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Beware of Barcelona (BCN) airport if you need special assistance

Matcha

For anyone travelling to Barcelona, Special Assistance is non existent in Barcelona airport unless you need a wheelchair.

I booked airport special assistance well over 48 hours before, you know, did everything properly. The special assistance desks were really hard to find - not signposted. The airport website was of some help but the airport is huge and it took me ages to find the desk. When I did find one nobody was there so I found two others which were again unstaffed.

Frustrated, I went upstairs to find the gates myself. I found a special assistance staff member and asked him where I can get assistance. Turns out none of the special assistance staff speak English! 

Going through security alone was extremely uncomfortable for me. I was fortunate the security staff themselves recognised the sunflower lanyard and so treated me amazingly. But had anything gone wrong (as it has done whenever I've gone through security without special assistance, because of my problems with receptive understanding) it would've become a nasty situation.

Thought I'd post to warn people! 

  • Oh my gosh, just flew from here, had panic attack, never leaving the country again

  • Special assistance should be more accessible and user-friendly. I've had a mixed bag with airport assistance in the past, and it can make or break your trip. On the bright side, Barcelona is an incredible city once you get out of the airport hassle. The architecture, the food, and the vibrant culture - it's easily become one of my favorite places to visit. Since I didn't have much time there I used this [link removed by moderator] itinerary, and it was the best way to discover the city.

  • in reply to battybats

    I would recommend learning Catalan rather than Spanish if you're only going to Barcelona/Catalan region - I thought Catalan was only a minor language but to my complete surprise it's used by the locals in preference to regular Spanish! (Like menus, tours and information boards in museums are given in Catalan as preference to Spanish!)

    Hope you have a great time, I had a fantastic time in Barcelona other than my surprise at the airport! 

  • in reply to Iain

    I understand your point, and usually I do learn a bit of the language before I travel (I'm semi fluent in German and worked to improve it before I went to Berlin two years ago so I navigated Germany without problems). But for travelers who don't prepare I thought it was important to highlight they don't speak English.

  • Thanks- I'm travelling to Barcelona for work later in the year. Sounds like I need to learn a few extra bits of tourist Spanish!

  • Matcha said:
    Turns out none of the special assistance staff speak English! 

    Well Spain isn't an English speaking country so much as we would want everyone in these places to speak our language, there is no reasonable expectation of it.

    I mean German is also a commonly spoken language in Europe so should staff have to speak that too? French is spoken in a lot of places too and there are a lot of Chinese speakers in the world - you get where I'm going with this - English is not really the standard we think it should be.

    I'm afraid the onus is on us to learn at least some of the local language if we need to interact with people there. We are the guests there so need to show some respect.

    If you were sold a service that said there would be English speaking staff available then that is a different matter but it is time to start looking for a refund or compensation.

    Matcha said:
    had anything gone wrong (as it has done whenever I've gone through security without special assistance, because of my problems with receptive understanding) it would've become a nasty situation.

    Even if the people there spoke English then they often speak with such an accent that it would be difficult for anyone not used to it to understand, so I suspect you would have problems in communicating with them.

    In your situation I think your only reasonable option is to have a travel companion who speaks the language where you go.

    It sucks but with such a limiting condition as yours then realistic planning is required to avoid potential problem situations.