Main Terminal Building

All ATH check-in starts here before you ever reach the Satellite

Every airline at Athens, including Aegean Airlines, Air France, and British Airways, checks in inside the Main Terminal Building, even if your boarding pass later sends you to a bus gate or the separate Satellite Terminal. The building handles all arrivals and departures processing for roughly 58 gates in the ATH system, so the ground floor check-in islands and the centralized security zone on the departures level get crowded fast in summer.

Skytrax and TripAdvisor reviews from 2023–2024 talk about security and passport control queues running 30–60 minutes, with several people saying that even arriving 3 hours before a Schengen departure still felt tight. The pattern: lines at airline desks downstairs, another line feeding into the shared security checkpoint upstairs, then a final wait at passport control if you are leaving the Schengen area from the main hall instead of the Satellite.

Peak-season regulars now treat “T‑3:00” as standard for flights out of the Main Terminal Building, not just long-haul. One TripAdvisor reviewer describes check-in plus centralized security eating up around 90 minutes on a July morning, before they even reached the gate area. Build the buffer if you are checking bags with Aegean or a SkyTeam/oneworld carrier and flying between 06:00 and 10:00 or around the 18:00 bank.

Layout is simple on paper: arrivals and baggage claim at ground level, departures check-in one level up, security and passport control feeding into a central airside atrium with shops and gate clusters on piers. In practice, several Skytrax reviewers call it confusing, because some departures that look “nearby” on screens actually sit behind an extra control point or require a bus ride from a remote gate off the main concourse.

Bus gates in the Main Terminal Building cause the most stress. One reviewer mentions boarding for a bus gate starting earlier than the posted time and the queue spilling into the corridor. If your gate number ends in a high lettered suffix and your flight is Aegean or another Star Alliance carrier, assume you might be bussed and walk down early; staff sometimes begin scanning boarding passes a good 10–15 minutes ahead of the screens.

Passport control on the departures level is another known choke point. Reviews suggest that the central booths form one dense mass of people, while the far-right lanes process faster because fewer passengers walk down that far. If you see a wall of bodies straight ahead, keep moving toward the right-side booths to cut a few minutes off the wait.

Inside the post-security atrium, food and drink draw a lot of criticism on price. TripAdvisor reviewers talk about paying near city-center restaurant prices for a basic sandwich and coffee in the central departures area, so expect something like €4–5 for bottled water and low-teens pricing for simple snacks or light meals. Many regulars now grab a bakery snack or supermarket items in Athens before heading to the airport and then buy only a drink airside.

Seating is the other weak point. A 2024 review calls the departures level “way too crowded,” with people sitting on the floor near windows around the main gate clusters by the central shops when banks of flights depart. The only consistently quiet seats mentioned in reviews are at the far ends of the main pier, which may mean a 5–10 minute walk from the central atrium but usually yields open chairs.

Power outlets are limited near many of the 58 gates tied into the Main and Satellite system, and both Skytrax and TripAdvisor users mention sitting on the floor next to the few sockets they can find. If your phone is low before security, top it up landside near check-in, then once airside look along walls and columns toward the end gates rather than in the middle seating pens.

Arriving passengers into the Main Terminal Building clear passport control and then reach baggage claim on the lower level, which feeds directly to landside exits and transport. Taxis and buses to central Athens leave from outside the arrivals hall, so if you check bags, budget 20–40 minutes from door-open to curb during busy waves of inbound flights.

Practical tip: For a morning departure from the Main Terminal Building, aim for 3 hours early, clear security and passport control without stopping, then walk all the way down to the last gates to find seating and a power outlet before the central atrium fills up.