Baku Airport

Have been using Baku Airport for 10 years. Have never had any form of extortion directed towards me from anyone official. Did get caught by the baggage wrapper (once!) but other than that no hassle at all from Immigration or Customs. Security can be very very slow if there are a few flights departing at around the same time (Christmas-time is usually a nightmare). It's then that you realise that queue-forming is not high on the agenda in this neck of the woods. The moral then becomes -"if you can't beat them.....". The toilets are poor. Not very clean and the toilet paper supplied (if at all) resembles rolled-up tree bark! Just what you need before a 6 hour flight - NOT!. Never any soap or anything to dry your hands on either. Duty Free is basic but some things are cheap compared to Europe. The coffee shops are also basic and I have been charged exorbitant amounts for soft drinks - I now question each charge before I buy anything! If a taxi is taken upon arrival then you will have a big problem not being overcharged. In a nutshell Baku Airport can be a big challenge the first time you need use it. I have certainly been to worse (Lagos!).

The food is horrible and there is very little of it. Smoking in all food places is awful. The duty free shops (three) have the same items in each one. Expect a bored female with loads of makeup to follow you around the store like a pet. Passport control process changes all the time without any obvious reason. Loads of staff walking around or chatting in groups but not working. The passport queue is a joke with people cutting in line or jumping the queue. Immigration is a three ring circus pay no attention to the signage it means nothing. Expect to wait 45-60 mins for your luggage and pass thru another security checkpoint with lots of people cutting the queue some are allowed to skip the security process altogether. Boarding the aircraft can be a nightmare with no queues maintained just herding of people onto the plane and loads of overhead baggage.

I have been through Baku airport twice first in August last year and again in July this year in and out both times. Frankly my experience has been a lot better than most of what you see from other comments here: yes it's not a great airport in terms of facilities despite all the space the bureaucracy is not all too transparent or efficient either and you have to watch out for scams and extortion but during all my visits I have met neutral or even friendly staff at passport customs and check-in and no attempted requests for bribery. Upon arrival the visa procedure (for Westerners) is a bit odd: first get a stamp at the passport desk then back to the visa desk and then through to the passport desk again. Some people were not aware of this and queued up at the visa desk first and were then sent to the back of the passport queue first and then again the back of visa queue so that it took them an hour extra to get through. I was advised to sit at the front of the plane on my way in and pre-fill the visa application form in order to be at the front of the passport/visa queue; in reality I was all the way back but in the end this didn't make any difference as the people who were at the front still had to wait just as long as me for the luggage to arrive. Do bring your two passport pictures with you if you don't want to pay 10 dollars (or euros although that's worth 50% more) for them at the airport. The triple security checks at check- in are just a joke as I managed to 'smuggle' both a pocket knife and a bottle of water in my hand luggage through all 3 of them (I found out afterwards). I do suspect that my relatively good treatment may have to do with the fact I was flying European airlines (BA and Lufthansa respectively) on both occasions if that can be useful advice for anyone. In my opinion this airport is not as bad as most others in similar countries.

I agree with D Broessler. Worst airport in the region. Unfriendly and incompetent staff. Dirty toilets. No reliable information on delays dont know English and very important thing is very greedy immigration Officer want money off visitors.

Worst airport in the region. Unfriendly and incompetent staff. Dirty toilets. No reliable information on delays.

One of the most annoying aspects of the Baku airport is that terrible ground/baggage service. This must be the slowest baggage crew in the world. Expect to wait about an hour for luggage longer on the Dubai- Baku flight. Then after you do finally recover your luggage the customs personnel try to make you go through the "declare" line (especially for the Dubai - Baku flight) which requires putting luggage through the x- ray machines again. Another complaint is in regards to the toilets. There must be some way to train the staff what "clean" means. The cleaning ladies are always in the WC (some times sleeping on the counter) but it is never clean - even when they are mopping the floor it is a matter of moving the grime from one spot to another.

Having lived in Baku for 3 years I always found that the airport was the worst introduction and farewell to Azerbaijan. The building itself is fine and the staff in the shops. However many of the security staff and customs officials are out blatantly looking for a bribe or trying to extort one and the taxi drivers try to charge ridiculous prices to the city centre.At least the security seems very good with the triple metal detector checks as opposed to much more lenient security elsewhere.

Yes bag-wrapping is a nice scam and visa photo is a nice little earner for the guys too. There is no benefit in having your bags wrapped unless you consider a tell-tale sign of arriving from the Former Soviet Union a good thing. Then why not also wrap yourself in plastic - that would preserve your clothes would it not? The duty-free is average and as for catering - I don't know I spent all the time in a lounge desensitizing myself with free drinks and eating sandwiches which frankly have seen better times. However overall it is a relatively spacious relaxed place. I've seen worse.

I got caught by the bag wrapping too but it may be a good idea to have them wrapped. The visa photo scam is one you can avoid if you bring your own photo - not so much a scam but an annoyance to pay $5 for a polaroid. Get the visa in advance and save a queue.

Baku airport surprised me very much with its transparency! Not so much crowded and huge: enough space for everybody - quick check in and even quicker check out procedure. Well very nice architecture... full of light and funny colors - friendly national azeri advertisement - small shops and restaurants with good cuisine!