I hate BER, it’s a design from the 90’s that’s clearly not up to the task.

First of all: It’s already way too small: the capacity is 30 million people and the two former airports combined had 34 million passengers in 2019.

Second: There are no downwards escalators to the train station so you have to drag your suitcase down a very long staircase. As soon as you are downstairs, you literally hit a wall, because that’s where the elevator is located. So people are forced to walk around thick concrete support columns making the already narrow platform even narrower.

Third: the security checks. Imagine the central departure hall as a rectangle. These security checkpoints are on the long end of the rectangle and since not all of them are open at the same time it makes it impossible to see from one end of the rectangle to the other end which security checkpoint is open. During my last visit (two weeks ago) I was checking in at the left corner of that rectangle and I had to walk all the way to the right corner to go through security.

Fourth: shops, or the lack thereof. The terminal’s architect hated shopping so in the initial design there were not even locations for shops included. After he was forced to add them, we now have one central square that starts with the typical perfumes and liquor sales (where you have to walk through because the shop entrance is at the end of a long and empty corridor behind security) and there a a few other stores outside that first duty free (once you’ve managed to squeeze yourself through the discounted perfumes grabbing crowds) but that’s basically it. So if your gate is at the end of the A-concourse there’s nowhere to buy something except for a tiny little restaurant.

Fifth: Gates. Perhaps the architect has solely flying experience on Cessna’s, but he sure as hell has never flown “gigantic” aircraft like the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. My goodness, these waiting areas are tiny. For a second i thought we were boarding through an emergency exit, that’s how narrow it looks. And since arriving and departing passengers are (often) using the same door (no separation of traffic, like at CDG for instance) it gets even more crowded. And what blew my mind was the steep incline of the gate house towards the boarding bridge. It’s so steep that it even had a sign warning passengers in wheelchairs that Berlin Airport is not responsible for any accidents if they go down that incline without airport assistance. And this is supposed to be a brand new terminal that is supposed to be up to modern (accessibility) standards.

It’s absolutely ridiculous.