Bangalore Airport review by G Field

28 February 2008   Customer Rating :

Whilst it is very old and tired and very Inndian, it just about works. Everyone is excited about the new airport due to open Mar/Apr 2008, but expect that to be a worse experience due to major transport problems getting there. Biggest hassle at Bangalore is guy checking the tickets/paperwork at the main entrance door to the international terminal. I travel on E tickets and I dont always print them off, so I often only have my passport and an email on my laptop. First time this happened to me a BA clerk was nearby and "rescued" me from this pointless administration. This week I didnt have this help so I wrote the flight details (didnt even have the flight number) on the outside of the envelope I had been given by the hotel with the hotel bill. Guy on the door, opened the envelope, "read" the hotel bill, "checked" my passport and let me through. Amazing India!

Bangalore Airport review by Arun Subramanian

27 February 2008   Customer Rating :

I have traveled many a time through Bangalore airport. Most of the findings are true and the facilities are poor. However, it may not be correct to directly relate the conditions at airport to the name "silicon valley of India". The airport is a very old one and had not foreseen the growth in international traffic. As many of you may know the new international Airport at Bangalore is almost ready with latest facilities, which hopefully will satisfy requirements of international passengers. Whereas the rush, crowd and zoo like ambience (as described by some) is concerned, it may not change much, as we have large cross section of travelers (Indians and foreigners) with different background and culture.

Bangalore Airport review by Ian Tracey

4 February 2008   Customer Rating :

I have been travelling through Bangalore airport regularly over the last few years, and it never ceases to amaze me how strange and annoying the place is. The facilities are the worst of any airport I have ever been to, and checking in is like being in a zoo. Even though some of the airlines try to board their passengers by row, this is just not happening. As soon as the first boarding announcement is made, expect a stampede. It is almost like they think the plane will leave without them if they don't get on first. The (unofficial) smoking area is in the toilet! Even though carrying matches or lighters onto the plane is not allowed, the entrepreneurial toilet attendant will happily light your cigarette for you, and steer you to one of the two cubicles. A few rupee tip is expected for this service. Bring your own toilet paper if you need to use the toilet, as the airport supply is haphazard to say the least. Make sure you eat before you get there, as the single coffee shop is next to hopeless, and very much more expensive for the rubbish served than anywhere else in town. The departure area is awful. The seats are filthy, and the flight information screen of virtually no use, as it is normally several hours behind, or showing information on arrivals or domestic departures which go from a different hall. The current airport is however very conveniently located, with most places no more than twenty to thirty minutes away. The new airport under construction is going to mean trips of up to two hours for lots of travellers as Bangalores traffic is a disaster all of the time, and worse if it rains. After immigration on arrival, delays getting to baggage reclaim are caused by your carry on bag being x-rayed, and you going through a metal detector. Quite why this is needed when you have just finished your flight is beyond me. Baggage reclaim is slow. Watch out for the farm tractor pulling trolleys of suitcases. When you arrive and walk outside, expect to be approached by a multitude of hopefuls wanting to carry your luggage, or be your taxi. You can also expect to be quoted outrageous figures for your transport. You know you are being ripped off when you see a cloth placed over the meter. Very few places justify a fee of above 200 Rupees for a taxi or 100 for an autorickshaw. If you are being picked up, you will probably have to brave the crowd outside to find them, as there is a fee to come inside to meet you and most drivers just won't pay it.

Bangalore Airport review by Steve Agnew

7 December 2007   Customer Rating :

While there may not be much shopping in the conventional sense, there is an excellent and serious bookshop, better than I've seen in any airport. It is well worth a browse through - you're sure to find a treasure or two.

Bangalore Airport review by J Kemp

4 December 2007   Customer Rating :

Agree with other comments that while Bangalore airport is not Changi, it's not the abyss described by many. Having experience explosive growth in the region, with a new airport on the way, it's amazing that this little military airport holds up under the pressure. There's a special charm about this airport - and while taxed by the increasing number of passengers coming through this tiny facility, I think that the airport administration has done a pretty good job. Arriving from Paris at 1 AM, I was through customs, picked up luggage (after having to wake up the porters who were sleeping on the belt!), and into my car in 30 minutes. On the way out, on a mid-afternoon flight from BLR to BOM, I was checked in and through security in 10 minutes. While there was no lounge service, just sitting in the main waiting area is quite an experience. One does not always have to shop to make an airport experience something to rave about to friends.

Bangalore Airport review by Richard Coxon

4 July 2007   Customer Rating :

Having arrived through Kolkata, left India through Bangalore airport. Yes, it is old and tired with few facilities, but found none of the problems described by people below. No porters trying to get money from you when you arrived (which was around midnight for the 01h55 LH departure). There was only one X-ray machine for hold baggage prior to check-in, but no queue when we were there. Check-in itself was run by Lufthansa and superb, able to check us through to the final destination. No wait for security and had our luggage tags stamped to show we had been checked. The departure lounge is tiny and the international terminal has only two gates, but one is closed, so flights board one at a time. Toilets were clean. No lounges of any sort but also no mosquitoes or flies to be seen. This airport will close soon in any case and be replaced by the new BIA in 2008, so I did not expect new features!

Bangalore Airport review by Arjun Shankar

14 June 2007   Customer Rating :

Bangalore, for a so-called IT-Capital, has an appaling airport. There is basically nothing to do at the airport for the 2-3 hours you wait in order to board your flight. Security check is a pain, as the uniformed staff simply insist on checking the same luggage over and over again (I had my laptop bag poked and prodded and checked 4 times over the course of 5 minutes). Also, they seem to be paranoid about getting your luggage tags 'stamped'. I had to go through security again because I had not gotten my tags 'stamped' - what a joke. There is no first or business class lounge and the entire departure lounge was filled with pax waiting for the 4 flights to CDG, FRA, BKK and SIN. There is only one departure gate for international flights, and as you can imagine it was a mess when it was time to board. There is no priority boarding for first and business or Star Alliance pax (even though the lady was trying in vain to make the announcement that boarding at that time was only for first and Star Alliance gold card pax). The building is not airconditioned, instead there are huge fans blasting air right on top of the people's heads. There is a Coffe Day coffee shop, but the prices are crazy (US$5 for a cup of coffee!), and they have a few cookies and bottled water. I suggest not buying anything there. Overall the airport is very shabby, and not at all to any international standards - they really need to fix it up soon.

Bangalore Airport review by Ira Rahmawati

27 April 2007   Customer Rating :

I arrived with Jetstar at 3 in the morning. Disappointed to find an international airport that really needs repainting and change of floor tiles. I was lucky that the toilet had running clear water. Got my bags scanned but no officer was watching the screen. Many people slept on the turned-off conveyor belts, on the table, on the floor, everywhere. Prepaid taxi service was ok. Actually they also have airport threecycle taxi, but when I tried it, they conned me by asking double the meter because it was before 6am. My Indian friend later told me that the rate was 1.5 times the meter between 10pm - 6am. The airport was small and located inside the city so actually it was also rather nicely located. Unlike gigantic airport like Changi or Cengkareng, you can actually reach the city on foot.

Bangalore Airport review by Y Elhan

20 April 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

It helps to have realistic expectations when travelling through Bangalore airport. Yes, it is the so-called IT-capital of India, but you are not in Delhi or Mumbai. Allow about an hour to get through all the security checkpoints, check-in, ticket control etc. Things take longer, not all airport staff speak English - some can and will not bother to. Rest, bathroom, shopping facilities will be limited. But if asked nicely, people are helpful. Especially if you are a woman traveller, with laptop, document bag etc. in addition to your luggage, there will invariably be someone who helps with your luggage as it goes in and out of numerous security checks. And where goodwill fails, Rs. 20 goes a long way. Try to have some small bills with you, there are plenty of porters and "handlers" who will get you through the check-points fairly smoothly.

Bangalore Airport review by J Iwan

26 January 2007

Bangalore Airport is as other Indian airports not a place to relax. At night they have a few international flights eg. to BKK, FRA and CDG but only one departure gate, which means that the small waiting hall is completely overcrowded. Business Class lounges are not existing. You have to pass the usual uncountable check points for everything to keep the huge amount of uniformed staff working. The newest idea of the airport authorities seems to be that they strictly allow now only one piece of hand baggage. So even when Air France accepted my two pieces (Laptop bag and small briefcase) I faced a unpleasant discussion at the security check point together with nearly all other passengers who had two pieces. (Even cameras and hand bags were counted as one piece). Not really that, what you might be expect from the worlds IT-capital.

Bangalore Airport review by Nico Argyris

6 September 2006

Several porters who will get the luggage wherever you are, at the conveyor belt, at the car, at the check in when standing in line. Don’t use them. If you are, keep in mind that a salary for a person working as a teacher is rps 3000, a waiter in a restaurant is rps 2000. There is nothing to do at this airport. There is no lounge. For domestic departure the process is as smooth as it can get in India. For international departures you have to wait 500-600m outside the terminal to get past the first security check (it started raining when I stood there), many checks and x-ray and checks again. Finally inside, all shops except 1 where closed, although there where 5 international planes departing at the same time. There where roughly 1200 people waiting in the same departure lounge at the same time.

Bangalore Airport review by Christian Terrill

25 March 2006

You will probably be greeted by several porters who will get the luggage out of your car and take in up to check-in for you. There is nothing to do at this airport. It is basically check-in, security (which opens at 5am), and then you are in the departure lounge. There is a small duty free shop (with a reasonable selection of alcohol and cigarettes, and prices in US$) and one or two souvenir shops in the departure lounge, but that's just about it. There is also a (yellow) mobile charging box on the wall to the left of the actual gate. A small coffee shop (Coffee Day) serves coffee, soft drinks and snacks. The coffee is very good - quite strong, but very nice, and great at 5.30 in the morning. There were additional outlets, but they were not open when I was there. Snacks were not that great, but there were sandwiches, cookies, and a variety of cakes. The boarding process was laborious. There was one guard who checks your boarding pass and that you have stamped hand baggage (you have to attach a luggage tag to your hand baggage, and this gets stamped when you go through security/xray screening) receipts. You then go through secondary screening (random), and tertiary screening (also random), followed by boarding pass processing, and finally you get on the plane! Make sure you have mosquito repellant available, as there are mosquitos in the check-in area. They also hang around in the departure hall, but the fans in there are quite powerful and blow them away. But if you get bitten by them, I'd spray or put lotion on before you arrive.

Bangalore Airport review by Karl Moosbrugger

5 March 2006

Travelled through Bangalore airport twice on domestic flights recently. It's not a world-class airport but both times (around noon) it was not crowded, arrival and check-in was quick and efficient and staff helpful and polite. The terminal building is quite old and small but not as dirty as Delhi and some infrastructure improvements would make a big difference.

Bangalore Airport review by Kurt Müller

8 August 2005

One could be forgiven for not realising that one is at the airport of what is trumpeted as India’s IT capital. Checking in with any airline using Air India’s computer terminals at BLR, passengers can forget about obtaining boarding passes to their final destination if their trip involves a transfer at an intermediate point – the system cannot handle anything but the leg departing from Bangalore. The immigration desks have no scanners for swiping machine-readable passports. However, there is uniformed personnel in abundance – some of them doing nothing else but checking whether their counterpart a few yards away has placed a stamp in your documents. Where they are really needed, these officers do nothing. Boarding a TG flight on 7th August, the procedure was a disaster. Instead of providing the announced priority to families with children and those needing special assistance (and then allowing business class passengers on first), the uniformed guard at the gate was happily (yet again) checking for the numerous stamps on boarding passes of anyone who was rude enough to push their way through (and such people are in abundance in India, let me tell you). On the infrastructure side, matters have deteriorated even further. Last week, I witnessed the collapse of a new structure designed to hide the aircon ducts in the domestic terminal, burying the Kingfisher check in desk and one of their agents under the debris. At the international departures building, buying a visitor’s ticket has become a farce, as passengers and visitors are now separated at the front door and have to use separate escalators. And judging by the state of the seats in the international departures lounge, I wonder whether the stray dogs that are omnipresent on the apron area are allowed to use the seats during quite periods – it is simply unimaginable that humans could soil cushions to that extent – and even more so that no one seems to realize they need cleaning.

Bangalore Airport review by Mayur Poddar

29 May 2005

The airport of "silicon valley of India". For those who know the state of infrastructure in Bangalore, I can only say that the airport if no better. There are these aspects to the domestic airport: a) Ticketing - The counters are on the outside of the terminal, so come rain or shine, you'll have to stand in a queue and wait your turn. The Jet and Sahara counters were always manned, Indian Airlines has the biggest counter and the fewest people behind it, and the slowest of course. b) Luggage trolleys - Until recently, they were elusive - had to look around for one. Now I could find them easily. But they're so freaking small. I've seem some bigger ones, but their availability was low - about 1 big trolley for every 30 small ones I saw. c) Pre-checkin waiting lounge - I mostly got a place to sit, but rush hour means standing. And it's hot and humid. d) Check in - Always crowded, lines and lines and lines. You've got to see the check in counters of Kingfisher - it's like 2 portable tea stalls in the corner of nowhere. It's such a shame. e) Security check - The men and women just doing their job f) Pre-boarding lounge - Plenty of space to sit here. As for the international departure and arrival - the lesser said, the better. There's no air conditioning, not enough seating space, only 1 xray scanner in departure (means lines longer than 30 passengers), very few check in counters, overall very shabby. The customs officers at departure are friendly and helpful but sport a very laid back attitude. The customs officers at arrival are friendly and helpful and spot a very professional attitude. Somebody explain the difference to me. Immigration guys are the best of the lot, they work methodically and have someone organise the queues and show directions to people. Bangalore airport is not so bad, all they have to do is pull up their socks.

Bangalore Airport review by Kurt Müller 

28 January 2005

The efficiency of Bangalore airport is going only one way: down, seriously far down, in fact. Arrive around 6.00 a.m. for an early morning departure and you will find the drive-up area and foot access to the building taken up by dozens of trucks and literally hundreds of bags of freight lying all over the place. This, of course takes place under signs restricting vehicles to alighting only and a maximum of 90 seconds in the zone. Oh, did I mention the police who seem to find no fault in this? Inside, the normal long queues for security during rush hours persist, but travellers (at least on Jet Airways) have for some time now been subjected to another round of both cabin baggage search and body frisking on their way to the planes. So, if they could tell us which one of the two security checks is totally useless, we could all save time and money.

Bangalore Airport review by Alan Barker 

25 November 2004

I flew into Bangalore from Bangkok by Thai Airways International in September and out again 3 days later. There are no exchange facilities in the main part of the airport. If you want to change money, then do it just after you collect your baggage and before you leave the customs area. There is a small cubicle just before you get your bags checked on leaving the baggage area. Checking in on departure can be chaotic as you pass through several security checks that don't seem to actually check for anything, and waiting for a flight in the departure area is even more chaotic as the lounge area is miniscule. If you're flying Thai and you're on Business Class or you're a Golden member, then ask to be put in the Air India lounge as there is a reciprocal agreement. The Thai counter staff - who are all Indian - won't suggest it, but it's there if you ask. I was assured by a friendly local that the airport is going to be upgraded soon. Hope so, it needs it.

Bangalore Airport review by J George 

1 August 2004

I flew domestic from BOM-BLR on one occasion in the past month. I arrived on the evening flight from BOM and the aircraft had to unfortunately park on the tarmac, quiet a distance away from the airport. Fortunately a small fleet of buses were ferrying passengers to the terminal very quickly. A word of warning to those who transit in BLR. Don't! There is one small shop and a few chairs. If you have to stay in the airport for more than four or five hours try to ask an airport personnel to book you a hotel room in one of the hotels near the airport. Anyway, baggage claim area was quiet small with only one of the two carousels working. All the passengers were huddled around the carousel and there was no space. Trolleys again are free here. Overall the airport is clean and the staff are abundant although not well versed in English. The taxi service is not as bad here as it was in BOM, although the drivers may try to cheat you if you are a foreigner to the city. To avoid this, know the route you want to take well and try not to speak much English or any other foreign language to the driver.