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.
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.
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- A decent car like this may whisk you from terminal to aircraft
Only First Class or Business Class passengers may use Heathrow VIP. Prices start at £2,750 plus VAT for up to three people travelling together. It would want to be a brilliant experience for that price!
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
[…] life this is a coincidence. I wrote this post, and as I was getting ready to publish it, I see that Travel Update also just wrote about airports that have VIP services, and included Dublin Airport. So I figure […]
[…] life this is a coincidence. I wrote this post, and as I was getting ready to publish it, I see that Travel Update also just wrote about airports that have VIP services, and included Dublin Airport. So I figure […]
They have it at Oslo Airport as well.
https://avinor.no/en/airport/oslo-airport/plan-your-trip/vip-terminal/vip-service
[…] life this is a coincidence. I wrote this post, and as I was getting ready to publish it, I see that Travel Update also just wrote about airports that have VIP services, and included Dublin Airport. So I figure […]
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… Read more »
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’… Read more »