Abu Dhabi Airport

Trying to kill 15 hours in this place since we just found out my wife is unable to leave the airport. She's a Thai citizen and the visa required to spend a few hours in Abu Dhabi will cost $70US and take 8 hours to arrange. Mine is free and instant. This information wasn't mentioned anywhere when we looked yesterday. This airport is very small and dull - especially compared to Dubai. Etihad gave us some free meal vouchers at the transport desk which was unexpected. Shame this means McDonalds or the pasta place next door. I ordered spaghetti bolognese but got chicken curry. Free wifi is a plus. Airport hotel is very expensive and fully booked. Not too busy at minute but was rammed on our last visit. Won't come back.

A taxi driver suggested to us that roadworks are never really finished in Abu Dhabi. They finish it realise that is was done wrongly and re-do it. Well pretty soon someone will realise that AUH terminal 3 is wrong. It is narrow cramped with a ceiling that makes me (6ft’2”tall) uncomfortable. If you are using or planning to use Etihad and AUH as your hub please understand: this is not DXB Terminal 3. Not even a poor version of it. It feels like a toy airport. Quite unbelievable how bad it is. Even DMK (the old Bangkok airport) feels more spacious. Hope you will not need to use the toilets. They are disgusting. With Dubai and Qatar nearby I don't see the point of ever using AUH again. Etihad is not that great as an airline. Saving £50 here or there and having to transit through this is just not worth.

Having just been through this airport in transit 7/3/15 can honestly say this is the worst airport we have been in transit through. Firstly not enough toilets endless queues and wet floor in cubicles sinks in toilets broken no soap in dispensers no hand towels in dispensers. Not enough seating areas poor layout in all areas poor signage not enough refreshment areas for the volume of people. Terminal 1 - far too small for volume of people. We were in terminal 3 again not enough toilets or seating we had to stand outside gate 32 for 3 hours waiting for the gate seating area to be opened with hundreds of other people elderly infirm babies and toddlers all sitting on the floor because of no seats while we could see the gate area through the glass all locked off with hundreds of seats available but we weren't allowed in to use them - this was disgraceful! We were allowed in 10 mins before boarding boarding delayed no explanation finally boarded the plane late take-off delayed for nearly an hour because the fuelling and luggage wasn't complete. The plane was sat on the runway 4 hours before takeoff. Throughout our transit no customer service whatsoever from Etihad.

A joke and completely unacceptable. My parents flew in on a connecting flight from Frankfurt. They touched down at 21.45 but did not get out of the airport until 1.25am! They had to line up for over three hours at customs where they were made to fill out some new form whose English translation was completely ridiculous and impossible to understand. The customs official did not even look at this document when they finally made it to the customs desk! If Abu Dhabi wants to be an attractive tourist destination they are going to have to ensure speedy and efficient service at the airport which is your first point of contact with the UAE. Right now it is very far from being a world class airport.

I was shocked to experience the enormous waiting time to clear immigration - it took me three hours of standing in a slow-moving line of exhausted people. That is not what I had expected of a place that wants to attract tourism. Of course I will continue using the airport because it is a hub for if one wants to travel from Southern Africa to Asia but in future I will try my utmost to avoid this. Beyond belief.

Worst airport I have been to it is a complete mess. I strongly believe that this airport could not handle such huge amount of travellers. After a long flight transit passengers usually need a quiet place to relax change clothes use the bathroom and charge electronic devices. This airport could provide any of them. Toilets are full and are also dirty. People lie on the floor blocking the passageway while restaurants are all occupied there are no place to sit either. Even if I could sit somewhere power plugs can be hardly found in the gates. Trying to appeal as a luxurious airport while providing such poor facilities is not a good combination believe me. Next time I would rather fly via Doha or Dubai.

I am a frequent traveller and I have seen my share of dysfunctional airports but nothing compares to the AUH airport. It did not catch up with its growth over the past few years and passengers have to pay dearly for that shortcoming. It took me 2h from stepping into the building until I reached the gate. There are long queues everywhere check in passport control security and even toilets. Staff are stressed and grouchy. There are at peak hours no seats anywhere in or near the gates. The old and rundown terminal 1 is even worse. I guess passengers have to put up with this till the new terminal opens in about two years.

Worst airport I have experienced. Very poor facilities nowhere near enough toilets for the amount of people. Long queues at security and rude staff.

Transited the airport on the way to Ho Chi Min City ex. Brussels for the 3rd time this year. I'm a very frequent (business) traveller for over 30 years all over the world but Abu Dhabi ranks as one of the worst airports I have had to cross. The infrastructure cannot handle the massive inflow of passengers but the worst is that for some reason they 'forgot' to install a sufficient number of toilets. I have never experienced not even in the most remote airports such a lack of toilet facilities. In the premium lounge there were a 'total' of 4 toilets for men resulting in waiting lines of 10-12 people. Abu Dhabi rates itself very high and thinks it is upper class and grandeur but they are very wrong. Just the airport as such is for me reason to skip Etihad flights in the future or whatever flight uses this airport as transit.

Terrible airport! For a growing carrier like Etihad and the traffic growth all around the gulf Abu Dhabi seems to be lagging behind everyone else. In terminal 3 there are 6 bag drop desks for most of the Etihad fleet (that's over 100 a/c) and around 10 normal check in desks. Average queue time can be anything from 10mins to 1hr plus. Then all the passengers move across to boarder control where of course it is chaos again. Finally when you clear immigration and security you are presented with a terrible selection of shops restaurants and cafes and no seating what so ever (unless of course you don't mind sitting on the floor or the edge of a flower bed). Then when your flight is ready to board there is a single file queue to one maybe two people checking passports. So the queue here for a B777 or A340 is 15mins+. Then you board the a/c and you are away. From the moment you enter the airport to boarding the plane it is a nightmare. I hope the new midfield terminal will be better. I cannot imagine what the A380 with 450-500 passengers is going to look like in terminal 3! I really feel sorry for those passengers. The staff are very rude and not interested in the passenger experience and queuing for security is chaos as staff are shouting almost every world city for passengers to skip the queue for imminent departures so the flow of people in the queue is limited as people skip the queue. I didn't imagine this at all for a Middle Eastern airport.