Yeah, we wanted to head off after we landed in Berlin. But decided to stay a night cos I read about how horrendous the airport is. Their slow baggage collection is pretty infamous!one hour should be sufficient to clear immigration when you arrive but in my case, there was a delay getting out of the airport due to late take-off and slow baggage collection.
are you going somewhere else after you land? i actually booked a train ticket to go to Dresden after landing and the trains were delayed/cancelled due to bad weather. if it wasn't cancelled, think i probably may not have been able to make it anyway. i got on the next train out due to the cancellation.
for the return flight, i went to the airport 3 hours ahead. there was no delay for check-in but then again my flight was not full. ground staff will need time to go through your vaccination cert and test report. the queue at security check was a bit long and slow. after going through security check, you will need to clear immigration before you get to your boarding gate, so another queue to take note especially if the airport is busy.
my test result came out within 12 hours. the staff at the test centre had asked me to go in early to ensure i receive the result before my flight coz for the EUR 49.99 PCR test, the result is officially within 24 - 36 hours. but that nearly cost me another PCR test!
if budget is not an issue for you, you can opt for the same day PCR test for EUR 74.99.
you can do the PCR test somewhere else besides Berlin. the test result will be sent to your email address. you can show the soft copy of the test result at the airport. just take note of the 48 hours requirement.
Our departure flight got lengthened (we got notified by Scoot). Instead of landing at 7ish in the morning, we are now landing at 9ish in the morning. So am pretty glad that we didn't book the same day train out of Berlin.
I don't want to spend on the PCR test. My concern is that if I get myself tested in a city and then I depart for Berlin, any issues with the test center/test result will be difficult to resolve. I have done my calculations for the 12/24/26 hours thingy on what time I should take my test latest by.
I'm well aware of the 48 hours PCR test thingy and that we can receive it via email.