Abu Dhabi Airport

I've seen a lot of airports and thought it couldn't get worse than Manila Airport. I was wrong. Abu Dhabi wins it on all counts. No seats no space crowded little toilets long lines everywhere desperate searching people with full busses to the plane a few very small restaurants where you only can pay with dirhams! But a lot of expensive luxury shops. House airliner Etihad constantly adding new destinations while the airport is already clogged with stressed transit passengers on the way to catch there next flight on time! Avoid this airport at all costs.

I was recently flying from BLR to ORD with a connecting flight at AUH. I expected my stopover at AUH to be pleasant. The experience was far from it. First of all directions to gates were not clear especially if you are not aware that your gate might be in a different terminal than your flight actually departs from. In my case my Etihad flight departed from the apron in front of Terminal 3 but my departure gate was Gate 8 in Terminal 1. When I got to Gate 8 (a very long walk from my arrival at the far end of Terminal 3) it was closed with nobody manning it and without any sort of notice. It turned out that the security screening for several gates was being channelled through a single line entering through a different gate although nobody was being told about it. The security screening process was slow. Once past the security process I had 2 hours to my connecting flight. Sadly there were no restaurants coffee shops or even snack counters in the departure area which had far less seating than one would expect for 777 flights. Even more sadly there wasn't a single water fountain or even a soda vending machine to quench one's thirst. For about 8 departure gates (all shuttle gates not aerobridges) there was only one toilet for females and one for males potentially having to serve a couple thousand waiting passengers. I noticed that the area had been updated with a big-screen TV lounge area and LED lighting but somehow the thought of providing adequate toilet and refreshment facilities doesn't seem to have occurred to the authorities. I didn't experience the other parts of the airport which are supposed to be quite impressive but nonetheless there is no reason such a sub-par section should exist in the international airport of such a wealthy country especially when it is part of the terminal dedicated to the flagship carrier of Abu Dhabi. One final word about Etihad. I flew economy class ("Coral") and I did not find their service to be significantly better than say British Airways or Lufthansa. Actually I would rate British Airways economy class service as superior to Etihad.

Far too few seats for so many passengers. The airport was crowded and too small for so many passengers.

Dreadful airport. Chaotic. Incompetent ground staff cannot/will not help. I have to fly around the world for my job but AD is the worst airport I have ever travelled through. Avoid at all costs.

Just returned from holiday which involved transiting at AUH. The boarding process at Terminal 3 is to say the least chaotic. Especially if your flight involves being bussed from the terminal to where your plane is parked and because of this (notwithstanding the tight connection times between a lot of Etihad flights) they never seem to leave on time. Facilities do leave a lot to be desired. With planned construction of a new terminal building you hope that issues such as being bussed to and from terminals (abnormal in today's era of international airports) and chaotic boarding are ironed out. I'm not that optimistic though.

It seems that this airport can't handle the rapid growth of Etihad Airways. Terminal is overcrowded most of the time. Very stressful airport to transfer from one flight to another.

Absolutely ghastly airport - the worst I have visited bar none. None of my flights left on time with a minimum of 90 minutes delay - so other connections were missed. What is the point of having an exclusive Etihad Terminal 3 if you are always dropped off at Terminal 1 - especially since there is no information that you're actually in another Terminal. That's after a convoluted bus ride of at least 20 minutes. So many flights taking off mine - due to take off in 80 minutes - couldn't fit on the board so we were left to wander like the undead looking for information. The security queues were horrendous all 4 times with no organisation and plenty of attitude from ground staff. Took 2 hours to clear that on separate transfers. No obvious sign as business class that there was a separate queue for us and first though you wouldn't have been able to get through the throng of people lining up almost to Terminal 1. The lounge was heaving and unimpressive. The only thing I liked in Terminal 3 was the air- con that others dislike as by that point I was extremely hot from the stuffy overcrowded tunnel. It's not as though the Etihad hard product or customer service in the air is very good either so I will never willingly go through Abu Dhabi again. Avoid!

I really did not like my stopovers going and coming back from Bangkok to Brussels. I do not understand why passengers on international flights must take a bus to go the terminal building (T1) or to go to the airplane from the new terminal 3. Toilets were difficult to find and not very clean. There is a lack of seats at the boarding gate and staff is not friendly. Avoid this airport if you want a relaxing transfer to your connecting flight.

This is a very good airport with good services. Everything is good from gate to gate. There is one thing and that is the security checks between terminal 1 and 3 that can cost a lot of time. We flight with Etihad from AMS to KTM and we have 2.5 hours between the flights and that was ok.

For the first time passed through Abu Dhabi twice. This month (May). Very crowded hardly any seating. I noticed they are building a new terminal building until this is open I will avoid Abu Dhabi.