I was stuck in an airport queue for two hours. It taught me a lesson

June 23, 2026 — 5:00am

When packing for a flight these days, one of the things I consider most carefully is what to bring with me in case I’m stuck in a very long queue.

About 18 months ago, arriving at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, I confronted a slow and chaotic line of more than a thousand people waiting to pass through immigration. It took two hours. It was hot and stifling. I had no water. And I needed a toilet break.

Since then I’ve travelled with the expectation that at least once in a long-haul journey I’m going to come across a queue that severely tests my patience and stamina. I’m being optimistic – it’s often more than once.

Frequent travellers know that certain airports are worse than others, and certain times of the day and certain seasons are busier than others. But realistically, you can’t always choose a flight that departs and arrives at the quieter times. You can try to avoid early-morning departures and arrivals but ticket choice is going to depend more on price and directness of journey than the potluck of the departure queues.

Generally, I’m finding airport lines are too difficult to predict. Weather conditions, strikes and other disruptions (even wars) affect the flow at airports and you’d have to be psychic to work out how to avoid that when you book two months ahead.

Unfortunately, long lines are every traveller’s destiny. They’re the great leveller. Whether you’ve walked off the pointy end of the plane or the back, you’ll face them. It helps a little if you can get off earlier and beat the rest of your plane to the front of the immigration queue, but often other arrivals are streaming into those lines and the rush is pointless.

The ultra-wealthy hate waiting for anything. They do not ever want to stand in line at an airport with a mob of strangers. So they’ve turned to private jets to avoid the hoi polloi (producing more than 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year).

Several years ago I hitched a ride on a Learjet in China. The eye-opening thing about that experience was that at our private departure gate there were no immigration or customs lines at all – the crew did all the formalities for me.

Passengers on commercial aircraft can pay for meet-and-assist services that avoid the lines. These services are mostly used by those who need physical help but at difficult airports, especially those with long walks between gates, the extra cost can save some anxiety. Often the concierges circumvent the lines by taking passengers through VIP security and immigration channels.

I like the long walk after a flight but I had a taste of a concierge service at Doha airport last year and it saved me a lot of time trying to figure out how to get around that huge airport. It felt like a luxury – but it can be costly if it’s not part of the airline’s premium service.

There are less honest ways around the queues. I’ve seen people try them. Most officials are wise to them. If it’s genuine, though, staff are usually sympathetic. I once needed to go to the loo urgently and a kind official at Sydney Airport took me to the front of the line.

On this trip I’m about to enter the scrum that is the European airport experience in summer. It has been worsened, I hear, by the implementation of the European Union’s new EES (Entry/Exit System). I don’t know what to expect, so I’m strategically planning my survival kit: a bottle to fill up with water; layers of clothing in case it’s too cold or hot; an old-fashioned fabric or paper fan for some airflow; and snacks like trail mix and a chocolate bar.

If you’re travelling with others you have companionship to help the time pass, and one person can mind the other’s bag if a toilet is available. Travelling solo is far trickier, I find. We all have our phones, so downloaded podcasts or meditation sessions are handy for very long waits.

A carry-on bag you can sit on would be helpful when muscles ache. Maybe someone should produce an adult version of those ride-on cases for little kids? Or there are lightweight canes with foldable seats – handy if you use a stick.

The essential thing, though, is a skill that doesn’t cost anything – patience.