Meet & Assist at Barcelona-El Prat: a personal escort through T1 or T2

What do you need?

What Meet & Assist is at Barcelona airport

Meet & Assist is Aena's paid meet-and-greet service at Barcelona-El Prat. A member of Aena's Meet & Assist team meets you at an agreed point and stays with you through the airport, on departure, on arrival or while you change planes. It is open to any passenger with a valid ticket who books in advance; you do not need a business-class fare or a frequent-flyer card.

It covers both terminals, T1 and T2, and the staff handle your route through the terminal you use. Aena sells it alongside its other VIP services at Barcelona: Fast Track (T1) and Fast Lane (T2), the four VIP lounges and a separate Premium Service. It is also different from Barrier Free, the free assistance for passengers with reduced mobility.

What the service includes

The service includes:

• a personal welcome and an escort, with staff dedicated to you;
• help at check-in, with staff beside you;
• staff who go with you through the customs and immigration checks;
• priority access at the security checkpoint;
• time in an Aena VIP lounge, with all its services;
• staff who go with you while you collect your luggage;
• information and help with transits and connecting flights;
• help getting to your onward transport.

The staff are with you from the meeting point onwards, except while you are in the VIP lounge, where you wait on your own until it is time to go to the gate.

What it does not include

Two things are excluded: baggage transfers and preferential access at customs and immigration. In practice, staff walk with you through passport control and customs, but you queue like everyone else there; the only queue you skip is security. At reclaim they stay with you while you collect your bags, but the bags themselves remain yours to handle, and on a connection your airline decides whether they are checked through.

Settle the meeting point and the language when the team phones you.

On departure: from the meeting point to the gate

On the day you go to the meeting point agreed by phone, at the agreed time, and tell the Meet & Assist staff who you are. From there they help you through check-in and take you through security with priority access. In T1, check-in is on Floor 3 and the Schengen gates A, B and C are on Floor 1; flights outside Schengen leave from gates D and E on Floor 3, past passport control. In T2, check-in is on Floor 0 and boarding on Floor 1.

Lounge time is spent in the Aena lounge for your terminal and gate: Pau Casals or Joan Miró in T1 (Colomer for the Barcelona–Madrid air shuttle), Canudas in T2. Canudas sits at gate U on the Schengen side, so if your T2 flight leaves from gates W or Y or from area M, ask the agents during the call whether you can use it.

On arrival and when you connect

When you land, the team meets you and goes with you through the arrival checks, to baggage reclaim and out to your transport, whether that is a taxi, the Aerobús, the Metro or a car. The meeting point for an arrival is also fixed in the phone call, so give the agents your flight number and terminal.

For a connection, the service adds information and help between flights. If both flights use the same terminal and your bags are checked through, you stay airside, possibly passing the connections security checkpoint; otherwise you collect your bags and check in again. Between T1 and T2 there is no airside link: the connection is made landside on the free 24-hour shuttle (timings on the terminal page), with security again in the second terminal, and it may mean passport control and collecting and re-checking your bags. Confirm the baggage side with your airline, allow at least an extra hour for a T1-T2 connection, and mention it when you book so the transfer can be planned.

How to book: the 48-hour rule and the call-back

1. Have your flight booked: the service is only for passengers with a valid ticket.
2. Choose departure, arrival or transit and book through Aena's own channels, using the "Book a place" button on Aena's Meet & Assist page, at least 48 hours before the flight.
3. Enter the number of passengers; the fare for your group and direction is shown before you pay.
4. Wait for the Meet & Assist agents to call you to confirm the details, the meeting point, the date and the time.
5. On the day, be at the meeting point on time and identify yourself to the staff.

Questions before or after booking go to the Meet & Assist line, +34 932 971 037. Read the terms of use and the general conditions of purchase before you pay.

How much Meet & Assist costs

Aena shows the price when you book, and it may vary with the number of passengers and with the direction: departure, arrival or transit.

How long the service lasts, and flight delays

The service generally runs for up to 3 hours. If your departure is delayed, it is extended for the length of the delay. On a long layover, or a T1-T2 connection with a long gap, those 3 hours can run out before your next flight; ask when the agents call what happens after that, or plan the time between flights around the limit.

Who it suits, and who should choose something else

Meet & Assist makes most sense for first-time or nervous flyers, older travellers who do not need disability assistance but would like company, parents travelling alone with children, and groups who want one person to steer them through check-in, security and the lounge.

Pick something else if:

• you need help because of reduced mobility or a disability: Barrier Free is free and is the service built for that;
• you only want a shorter security queue: Fast Track in T1 costs €16.55 and Fast Lane in T2 €12.35;
• you only want somewhere to wait: buy lounge access on its own;
• your flight is less than 48 hours away: it can no longer be booked;
• you need someone to carry or transfer your luggage, or to get you ahead at passport control: neither is included.

Meet & Assist, Barrier Free, Fast Track and lounges compared

Barrier Free is a legal right under EU rules and costs nothing. Request it at least 48 hours before departure through your airline and through Aena: on Aena's website, in the app, on +34 913 211 000 (07:00 to 00:00) or at [email protected]. Aena asks Barrier Free passengers to be at the airport 2 hours 30 minutes before departure and at the meeting point 2 hours before. The special assistance page lists the meeting points in T1 and T2.