16 phrases
Spanish at the airport
Airports are where you have to understand fast Spanish rather than produce it. Most of this page is for reading signs and following what is said to you.
Checking in
el mostrador de facturaciónthe check in deskel chequeo in much of Latin America
su pasaporte, por favoryour passport, please
¿lleva equipaje de mano?do you have hand luggage?
una maleta para documentarone bag to check in
Security and signs
el control de seguridadsecurity
la puerta de embarquethe boarding gate
la salidadeparture, and also exit
la llegadaarrival
Announcements
el vuelo está retrasadothe flight is delayed
el vuelo ha sido canceladothe flight has been cancelled
embarque inmediatoboarding now
última llamadafinal call
When it goes wrong
perdí mi conexiónI missed my connection
no llegó mi maletamy bag did not arrive
¿dónde reclamo el equipaje?where do I claim my luggage?
necesito hablar con alguienI need to speak to someone
Three things worth knowing
salida means two things
On an airport board salida is departures. On a door it is the way out. Both come from salir, to leave, and the sign never tells you which one it means, so read the context.
Listen for your gate number, not the sentence
Announcements are fast and you will not catch all of it. Learn puerta and the numbers to thirty cold, and you can extract what matters from a sentence you did not otherwise follow.
This comes up in the course too
Day 6 of the free ninety day course covers this material with a quiz and carry over lines.