HYDERABAD AIRPORT review : 29 April 2008 : by S Srinivasan

Customer Rating : 4/5

New airport (Rajiv Gandhi) is out in the middle of nowhere - a good 60 minute drive from town in moderate traffic - but is definitely miles ahead of the old airport, and far better than Chennai, Delhi, or Mumbai. The one thing you'll notice upon getting in or out of the terminal is the crowd control - you don't have to fight through the thousands of gawkers that normally congest the entry gates. The check-in area is spacious, and unlike other airports in India, you don't have to get your bags pre-screened before going to the check-in counter. Security check is a breeze, and there is a better selection of shops and restaurants than the old airport (albeit badly overpriced). The terminal building itself is clean, airy, and bright, with adequate seating at the gate areas, and has clean, modern bathroom facilities. The negatives - the distance from the city, the exorbitant parking fees (300 rupees just for your driver to wait for you), high prices for food and drinks in the terminal, and the bags take a good while to get to the carousels. Signage for the shops and restaurants is also terrible, though hopefully this will get fixed over time.

Hyderabad Airport by John Lumby

27 February 2007   Customer Rating :

I have never had much of a problem with this airport both flying in and out. There has been the odd queue for immegration on arrival but never excessive. I have also flown internal Indian flights from there and found the place ok. Even the duty free seems to have improved in the last 12 months or so. ds.

Hyderabad Airport by Praveen Babu

26 February 2007

I've flown through Hyderabad dozens of times over my life, the old Begumpet terminal. The airport itself is acceptable by Indian standards. There are plenty of baggage boys to take care of you though. The carts are free but may not be in the best quality. The domestic terminal is much better than the international, its been renovated and has shiny marble all over. Mosquitos are an issue in both terminals. Air conditioning is bad and there is a humidty problem in both terminals. What's odd with this airport is that certain halls and sections are air conditioned while others are not. For example, immigrations is not airconditioned, domestic departures is. Some sections of the airport are clean, while others are not. Overall, an inconsistent airport. In general, this airport is not up to international standards. Fortunately, facilities are being upgraded in 2008 in the form of a brand new airport in the city outskirts, unfortunately, it appears the same staff will be managing that airport as well.

Hyderabad Airport by M Khaderi

10 December 2006

Located centrally in the heart of the City. Baggage Claim takes a lot of time, outdated and slow conveyor belts. Baggage Trollies are not maintained properly, most of them have tilted wheels or one or more wheels missing, difficult to control the movement of trolley and small in Size. Cleanliness not to the standard of International Air Ports.

Hyderabad Airport by John Lynn

2 November 2006

What an amazing airport - I sampled both the domestic ( flight over Everest) and the International ( flight to Muscat with Gulf Air). Security is a joke - domestic - searched on arrival -baggage through scanner, body search - further body search on passing into the "shed" they call the departure hall - it looked like a cattle shed. International - newer building - just . Bag and body search - 20 mins to negotiate emigration - then a further bag scan - full body search - THEN to an officer who rummaged in bag. pulling items out at random ! - Bussed to Gulf Air Plane - on getting off bus yet another body search and bag search by the aircraft. A little overkill i think . On arrival in Muscat some 5 hours later I looked in rucksack and realised that I had inadvertantly packed a bottle of shower gel and toothpaste - both were not allowed - and were not noted by the three searches. What a waste of time and effort in the searches!. Catering at KTH airport v basic - a shop! selling crisps, pastries etc - you poke your head through a hatch to order! An International Airport - I think not

Hyderabad Airport by Bert Huizenga

13 February 2006

Small airport, but efficient. Between arrival and baggage claim is 30 minutes from Middle east flights. A lot better than the all over praised airport of Chennai. Hyderabad is for as far as I know also working on the development of a new international airport. At least that is what they told me when I lived there last year!

Hyderabad Airport by David Reece

29 January 2006

Efficient? Not in my experience. Arrival is painful: the immigration officers take about ten minutes for each Indian passengers (foreigners are faster, but are few and far between) so unless you are among the first off the 'plane you will have a very long wait. Then you have to wait for checked baggage -- the screening procedure means that two hours can easily pass between touchdown and your bag arriving. Departures: note that once you have checked in you cannot leave the departure area and so are at the mercy of the limited and over-priced catering that the airport offers. Check-in was slow and inefficient, with staff who couldn't be bothered to handle requests for exit row seats, etc. There is a cyber-cafe in the departure lounge, but its computers have loads of pop-ups and probably spyware as well, so not a good place to do your on- line banking.

Hyderabad Airport by Robert Deluga

14 January 2006

Small and efficient airport, somewhat slow staff and nothing remarkable. Arrival and Departure lounges are separated, Arrivals on the ground floor and Departures on the first floor, accessible to vehicles by a ramp, so picking someone up or dropping some one is quite easy. Parking fees have gone up sharply to Rs.50 / hour so watch out. Inside the terminal, its like any other airport in India, designed in a cramped way and not maintained very well. TV screens that are supposed to show flight arrivals and departures show too much advertising and are not very easy to read. Check in and security procedures are quick, but passport control can take a long time if there is insufficient staff when you pass through. Police officers and other staff are friendly and alert. The departure waiting area can comfortably hold passengers for 2 planes, the only small coffee shop starts with Rs.30 for a coffee ! There are 3 airbridges which have been in use every time I passed through this airport, so boarding and deplaning are quite quick. For passengers arriving from domestic flights, baggage claim is quite fast. For international arrivals, all baggage is first screened by customs to identify any goods that attract tax. This happens out of your vision, so be patient until the luggage is screened and put on the conveyor belt. If you see a big white cross made with chalk on your luggage, it means the screening officer inside thinks you have something to declare, and the customs officers at the exit will catch you if you pretend otherwise. Once out of customs, before getting out of the airport, locate and use the prepaid Auto and Taxi counters to pay your fare first, get a voucher and take the Auto / Taxi whose vehicle number is indicated on the voucher. This will avoid hassles. When you alight you hand over the voucher to him and a tip if you wish.




 

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