Shanghai Pudong Airport

✅ Trip Verified | I have travelled through Istanbul, Doha, Dubai, Amsterdam and London in the past. I never had to go through immigration, give them my biometrics, recheck my bags and go through security and immigration again just to transit through the airport. They make you fill so many useless forms and establish your passport for no reason whatsoever. Transit through this airport is a painful task. Most of the airport staff are not able to communicate in English and the food options in Departure area is very limited.

Not Verified | It took me almost 3 hours to get out of this airport. 1) There is no clear sign at the finger print collecting area that foreigners only need to do it once in their previous trip to Shanghai. The result is we who have already done the collecting have to walk for an extra long distance just to find out we do not need to do it. 2) The custom counters for foreigners are really slow. The line in front of counters for Chinese citizens are four or even five times longer than ours, but they just disappeared in one blink. In the end, the airport had to let us use the Chinese citizen’s counters. 3) There are actually two “green” exits, but there is no clear arrow sign on the ground or whatsoever. People had to wait in a super long queue, waiting to have their luggage scanned. After almost half an hour, when we almost reached the exit, we realised we can actually go through the other door with almost no queue there. And yes a couple of shameful queue jumping during this time too.

Not Verified | This is the absolute worst airport! I travel a lot and I've had mild complaints about other airports to transit with, but this was undoubtedly my worst experience. The airport is set up to function much faster for transiters but wastes time having people stand in a long line to see one immigration officer when there are functioning machines for self service which I chose to use when I finally made it to the top of the line. The airport itself has plenty of seating in their gate areas but the place severely lacks options for anything in terms of food or attractions. The options are singularly Chinese with one Starbucks just to appease us foreigners. But it gets worse! I had an 8 hour layover and was unable to purchase food from a restaurant because there are no money changers and they only accept Chinese currency. So I was left to starve. If you must transit through here I'd say get in and out as fast as possible. I for one will never be flying via Shanghai ever again!

Not Verified | Honestly, the worst airport I've been to - including staff members, service and the ease for transferring flights. My partner and I flew from NZ and were in transit to London in Shanghai for 5 hours. When we arrived at Shanghai airport, we went to the counter to confirm our transit. They took our onward flight boarding passes which were printed in NZ, threw it away, and told us to stand next to the nearest toilets for 10 mins (they said we were being "quarantined"). Less than 10 mins later they made us go through a strange hallway where the medical/quarantine checks were supposed to happen but didn't. Instead, there were 2 staff members with new boarding passes on their hands. My partner was almost given someone else's boarding pass! Then after that hallway, we had to go through an eerily dark corridor where the escalator to the actual terminal was. The airport itself was lame. No free wifi unless you can receive SMS overseas or go to a computer kiosk (we didn't want to log into our emails using those computers). Not much to do unless you want to eat or shop. Now to the craziest bit. When we were checking in to go back to NZ from London, we couldn't get our second boarding pass from Hong Kong to NZ printed nor our bags checked in, because turns out Shanghai airport staff removed the wrong flight while we were there! Unbelievable. Luckily the amazing staff at Virgin Atlantic Heathrow helped us out. And lucky we came a few hours early because the whole ordeal took about 1hr. Never stopping at Shanghai again, and probably not at any China airports either.

Not Verified | 4 hours to transit! What should be an easy exercise requires you to go through immigration, collect your bag, get a new boarding pass, check your bag, go through immigration again before you head to your gate. Totally messed up travelling experience. I will never connect in China again. Travelling nightmare.

✅ Trip Verified | Transit in Pudong Airport is not passenger friendly especially for foreigners. In terminal 1 there are only 2 lounges, 1 for Business and first class while the other one is available for public. However the lounge only accepts cash or e-wallet (alipay, wechatpay) and not Visa / Mastercard. This basically stop international passenger from using the service and rest. Not acceptable, especially for someone that have more than 5 hours of layover. Food options are very limited. Most food and drink such as coffee and teas that cater for people to rest are not inside the terminal. I'm basically stuck inside and not able to find any feasible food options. There is no facilities for passenger than need to rest such as masssage, spa, temporary rest area, shower areas and such.

Not Verified | The worst customs queues and experience in the world. I’ve travelled a lot and have never experienced anything like this. We had done all our research and had everything ready in terms of 24-hour visa-free application for transit etc, we had one night in the city and landed at 7 pm so we’re looking forward to experiencing Shanghai for that night. By 10 pm, 3-hours after landing, we were still in the customs queue! The problem was a simple one; they have 30 staff on the gates, 29 of whom stood for 3 hours on empty gates whilst one served the 24 hour transit queue which was full. To add to this the officer in charge looked to be taking pleasure in people missing flights or standing with young children in a 3-hour queue. All in all, it seems they have no interest in wanting people to enjoy China and have put us off for life. We will never return.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport I’ve ever been to. I arrived at 6.30 in the morning and had done my research prior to the trip. There is supposed to be a grace period where you do not need a tourist visa in China for 44 hours. I had lived in China for many years prior to this experience and had done my research before going. I knew my flight would arrive early in the morning and I read online that any person could use the lounges if they paid 250 yuan. I was prepared for this and I just wanted a shower. The lounges in terminal 2 did not allow this. The first lounge I went to (Number 37) there was one female representative who was incredibly dismissive and rude to me. Then the second location told me that the information in the English portion of the website was incorrect. Then I went to the security guards where 2 of them really wanted to help me and I spoke Mandarin to them. However, I was told I wasn’t able to leave the airport to go to terminal 1 without the proper visa.

✅ Trip Verified | The airport is clean. Staff members are helpful and nice. Signposts are clear in both Mandarin Chinese and English. Passengers know where are they going directly. Goods in the shops are bountiful and various.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport needs some management help. The inside is clean and security isn’t bad but could be improved. The shops are plentiful but not much in food options so recommend eating before security. The China Eastern sky lounge is always packed too much and very hard to find seats. My biggest issue with this airport is the constant non use of a jetway. 4 times already they have made my Delta flight from Detroit disembark on the tarmac and take a bus. This is not good for travelers who have been on a plane for 14 hours. Plus I was in a leg cast and had to figure a way downstairs with no help. What is this airport thinking on having passengers get off of an international flight to a non jetway in the 21st century. That’s why I give bad review and will advise people to avoid this airport but the other airport at SHA, does the same thing so your screwed either way. Just be prepared for that is all I have to say.