The plane put me down at 22:40 and the arrivals board gave me three ways out, with the last of them leaving in 26 minutes. I had priced all three before I landed, which is the only reason I was standing at the right platform rather than reading the options for the first time with a bag on my shoulder.
What the board actually says
Airport timetables compress time in a way that flatters the airport. The train listed as departing at 23:06 stopped selling tickets at 23:00, and the walk from the gate to that platform is a measured 700 metres through two sets of doors. My 26 minutes of margin was really about 12, and I have missed that connection by less.
So I read three things on the board now: the last departure time, the ticket cut-off, and how far the platform sits from where I will be standing. The third one is written nowhere and it is the reason the first two matter.
The three options with numbers
On that night the maths ran like this. The last train is 2.10 euros and reaches the centre in 19 minutes, but only if the ticket machine queue moves. The night bus is 1.60 euros, leaves from outside the far exit every 30 minutes and takes 55 minutes.
A licensed taxi from the desk was quoted at 18 euros with a 12 minute wait. The private cars offering the same run for 12 euros were quoting to people who had not asked what the meter would say, and the difference was worth knowing before I joined either queue.
- Train: 2.10 euros, 19 minutes, cut-off 6 minutes before departure.
- Night bus: 1.60 euros, 55 minutes, every half hour until 01:30.
- Taxi: 18 euros, 20 minutes, no risk of missing anything.
The gap between 1.60 and 18 is large enough that the taxi only makes sense when a connection is riding on it. On a night with a 07:00 onward bus I take the taxi without arguing, and on an ordinary night the bus is the answer even after the hour it costs me.
The walk I took instead
On the return, at 01:10, the night bus had gone and the next one was due at 01:45, so I walked. It is 6.4 kilometres to my street, which at my pace is 1 hour 20 minutes, and the route follows a lit road the whole way with two petrol stations open if anything goes wrong.
I would not do it everywhere, and the test I use is simple: lighting the whole distance, a pavement rather than a verge, and at least one place open all night. That walk cost me nothing and got me home before the bus would have, though my feet paid for it the next morning.
What I do with the wait
If the connection is gone I stop running, because a 40 minute wait costs less than a missed one. Inside the terminal there is seating past security that stays open, a kiosk that takes cards until midnight and a left-luggage counter that charges 4 euros for four hours, which is the difference between sitting with a bag on my knees and walking the concourse.
I eat before I wait as well. A meal bought at the airport at 23:00 is expensive, but the alternative is a 03:00 arrival with nothing open, and the 9 euros I grumble about at the till has twice saved me an hour of searching for food in a city I did not know.
What changes on a Sunday
Sunday timetables cut the night services by roughly half, and the last train on that route leaves an hour earlier than on a weekday. I check the day of the week on the operator page before I book a late flight, because a Friday arrival and a Sunday arrival are two different problems wearing the same airport.
Public holidays are worse still: the printed timetable on the wall still shows the normal schedule, and I have stood next to two other people waiting for a train that the app had already cancelled. The desk inside the terminal answers the phone faster than anyone else at that hour, and I call it rather than argue with the poster.
The rule I use now
Before I book any flight landing after 22:00 I write down the last three departures, their cut-off times and the walk to each stop, and I decide in advance which two I am prepared to use. If the maths needs a taxi, the taxi goes into the trip cost at the booking stage rather than into my pocket at midnight.
That habit turned a 26 minute scramble into a 2 minute decision, and it has cost me less than a single missed connection over three years of late arrivals. The three departures take four minutes to write down, and they are on the page before I have paid for the flight that makes them relevant.