibs on the terminal gates - so basically BA and Swiss for us. If you're lucky the first EJ's of the day also get a terminal gate. After that you're either at one of the remote circular island stands, or just parked out in the open. Both of these are busses to the terminal, and yes the bus drops you off at the eastern end so you have to walk the full length of the terminal back to the immigration gates.

There is some benefit to being first off even if you are getting busses. There are usually 3 busses, one for the front doors, one for the rears, and a third to mop up stragglers. If you can get on the first of these three then you will be in the first third of PAX from your flight. Then a brisk route march and judicious use of the travelators from the bus drop off point to the immigration gates can see you getting close to the front.

Nothing is going to help if your flight arrives after a fully loaded A380/330 from the middle east though.

snow reports

What superb information, @Judwin. And as somebody has already noted, deplaning onto busses might well be from front AND back steps and then it's anybody's guess.

Perhaps the most important advice is just CHILL.

@kb36, My experience of Jet2 is that they use terminal 2 and you get a bus from the aircraft. That's from Glasgow.

You know it makes sense.

@Origen, that is the reality…whatever the process is you have zero control over it so just be a sheep and walk the line and remember in a matter of hours you’ll be atop a mountain

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@kb36,
If your concern is time from aircraft landing to resort arrival then the conditions on the roads can be more of a factor.

A snowHead

I'd say that with easyJet/BA/Swiss going into Terminal#1, it can sometimes makes a big difference if you can get off the 'plane first. This is in the situation where it parks at the terminal and there's a bridge. Yes, you will probably still have a long walk to Immigration, but you will be at the head of the queue.

Unfortunately, as mentioned, easyJet flights often park on the tarmac and then it's a bus to the terminal. If you can get on the first bus out then you'll at least be ahead of the other two. And the front passenger bus is usually parked ahead of the rear passenger bus, even if they deplane from both ends. So a front seat can still be useful even in this case.

The biggest delays I've had at GVA have been when, for some reason, they only have one or two immigration officers on duty. Although usually, they've brought in more fairly promptly. On a few rare occasions, there's obviously been a 'plane just ahead of ours. But in that case, they've tended to man all the immigration booths and the queue has moved faster than I expected. The longest delay recently was about 40 minutes - my companion, who was on an Irish passport, had time for a beer and baguette at the café outside Arrivals, before I emerged. He went through the ePassport machine and I had to wait for them to augment the two officers who were there initially.

@kb36 If you're picking up a rental car at P.51 then you turn right out of Arrivals and walk about 100m to the car rental desks. You then walk or shuttle bus from the rental desks the 300m or so to the P51 Parking. If you're catching a train, then you turn left out of the Arrivals and walk to the far end, through the revolving door and you're in the shopping/station building.

If you're going into Terminal#2 (basically the package flight / overflow terminal) then I don't know.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Jet2 use Geneva t1 weekdays and t2 at weekends.

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Frequent GVA user ( but only Monday to Friday ) and never seen a Jet2 aircraft joined to a jet bridge in the past few years.
Our son has used them a couple of times while visiting us and says it was always a bus which is why he prefers Easyjet.

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@kb36, I can't say much about where Jet 2 lands. If you are on a bus, I suppose being at the front row on your flight might not make much difference, save that you will be on the first of two buses and can back a good spot by the doors to optimise your exit. I do it every time I fly into GVA (EJ- so always a bus and then a walk) and walk very fast through the terminal. Of course, you might still be at the back of a queue from an earlier flight.

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Geneva Airport bus or walk to arrivals

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