Classic 100 ml tray drill; Fast Track (€9) skips the queue, not the liquids rule.

Tallinn’s single security filter is compact, but airBaltic / Ryanair / Finnair banks and the classic liquids tray still create queues. Pack liquids ≤100 ml, remove them for screening, and keep an empty bottle for airside refill. Buy SEB Fast Track (€9) when the bank looks heavy; under-2s go free. Intra-Schengen passengers with mobile boarding passes and no bags to drop can sometimes tighten toward 90 minutes off-peak; keep a full two hours for checked bags, non-Schengen passport control, or first-wave departures. Terminal expansion works toward 2030 are underway — follow live wayfinding.

Follow Schengen / non-Schengen signs first; the paid lounge sits upstairs by Gate N1 on the Schengen side.

Check-in and bag-drop sit on the main departures level with security just right of the desks (boarding-pass e-gates). After screening, confirm Schengen vs non-Schengen before camping in a café — Airport Lounge / Priority Pass access is listed airside Schengen, 2nd floor near Gate N1 (after the shopping area, turn left upstairs). Non-Schengen departures may not reach that lounge without the right airside zone. Gate walks are short by capital-hub standards; still re-check boards after a lounge visit. Arrivals reclaim uses three belts; the PT centre is at the city (north) end.

Café-scale airside F&B; lounge food helps cardholders; city dining still wins.

Expect travel-retail coffee, bakeries and casual plates rather than a destination food court. Airport Lounge includes snacks, soft and standard alcoholic drinks, and a light hot meal during the published lunch window (12:00–17:00 on the lounge page) within the 3-hour stay. Buy sealed water landside before the 100 ml lane, then refill airside. For proper Estonian food, eat in Tallinn before you arrive — Old Town is only a short tram or Bolt ride away.

Flat 2025 volumes; use live tram/bus; expansion works are the multi-year watch-out.

Official 2025 passengers landed at 3,488,973 with operations soft (−2%). Trams T2/T4 again serve the airport PT centre after the Ülemiste / Rail Baltica interruption — prefer tram or bus 2 over assuming a dead link from older blogs. Passenger-terminal expansion construction runs ~2026–2030; the airport asks for patience on wayfinding. Do not treat Rail Baltica’s Ülemiste passenger rail station as an in-terminal airport train.