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Bratislava Stefanik Airport Passenger Reviews and Bratislava Airport Traveller Reports
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BRATISLAVA AIRPORT customer review : 9 January 2011 by Stephen D'Arcy
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
Airport was updated and expanded in June 2010 and is now up to the task. Used it in Dec. 2010
- no problems. On arrival go to information and ask for a "one hour" public transport ticket,
costs EURO 0.70, valid on the 61 bus from the airport (runs every 20 mins) into the city
centre, terminating at the main rail station. Journey time: 25 mins.
BRATISLAVA AIRPORT customer review : 5 September 2008 : by Farouk Mogheth
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
Quite an embarrassing airport for a capital city of a booming country! I realise that VIE is quite
near and the Slovaks completly lost interest in having a viable international airport of their own,
but the current state is less than satisfactory. The airport is stuck in a time warp, passenger
numbers are rising however there are no real facilities for the passenger and none for a business
traveller. Shopping is a joke and nothing really to talk about. Check in in summer charter increase
is assisted by a tent - staff surly and unable to assist. Spare yourself the hassle and fly to
Vienna and they offer bus shuttles to Bratislava city as well - a far more civilised manner to fly.
BRATISLAVA AIRPORT review :19 August 2008 : by Richard Melisek
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Customer Rating : 0/5 |  |
As an employee at Bratislava Airport I have a few objections to L.Suciaghi's comments.
First of all, announcements about departures are made in both Slovak and English, with the exception
of Slovak charter flights which are often (but not always) announced only in Slovak, as the
passengers are Slovak and perhaps Czech nationals. On the other hand, arrival announcements are only
in Slovak, as there are quite a few monitors/screens, which are directly linked to the system here
at OPC and hence automatically display current information. The arrival announcements are made in
Slovak, as they are not aimed at the passengers (they have the monitors), but at different workers
at the airport i.e. mechanics, catering, bus drivers as we bus passengers to/from the A/C, with some
minor exceptions, baggage handlers etc). Announcements in the gate are made, if the airline wants
them and these are made at least in Slovak and English. I would also like to state, that often we
make announcements also in other languages ie. for the twice weekly SU flight to SVO also in Russian
and sometimes in Hungarian, Italian, German, French, but that only if unnecessary and very seldom.
We also have three announcements plus special "name" announcements - quite a few more than at many
other airports.
BRATISLAVA AIRPORT review :15 August 2008 : by Lorant Suciaghi
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Customer Rating : 1/5 | |
I was flying recently out of BTS, all announcements were made only in Slovak language, for Alitalia
and SkyEurope passengers. It's the first time that I heard at international airport announcement
only in local language for international flights..
BRATISLAVA AIRPORT review : 7 August 2008 : by Darragh Finlay
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Customer Rating : 3/5 |  |
Efficient small airport, still has that east block feel to it still. Check in was fast and
efficent, but the agent looked like she was about to lose the plot with the face she had on her.
Security fast and duty free was bang on for what you wanted, small but did the job. The gates are
small and the I dont know why they put people on to buses to move them 30 yards to a plane
Bratislava Airport by R Sherman
17 August 2007 Customer Rating : 
BTS Airport is small for an international airport but it is easy in and easy out. Seating is limited,
but because it is small, you don't have to be there for hours on end (unless your flight gets
delayed). Luggage trolleys require a coin (US$0.25, 5SK, or 2 Euro) but you get the coin back when
you return the trolley. Parking is expensive for this small airport (550SK) but in the "off-airport"
parking lot it is half the price. There are plenty of places to get a snack in the airport and the
duty-free shopping is adequate. The airport would do well to have a shop that carried some Slovak
souveniers as none are really available there now. There is regular bus service from the airport to
Vienna, which takes about 75 minutes. All in all a decent but small international airport.
Bratislava Airport by Nigel Lillywhite
25 April 2007 Customer Rating : n/a
I do not think BTS is up to international standards. Arrivals are
probably adequate as most passengers want to get away quickly. The
departure check in area is small and there are only 6 or 8 seats
available for waiting passengers who do not want to pay to sit in a
small cafe or the restaurant. The latter is upstairs, no lift or
escalator is apparent. Those with luggage, with children, or with
physical limitations are disadvantaged. The B departure gate lounges
are ludicrously small and 3/4 of passengers on a major flight will have
to stand for up to 3/4 hour before boarding. on 21st April 2007 a
situation arose in which it was very fortunate that no accident or panic
occurred at the bottom of the escalator to the shuttle bus for a late
flight.
Bratislava Airport by Janne Petersson
20 April 2007 Customer Rating : n/a
Last time I used BTS, check-in took less than a minute and most of the
staff are nice and helpful. However, be careful if you fly with CSA or
Lufthansa from BTS and have connections at PRG or MUC: If you want to
buy Slovak liquor, note that not all duty-free shops provide the
sealable plastic bags needed to get the bottles through security at PRG
or MUC. I had to leave my bottles, go to one of the other shops and ask
them for a sealable bag, take it to the liquor shop myself and ask the
staff there to pack my bottles in that bag. Unacceptable. Otherwise, BTS
is a nice airport.
Bratislava Airport by Cormac Phelan
22 September 2006
Very clean and accesible by the excellent bus service. However,it is
somewhat restricted in terms of open space. The check-in area is quite
small and was quite crowded due to the Ryanair flights to Stansted and
Dublin all being processed simultaneously. Overcrowding appears again
once you have gone through security. The boarding gate the Dublin flight
was leaving from had a sliding door separating it from the main hall-
area and as there was a flight to Tunisia using this gate, all the
Dublin passengers were forced to crowd outside the door (where there was
a lack of seating).Nice airport overall but could do with an expansion.
Bratislava Airport by Mike Preston
22 April 2006
I flew out of this airport on Sky Europe this morning and was favourably impressed with the
cleanliness, speed and efficiency of check in and departure, also with the friendly attitude of the
check in agent and the restaurant staff.
A very pleasant airport indeed and a refreshing change. I will certainly consider using this route
for any future trips to Vienna, despite the 60kms which distance it from that town.
The taxi fare to/from the city centre should be less than SKK 300 (GBP 6) and the ride is about 20
minutes. Unfortunately not all taxi drivers are honest, the scumbag who took us from the railway
station into town (5 minutes) on arrival charged SKK 400, by somehow fiddling the meter.
On the negative side, the duty free prices (EU) are high, but I suppose that is beyond their
control as now that Slovakia has joined the EU it no longer has the right to decide on such matters
as tax rates.
Bratislava Airport by Holger Thiele
29 January 2006
In general BTS is easy to navigate, but bssed on my recent visit there
I would point out two things. Bus #61 going downtown and to the railway
station has two stops near the airport: To the left of the terminal is
the bus terminus; across the street from Arrivals is the first bus stop
when going downtown. Bus tickets strictly cannot be purchased on board !
If a ticket vending machine is broken down (as in my case) one has to
find another source for buying a ticket (a kiosk or go to the next bus
stop). I was unable to find a kiosk selling bus tickets at the airport
(but not all kiosks were open - so there might be one). To make things
more complicated, the ticket vending machines accept only coins (bring a
lot of coins to purchase a daypass !). If more than one flight is
leaving at the same time, waiting times at outbound immigration and
subsequent security check can be long. This is worsened by the fact that
staff at BTS tends to page "Last calls for flight xxx" pretty early, but
once at the departure gate boarding hasn't started yet (but don't count
on that).
Bratislava Airport by Marián Ondrišík
8 December 2005
Bratislava Airport most traffic is operated by low-cost airlines. These
don't have any connection flights (low cost carriers do not offer
transit flights, and only some of them offer transfer flights) and one
of their rules is that the check-in opens two hours before the scheduled
time of departure. Therefore a passenger cannot expect to check-in
her/his luggage seven hours prior departure. Condition of the particular
airline of this kind should be written at least on website. But in local
conditions this is how it works also for passengers of global airlines
alliance members Air France, Austrian Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta
Airlines, Lufthansa or Spanair codesharing on flights from Bratislava.
One of the reasons is also baggage sorting area limits. There is no
additional space for luggage waiting to be loaded in seven hours, what
can cause a loading mistake, so the baggage can be loaded incorrectly
and "be lost". However, baggage sorting area is now under reconstruction
(as well as baggage screening system, whole check-in area, ticketing
area or arrival area) and its space should be doubled at least.
Bratislava Airport is improving its services according the EU and SR
legislation and regulations as it can. To compare, annual capacity of
the terminal build in late 60s and early 70s and enlarged in mid-90s is
350,000 passengers a year. This year BTS expects approximately 1,250,000
passengers. Left luggage office was closed under new management
regulations because of security reasons (no satisfactory baggage
screener) in mid-2004. Under this decision, it will be according the
airport spokesperson closed until a new terminal with relevant security
facilities in 2007 will be build. Regarding this, interesting is that
Main Railway Station as well as Main Bus Station have no satisfactory
baggage screeners in their left luggage offices and these offices are
opened. By the end of 2005 a name of new investor and future 66% shares
owner of Airport Bratislava (BTS) should be announced. Hopefully,
inverstors main intention will be solving the problems of terminal
congestion, lack of staff and quality of services.
Bratislava Airport by L Bleichenbacher
28
July 2005
Last week I used BTS airport, arriving from Kosice around 9am and with a
connection to Zurich at 5pm. Having planned to spend the day exploring
Slovakia's beautiful capital, I was rather intrigued to find out that
the left luggage office 'had been closed for security reasons'. A
friendly employee suggested that I could leave my luggage at the train
station (a 20' taxi ride and at some distance from the city centre),
which I first took to be a joke. When I then tried to check into my
SkyEurope flight a mere seven hours before take-off, the attendant said
this was impossible because 'in the meantime, the luggage might get
lost'. For me, the outcome of this extremely customer-unfriendly and
rather absurd policy was to hit the central bus station (which is only
somewhat closer to the centre than the railway station, but still a 15'
taxi ride if there is no traffic congestion), whereby I lost over an
hour of precious Bratislava-time. Conclusion: Transit passengers are
something Bratislava Airport may yet improve services for.
Bratislava Airport by Robin Noble
26
April 2005
Bratislava airport is pretty small but efficient - think Birmingham, UK, then divide it by four,
and you have the approximate size. However, one caution, the business lounge is very small, with few
facilities, other than copious amounts of free vodka and lots of magazines about other airports.
Bratislava Airport by Peter Kacur
14 November 2004
During peak times, especially in the summer, usually all 11 check-in desks are open. However, the
terminal should undergo a slight reconstruction in the winter season which should bring some more
check-in desks as well as passport check counters. From January 2005 the airport will have its own
security service, so the checks will be more flexible and brisk. The so far state airport shall be
privatized within a year and then a construction of a new passengers terminal is expected.
Bratislava Airport by Dave Jaros
21 June 2004
BTS airport has been revitalised a bit due to increasing traffic by domestic low-cost company
(SkyEurope), however its out of limits especially in space for check-in - in peak times there are
only two counters open. Accessible by bus No 61 from train station, but drivers are sometimes angry
and buses not suitable for easy baggage transport. Tickets are sold in machines or news-stands only
(no driver sale !!!) so look around for coins. Terminal - absolute lack of seats inside and not
visible security precautions. Most vulnerable point that can make you upset is security check - just
after passport control you stay in line mixed from few streams and only one from two x-ray gates is
open, goes very slowly, every stuck stops the people behind (executed by state policemen, not
security service - they don't pull people aside when beeping but stop them all until trouble solved
!). A bit late gate/delay display information, no arm access to planes (so that all 100
passengers must walk outside or are taken by bus). Baggage unload is quite fast yet. Recommended
like low cost alternative to Vienna (60 km), good train (city) or shuttle bus connection.
Bratislava Airport by Stephen D'Arcy
31 May 2004
Bratislava airport has been considerably modernised since my last visit (1986) and is easily
accessible by #61 bus which takes a circuitous route via IKEA etc to the central station for SKK18.
Unable to visit tax-free shops as flight dep. 07.00!
Bratislava Airport by R Lester
4 May 2003
I visited Bratislava airport in March 2003, the airport itself was very clean, small and user
friendly. The airport only handles a handful of flights a day and the staff that check you in also
take you to your plane. The duty free shop had a good range of items although they were more pricey
than at nearby Prague. The airport has a cash machine in the arrivals hall and a couple of bars in
the departure area. This airport certainly has potential to handle more flights that it does at
present.
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