Landside and Airside · Currency Exchange Guide · Last checked 22 October 2026

Exchange Money Before or After Security? What Airport Sources Say

Airports can be split into two types of area: the public one, where check-in and meeting take place, and the secure one, where passengers must have gone through security and immigration. Both areas host currency counters. Which side you are on affects which counters you can reach, and sometimes what they can do. This page collates what the sources we read say about counters on each side at several airports, what India's central bank says about where counters may stand, and what we could not confirm about rates on either side. We read these sources in October 2026, and airport layouts change.

The short version

• Both sides have counters at most airports we covered, but the mix varies. Narita lists counters before and after security in Terminals 1 and 2, but only one counter and one machine in Terminal 3, one on each side.
• Abu Dhabi's Travelex said in 2024 that it had four landside and three airside stores, and a later trade report lists kiosks at arrivals baggage reclaim, pre-immigration and airside departures.
• Schiphol's page has headings for "After security (5)" and "Before security (3)", suggesting eight locations, and says you can order online and collect before or after security.
• Phnom Penh's Techo airport page lists a Canadia Bank branch before security and says exchange counters and ATMs sit at more than 10 locations airside.
• India's central bank has rules on where counters stand: in arrival halls after the Customs desk, or between immigration and customs if they only buy foreign currency, and in departure halls before the first of the Customs or Immigration desks. An April 2026 circular allows rupee exchange in departure halls beyond immigration.
• We found one claim about rates by side, from a news article, which gives no data.

Why the side matters

Three reasons are important in practice.

First, access. If you're arriving, you often walk past the counters before you clear customs, or cannot reach them until you do. If you're departing, you may need to exchange before security if the airside counters are fewer or closed.

Second, time. Security and immigration can be longer than a short walk. A counter you plan to use after security cannot help you if you do not get through in time. A counter before security can be used before the queue.

Third, the transfer case. Kuala Lumpur's two terminals have no airside connection according to Wikipedia, so passengers transferring between them must clear Malaysian immigration and customs. A counter that is airside in one terminal is not airside to the passenger who needs to reach the other.

Airport by airport

Tokyo Narita. The airport's page lists Terminal 1 counters before security at the North Wing, South Wing and Central Building, and two counters after security in the international area, a Travelex at the No. 2 Satellite on the 3rd floor and a GPA counter at the No. 3 Satellite. Terminal 2 has counters before security on the Main Building first and third floors and after security a Chiba Bank counter on the 3rd floor, plus a Pocket Change machine. Terminal 3 has a GPA counter on the 2nd floor before security and an automatic currency exchange machine on the 3rd floor after security. The page says rates vary from store to store.

Tokyo Haneda. The airport's page lists a Terminal 1 Travelex in the 1st floor Arrival Lobby. Terminal 2 has Shinhan Bank Japan in the 1st floor Domestic Arrival Lobby, a Japan Airport Terminal counter in the 3rd floor International Departure Lobby, and Shinhan and Travelex counters after departure. Terminal 3 has Japan Airport Terminal counters on the 2nd floor Arrival Lobby and 3rd floor Departure Lobby, and Shinhan Bank Japan and Travelex on the 3rd floor airside. The page's ATM section says ATMs after immigration limit one withdrawal to 30,000 yen.

Abu Dhabi. Travelex's release of 11 March 2024 says seven stores, four landside and three airside, and eight ATMs. A later trade report says the network doubled to fourteen, with kiosks at arrivals baggage reclaim, airside departures and pre-immigration, and a landside store offering 62 currencies. The LuLu counter is listed at Gate No 4 on the Departure Level.

Amsterdam Schiphol. The airport's page has headings for "After security (5)" and "Before security (3)". It says you can order currency online and collect at a GWK Travelex location, before or after security.

Phnom Penh Techo. The airport's page lists a Canadia Bank branch and exchange in the departure hall before security, with an ATM next to Row G, and says counters and ATMs from trusted institutions sit at more than 10 locations airside after immigration and security. It says arrivals after customs have full banking services from Canadia Bank plus ATMs in more than 10 locations.

Delhi. EntryIndia (updated 26 April 2021) says EbixCash is the only counter after immigration and security in the departure section and lists Thomas Cook before security. That is an old travel site, not the airport.

Mumbai. A guide in our Mumbai post lists, at Terminal 1, the Arrival Hall and a departure counter near Gate 2, and at Terminal 2 the international arrival hall in the post-customs area, an arrival curbside near Gate B, the check-in area on Level 4, a counter after security on Level 3, a counter past immigration near Gate 69 and the Level 4 retail area. It is a guide, not the operator.

Hanoi Noi Bai. The airport's page lists counters in the public area on the first floor of each terminal. A travel guide says the four Terminal 2 banks are in the first-floor public area after immigration, baggage claim and customs.

Singapore Changi. A guide lists UOB, Travelex and ChangiFX branches in arrival halls, public areas and departure lounges. The ChangiFX page says online orders are collected at booths in the Level 2 departure hall public area of Terminals 1 to 4.

Seoul Incheon. A guide in our Incheon post lists Terminal 1 first-floor arrival hall public area counters and a third-floor departure hall public area, and a Terminal 2 first-floor arrival hall counter, with hours.

Taipei Taoyuan. Two blogs place Bank of Taiwan and Mega Bank in the first-floor arrival halls and the third-floor departure halls. We found no airport page.

Chennai and Hyderabad. BookMyForex, a forex seller, describes two to three counters in Chennai's international departures after security and a couple in arrivals near baggage collection, and four Hyderabad locations on both sides. The same pages contain internal contradictions, such as a table row saying forex is not available.

What India's central bank says about location

An RBI circular of 25 October 2011 (RBI/2011-12/234), reproduced on a tax news site, says counters beyond the Domestic Tariff Area at international airports may be run by authorised dealer banks and full-fledged money changers. In arrival halls the counters should ideally be after the Customs desk. They may instead be between the Immigration desk and the Customs desk, but only if they buy foreign currency and sell rupees, and in that case they must issue encashment certificates. In departure halls they may be placed only before the Customs or Immigration desk, whichever comes first, and the airport should display a notice that this is the last point where non-residents can hold rupees.

RBI circular RBI/2026-27/05 of 2 April 2026 then allows residents, as well as non-residents, to exchange rupee notes at forex counters in departure halls of international airports, in the Duty-Free Area or the Security Hold Area beyond the Immigration or Customs desk. A news article says the version it read set no monetary limits. We do not know which provisions of the 2011 notice the 2026 circular replaces.

This matters if you're travelling from India. It suggests that an airside counter may now be able to take rupees for foreign currency, which the older rule seemed to prevent. We could not confirm that any particular counter does so.

Order online, collect on either side

Two airports in our set let you order currency in advance and collect it at the airport. Schiphol's page says you can order currency online and collect it at a GWK Travelex location before or after security. The ChangiFX page on the Changi Recommends site says online orders are collected at its booths in the Level 2 departure hall public area of Terminals 1 to 4, which the page calls 24/7, and says orders paid before 11 AM on a business day can be collected from 6 PM the same day. The page's own description gives a 4 PM cut-off, so the rule is unclear.

For a traveller, an order-and-collect service moves the choice of side to the time you pick it up. The rate is fixed when you pay, according to the Changi page, which says to pay within 20 minutes to lock it in. We did not compare that rate with a counter's.

Kiosks, machines and branches

Not every location is a staffed counter. Narita lists an automated foreign exchange machine in the Terminal 1 Central Building before security and one in the Terminal 2 Main Building, and an automatic currency exchange machine in Terminal 3 after security. Abu Dhabi's Travelex called its additions on-the-move kiosks, at arrivals baggage reclaim, pre-immigration and airside departures. Phnom Penh's Canadia Bank is a full branch before security. A branch can do more than change cash, and a kiosk less.

The practical point is that the word "counter" covers different services, and the side of security does not tell you which one you will find.

Arrivals, departures and transit

A different way to read the lists is by what the passenger is doing. On arrival, the kiosks at baggage reclaim and the banks in the arrival hall serve you before you leave the airport. Hanoi's banks sit in the first-floor public area, which the guide places after immigration, baggage claim and customs. On departure, landside counters serve you before check-in, and airside ones serve you after security. In transit, you may have access to neither, as the Kuala Lumpur case shows.

If you are changing for the first hours only, the arrival side is usually enough. If you are leaving and want to spend or sell leftovers, the departure side is where the shops and the departure-hall counters are. Our guide to leftover currency covers selling back.

What sources say about rates by side

We found one source that makes a claim. Nomad Lawyer (7 October 2026) says landside and metro locations offer more competitive rates than airside at Doha, with no data. It is a single statement with no figures.

A Hanoi guide says Vietinbank's airport rates are lower than its published online rates and that the city centre usually offers better rates. That compares the airport with the city, not one airport side with the other.

No source we read measured a rate before security against a rate after security at the same airport. The view that airside costs more is common, but we cannot back it with a measurement. The airport's own Narita page says rates vary from store to store, and that is the nearest to a rule we found.

A made-up example

The figures below are invented. They only show why you should compare before you commit.

Say you have 300 units of a foreign currency and two counters quote you. The mid-market rate is 100.

• The counter before security gives you 29,100, which is 3% below the market value of 30,000.
• The counter after security gives you 28,800, which is 4% below.
• The difference is 300, which is 1% of the sum.

If the airside counter is the only one you can reach, you pay the 4%. If you can reach both, a few minutes' walk before security saves 300. The percentages are not from a source. They show how a small gap grows with the sum.

How to choose which side

This is our advice, not a sourced fact.

1. If you are departing and need foreign currency, check the airport's page for counters on each side before you leave home.
2. If your flight leaves late in the day and security is quick, an airside counter near your gate can wait. If security is slow, use a landside counter first.
3. Ask each counter for the final amount for your exact sum and compare it with the mid-market rate.
4. If you arrive and need local cash, a kiosk at baggage reclaim or the arrival hall is the first you will reach. Compare it with an ATM only if you know the ATM's fee.
5. If you are in transit between terminals, check whether the terminals connect airside.

What we could not confirm

• Whether rates differ by side at any airport we covered.
• Whether the Abu Dhabi and Narita counts are current.
• Whether any Indian airside counter exchanges rupee notes under the April 2026 circular.
• Which provisions of the 2011 RBI circular the 2026 circular changed.
• The location details in the Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad guides.
• Hours for most counters, which we cover in our guide to night arrivals.

A simple plan

1. Find the airport's page and read its counter list by side.
2. Decide which side you will be on when you need the money, and how much time you have.
3. Ask for the final amount, and compare it with the mid-market rate.
4. Change only what you need for the first hours if you can wait for a better rate in the city.
5. Keep the receipt, and any certificate the counter issues.

FAQ

Do rates differ before and after security?
One news article says landside is more competitive at Doha, with no data. We found no measured comparison.

Can I exchange after immigration in India?
An RBI circular of 2 April 2026 allows rupee exchange at departure-hall forex counters beyond immigration. We could not confirm any specific counter.

Which side has more counters?
It varies. Schiphol's page lists five after security and three before. Abu Dhabi's Travelex listed four landside and three airside stores in 2024.

Is there a counter at baggage reclaim?
A trade report lists a Travelex kiosk at arrivals baggage reclaim in Abu Dhabi.

Can I reach airside counters if I am transferring?
Not always. Kuala Lumpur's terminals have no airside link according to Wikipedia.

Sources and how we checked them

Checked on 22 October 2026. Where we call something confirmed, an official source says so directly or at least two sources agree. Several location lists come from guides, not operators.

• Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport Passenger Terminal, airport operators, money exchange and ATM pages (undated).
• Travelex, company release, 11 March 2024, and Moodie Davitt Report, trade site (undated).
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, airport page on currency exchange, and Techo International Airport, airport page on exchange and ATMs.
• EntryIndia, travel site, Delhi airport currency exchange, updated 26 April 2021.
• THAIest, travel site, Hanoi and Singapore guides, 2025, and Changi Recommends, airport marketing site, 4 February 2026.
• Uptogo and Trvlogue, travel blogs, Taoyuan guides, 2026.
• BookMyForex, forex seller, Chennai, Hyderabad and Jaipur pages (undated), and Nomad Lawyer, 7 October 2026.
• Wikipedia, Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
• Reserve Bank of India, circular RBI/2011-12/234, 25 October 2011 (via Taxguru), and circular RBI/2026-27/05, 2 April 2026.

Editorial note: The counter, rate and airport information in this guide is editorial and is not paid for. Rates and fees change, so confirm the final rate at the counter before exchanging.