Shenzhen Baoan Airport review byChris Carroll

6 March 2008   Customer Rating : n/a

Two terminals (A & B you can’t miss them with 20 feet high letters on the outside of each building). The terminals are connected by a walkway on the second floor (departures level). Both terminals are wide and open, with good public facilities and numerous options for transport to Shenzhen and HK Self Administrative Region. Downtown bus No.330 has several stops and terminates at Shenzhen Station and Lo Hu Boundary Crossing where you can change to a train to Kaoloon. These are frequent and cheap and in my opinion are a far better option to taxis who are adept at all the usual airport taxi scams. A golden rule in China is that it’s always better to get a taxi downtown where competition is keener and drivers more reliable, not to mention safer. That unpleasantness aside, other transport options to HK include fast and frequent (every 20-30 minutes) busses to the HK boundary and onward to a number of destinations in the SAR itself. Perhaps most useful for foreigners are those to Kaoloon, including Hung Hom Station (main station), Prince Edward MRT station (Mong Kok), Nathan Road at Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) MRT station. The only downside of these services is that they use the Hong Gang Port crossing which involves exiting the bus for Chinese immigration, reboarding and exiting again for HK inspections then reboarding for a third time before continuing your trip. Sounds complicated but it is actually quite straight forward, even with a minimum of Chinese. All can be booked at the official desks near the exit doors for both terminals- you will be taken to your bus when it arrives by a uniformed hostess. Never go anywhere with a non- uniformed person as there are plenty of touts looking for a quick buck and you will be scammed, perhaps even worse. Other options include the fast turbojet to Central on HK Island and helicopters to HK International Airport, neither of which I have tried. As for SZ airport itself, food facilities abound and are much better for range and price than almost any other Chinese airport- and I’ve been to quite a few! Terminal B has a Starbucks and McDs (arrivals) and KFC (departures) all with free internet access. The other terminal has a Pizza Hut (arrivals) and a couple of pricy Chinese options in departures. The walkway between the terminals has a couple of Chinese food options which are reasonably priced. All restroom facilities are reasonable for China- again with the smoking but what can you do? BYO paper or take the dispensers near the hand wash area as there is none in the stalls- this is common practice for all Chinese public facilities. Most stalls are squat type but one sit down is usually available for “the infirm” but it may double as a store room for mops and buckets - welcome to China. Don’t tip the staff as it is not a Chinese custom.

Shenzhen Baoan Airport review byWim Verhage

25 March 2006   Customer Rating : n/a

In general a new and modern airport. My wife needs to travel to Bangkok on a regular basis, and from where we live (Danshui) it's only a 1 hour drive. It's also a lot cheaper to fly from Shenzhen to Bangkok, and you don't have the hassle of double immigration you have to pass when you fly from Hong Kong. Finding the terminal and a place to park is not easy if you can't read Chinese. The Chinese directions are large, and the ones in English very small. First time I picked up my wife, it took 3 laps around the airport before I finally found the place where I could park my car. Finding the check in counter for international flights is also not easy when you have to do this the first time - now we know where to go, but the first time it was very confusing and time consuming. Information monitors are everywhere and for all domestic (Chinese) flights it's clear where to check in. International flights however use a counter that you can't see when you stand in the departure hall - just look around, you can't find it. I asked for help at the general information desk, but there was nobody available who could speak English (so much for an international airport) We found it ourselves; you have to go all the way to the left when you walk in, and then there is still no sign; you have to go thru a healthy checkpoint, where you still can't see the check in counters - non-passengers are not allowed in, so my wife called me that she found the check in - crazy!

Shenzhen Baoan Airport review byCasper van der Walt

9 October 2005

A very good airport, not too big, very modern with friendly staff and good connections to Hong Kong. I usually fly to Shenzhen airport when I go to Hong Kong, the flights are much cheaper than from Hong Kong airport.

Shenzhen Baoan Airport review byHarry Tsui

26 March 2005

I travel through Shenzhen airport many times a year and found it to be an efficient airport. I usaully take the Turbojet ferry from Hong Kong (1 hour) and then take the transit bus (10 minutes) to the Terminal. You can also take the Airport bus from the city center for 20 yens (45 minutes). The taxi fare from the train station to the airport is at 120 yens and it takes around 40 minutes. The Shenzhen airport has two terminals connecting by a walkway. Checking in is easy and segregated by each flight. Once you get your boarding pass, you need to go through two steps security check. The first step is to check the Identity card or passport as to compare to the ticket name. The second step is for physical security. For foreigners, please make sure that the name appeared on the ticket matches exactly your passport. I have seem the ticketing agent used the name of the country as the passenger's name. So be careful. Otherwise, the security person will not let you go through even for a slight difference, no matter how to bet For some reason, the Shenzhen airport physical security sets the tolerance rate to almost zero. That means ALL people will get the physical screening by an electric baton before getting through. So far, I have seen no exception. They also check your content too if they see there is any CDs or DVDs inside. If you have any wine, soft drink, or water, you need to open it and drink it in order to proof that it is not gasoline. Once you are in the departure hall, then you are safe. The departure hall is airy with a lot of natural light and a good view of the planes landing and taking off. Arriving at Shenzhen airport is also very easy. The time to walk to the Exit never takes more than 10 minutes. Once you reach the end, take the stairs or escalator down to the baggage claim or just walk straight out to the Exit. If you have the checked baggage, the security will need to see your receipt to match the tag. Once out, you can take the Airporter to the city center for 20 Yens. It is safe and cheap. Never ever take the solicitation from the people at the airport for rides. I tried it once (with 4 persons). The driver drove on the opposite direction of the Highway Exit in getting on the highway. And the whole time was like the death ride. The other option is to take the transit bus to the Fu Yung Ferry to Hong Kong or Macau. There is also a cross border bus to Hong Kong but not recommended because you need to get off the bus at Wang Kong border crossing and then back on the bus, get off again for the Hong kong custom and back on again. That is confusing and time consuming. If your designation is Hong Kong, HKG or Macau, take the Ferry. You can buy the ticket at the airport counter, just right in front of the Exit gate. It costs at $171in Hong Kong dollar. You save time in getting in and out of the immigration. Overall, I like using the Shenzhen airport for its efficiency. As for the food or shopping inside the terminal, they are scare and very high priced. However, if you really want to eat before departing, try the Chinese restaurant (Tsui Yuen) on the walkway between the two terminal. It is a regular Cantonese restaurant serving dim sum and other traditional dishes, much better than others. I have travelled through the Hong Quio, Pudong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Zhengzhou airports in China and found that Shenzhen is my best choice among all of them.

Shenzhen Baoan Airport review by Penn Li

5 February 2004

After changed the pervious airport name "Huangtian", nowadays Shenzhen airport is becoming more crowed and comfortable. With the new reconstructed integrate Domestic and International Terminal B, the airport has now show its development. Singapore Airlines and Air Macau service which connected Singapore and Taiwan passengers to the whole China destinations. Also it has innovation in Chinese airports, which are asking McDonalds and KFC to operating, which has breaking the high price consumption in most airport. Two Terminals are build in same features which passenger can see aircraft moving around. While the Shenzhen Metro will connect the airport soon, this will help to improve the transport system for the airport. The inter-city helicopter services between Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou are excellent, good for business people travel between the Peral River Delta. But Shenzhen Airport should improve the In Town Check-In facilities, which is very poor compared with Shanghai and Hong Kong.