Security and passport control at Barcelona-El Prat: the T1 and T2 checkpoints, the 100 ml rule, EES and ETIAS

What applies to you

Where the security checkpoints are in T1 and T2

Barcelona-El Prat has two terminals, Terminal 1 (T1) and Terminal 2 (T2), and each has its own checkpoints: you can reach your gate only through the checkpoints of the terminal on your boarding pass. T1, opened in 2009, handles most flights: Vueling, Iberia, LEVEL and most long-haul and full-service airlines. T2 is one terminal in three sections; T2B serves mainly Ryanair and Transavia, T2C mainly easyJet, and T2A is not used for departures. Aena assigns airlines to terminals and this changes, so check your boarding pass.

In T1 the central checkpoint feeds both piers. Once through it, the Schengen gates A, B and C are two floors down, on Floor 1, while the non-Schengen gates D and E stay on Floor 3 behind passport control. In T2 you check in on the ground floor and go up to Floor 1 for security and boarding.

At the wrong terminal? Aena's free shuttle runs 24 hours, holidays included, every 5 to 10 minutes. It stops at T1 Floor 0 (arrivals) and T1 Floor 3 (departures), at T2B and at T2C, and the ride takes about 10 minutes from T1 to T2 and about 14 minutes the other way. Count 15 to 20 minutes door to door, more at busy times.

At a standard lane: what goes in the trays

1. Keep your boarding pass and your passport or ID card in your hand.
2. Put your jacket, hat and the contents of your pockets in a tray.
3. Shoes with high or wedge heels go in a tray as well.
4. Lift out your laptop, tablet, camera and other electronics, and the clear liquids bag; each goes through in a tray apart from the luggage.
5. Tell the staff about liquid medicines or baby food before they go through.

Crutches, walking sticks, prams, pushchairs, baby seats and cremation urns are screened separately from your luggage. Staff may ask you to open a liquid container; anything that fails the check, or that you will not let them check, stays behind. Photographs and filming at the checkpoint are not allowed without authorisation.

Where liquids and laptops can stay in the bag

Aena says electronic devices and liquids, aerosols and gels may stay in your bag at the T1 Fast Track lane. At the T2 Fast Lane and at every standard lane in both terminals, take them out unless staff or the signs at that lane tell you otherwise. The 100 ml limit per container applies at all of them, the T1 Fast Track included, so a bigger bottle is refused wherever you queue.

The 100 ml liquids rule

Drinks, perfume, creams, aerosols, foams, gels, shampoo and toothpaste all count as liquids. Each container may hold 100 ml at most, and every one of them goes into a single transparent, resealable plastic bag of up to 1 litre, roughly 20 × 20 cm. Each passenger, children included, may carry one such bag, and it goes through in a tray of its own. A half-litre bottle of water or a large tube of sun cream will not get through.

Your airline sets the size and weight of your cabin bag; the 100 ml limit is a security rule that applies whichever airline you fly. It also covers liquids bought in a landside shop before the checkpoint, so put those in your checked bag or buy them once you are through.

Duty-free bottles

Bottles, perfume and other liquids bought after security in T1 or T2, or on board, may be over 100 ml as long as they stay inside the sealed, tamper-evident bag (STEB) from the shop, with the receipt. Keep it closed until your final destination; if you move between T1 and T2 here, the second terminal screens it again. Alcohol and tobacco bought this way count towards the allowances on the customs page.

Medicines, baby food and breast milk

Liquid medicines that you need during the trip, on the way out, while you are away and on the way back, are exempt from the 100 ml limit, and solid medicines are allowed. Carry the prescription. For syringes and other items that would otherwise be refused, such as diabetic equipment or measuring devices, add a medical certificate. If you are flying outside the EU, ask your airline about the destination's rules on medicines and medical equipment.

Baby food, breast milk and special dietary food that you need on the journey are treated like liquid medicines, and small amounts of food for your own consumption are allowed in the cabin. If you can, carry proof that you need them; staff may ask you to open the packaging.

Power banks, spare batteries, vapes and smart suitcases

Lithium batteries that are not built into a device fly in the cabin with you, never in the hold.

Charging a phone from a power bank during the flight is not allowed, and neither is recharging a vape on board. A battery packed deep inside a bag can trigger a bag search.

Sharp objects, tools, sports gear and firearms

Sharp or pointed objects and tools that can cause serious injury are not allowed in the cabin; some of them may travel in checked baggage under Aena's list of restricted items. Folding trekking poles can go through the X-ray inside your suitcase. Whether sports equipment flies at all, and what it costs, is your airline's decision; the baggage page covers special baggage.

Firearms need an authorisation and are checked in under a procedure of their own. The paperwork is done at the Guardia Civil's Weapons Intervention Office in T1, module P30, from 07:30 to 20:30 Monday to Friday and from 07:00 to 15:00 at weekends and on public holidays, or online at the Guardia Civil's electronic office. Outside those hours, go to the Guardia Civil's Citizen Attention Office next door.

Fast Track and Fast Lane: paid priority at security

Each terminal has its own paid shortcut through security. In T1 it is the Fast Track, a separate entrance on Floor 3, open 04:00 to 23:00, €16.55 per person; in T2 it is the Fast Lane, a priority lane at the T2B and T2C checkpoints, open 24 hours, €12.35. One purchase is one entry, valid for three months, in the terminal it was bought for, and it speeds up security only: passport control, boarding and lounges are not included. Some airlines include it with premium tickets or loyalty cards; the airline confirms that. Prices for children and how to buy are on the Fast Track page.

For a personal escort, Aena sells Meet & Assist at Barcelona, which includes priority at the security checkpoint. Its staff go with you through passport control and customs, without priority there.

Reduced mobility, hidden disabilities and children

Aena's Barrier Free assistance (Sin Barreras) is free for passengers with reduced mobility or a disability, under EU Regulation 1107/2006. An assistant meets you at an agreed point and takes you through check-in, security and passport control to the gate. Request it at least 48 hours before departure through your airline and with Aena: on its website, in the Aena app, on +34 913 211 000 (07:00 to 00:00) or at [email protected]. Be at the airport 2.5 hours before departure and at the meeting point 2 hours before. A connection between T1 and T2 is made landside on the shuttle, with the assistance staff. The meeting points are listed on the special assistance page.

With a hidden disability, such as autism or anxiety, Aena's invisible-disabilities badge lets checkpoint staff know discreetly that you may need more time. It does not replace a Barrier Free request.

With small children or a pushchair, ask the staff at the entrance which lane to use.

How early to get to Barcelona airport

Aena's minimum is to be at the airport at least 45 minutes before departure, plus whatever the traffic, the queues, the police checks, security and the walk to the boarding area take.

Passport control: Schengen and non-Schengen flights

Spain is in the Schengen area, so a flight to or from another Schengen country has no passport control; the airline checks your passport or ID card when you board. All other flights go through border control, staffed by the Policía Nacional, and that includes Ireland and Cyprus, which are in the EU but not in Schengen. Leaving Barcelona, you reach it after security, on the way to the non-Schengen gates.

In T2, passengers on a connection between gate area M and the rest of the terminal are escorted by an agent. Landing from outside Schengen, you pass passport control before the baggage reclaim; in T2 those flights mostly reclaim in T2A, while easyJet and Pegasus use T2C.

Allowances and the cash rule for arrivals are on the customs page.

Automated e-gates (ABC)

Spain runs ABC automated border gates at Barcelona-El Prat for eligible travellers with a biometric passport, the kind with a chip. That usually means citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, plus some registered travellers from other countries. Minors, anyone who needs a visa check or a stamp, and non-EU nationals on a full check go to a staffed booth. Who may use the gates is the Policía Nacional's call.

EES: face image and fingerprints for non-EU visitors

The EU Entry/Exit System (EES) registers non-EU nationals who come for a short stay. Instead of stamping your passport, the border officer records your face image and fingerprints in a digital file. EES started on 12 October 2025 with a six-month phased roll-out and has been fully operational at every Schengen external border since 10 April 2026. At Barcelona you are registered at the passport booth or e-gate the first time you enter or leave. British citizens are non-EU nationals for this purpose and are registered too; EU citizens are not.

ETIAS: not required yet

ETIAS will be a travel authorisation for non-EU visitors, obtained online before the trip. The EU expects to start it at the end of 2026, will publish the date in advance and will allow a transition period of at least 12 months; the European Commission has set the fee at €20.

The UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), required since 2 April 2025, is a British rule for entering the UK. It has nothing to do with flying into Spain.

Connecting flights: when you clear security again

Changing planes inside one terminal with your bag checked through, follow the Connecting Flights signs. Landing from outside Schengen, you may first pass the connection checkpoint, on Floor 2 in T1 or on Floor 1 in T2, and a connection from a non-Schengen to a Schengen flight takes you through passport control. Customs also has a post in the T1 transit area between the non-Schengen and Schengen zones.

A change between T1 and T2 takes you out of the terminal, onto the free shuttle and into the queue at the other terminal's checkpoint like any departing passenger. If you arrive from outside Schengen it may also mean passport control, and if your bag is not checked through it means collecting it and checking it in again: confirm both with your airline. The minimum connecting time is the airline's; allow at least an extra hour on top for the change of terminal. The baggage page explains through-checked and self-transfer bags.

Left something at security

Things forgotten in the trays go to Aena's lost property office in T1 on Floor 1, which deals with both terminals: [email protected] or +34 932 596 440, Monday to Saturday 08:00 to 18:00, closed on Sundays and public holidays. Items confiscated at screening are not returned. A lost passport or ID card may be with the Policía Nacional, whose station is in the T1 check-in hall on Floor 3 (+34 932 596 832, 24 hours). For anything left on a plane, a bus or in a taxi, see lost and found.