Beijing Capital Airport

❎ Not Verified | Quite simply, this is without doubt the worst airport that I have ever flown into or out of in the world. Firstly, the unhelpful staff: The words 'Customer Service' just simply do not apply to any of the staff who work within this airport. I was flying to and from London/Sydney via Beijing, yet barely any of the staff spoke any English, they were all extremely rude and really very intimidating at times. Just a tip on how to address your customers - Please don't shout at us and point your fingers in our faces, we really don't like it! When they weren't shouting they simply ignored us. None of the staff smiled at all, very uncomfortable. At the food courts, the hugely inflated prices for everything (even for airport standards) were absolutely exorbitant, and the service? Well, at best it was hostile. Honestly, the level of rudeness was simply appalling. Secondly, the queues: Oh please! Where to start? If you intend transiting via Beijing, I would strongly advise you don't. Trying to find the correct gate for International transfers is a joke. Not great information on the signs, and no help whatsoever from the staff makes it a miserably, long-drawn out experience. Queuing for over 90 minutes at the gate signed International Transfers to be then told (shouted at) that we had to go to another gate. After initially been told by airport staff that we didn't need to get another boarding pass as we were transiting and were told to go to this gate. We eventually found the 'correct' gate with no help and then queued for another hour, to be then given a Boarding Passes and told to go back to the original gate. This now involved another queue of over two and a half hours. The airport had two members of staff working at the gate. The place is beyond a joke. Overall experience: The airport itself was freezing, I mean absolutely bitterly cold, there was nowhere at all to get warm. The Business Lounges were simply nothing more than a few tables and chairs on an open mezzanine level, so that would provide no respite. With ten hours layover, a bitterly cold airport is certainly far from ideal. I will never ever use this airport again and I strongly advise you to avoid it!

✅ Trip Verified | Flying Business Class from BKK via PEK to MXP on CA758 and CA949 on 9/10 January, I am appalled by the level of customer service at Bejing airport. Having passengers wait in freezing temperatures for the bus on a tarmac position, then one person for the passport check for international transfers with a long queue and then a similar queue at security check and then waiting for the connection in coldness within the airport building. Even the lounge is cold and people are sitting in a first class lounge with their winter coats on! There is no fast lane queue, no recognition of Star Alliance Gold members. Part of our baggage arrived destroyed in Milan. I already had little expectations concerning food and the old business class seats (even on the new B-787), but this level of bad service makes me question whether Air China is really fit to be a Star Alliance airline. I would certainly expect more from a Star Alliance member.

✅ Trip Verified | There are so many problems in this airport it is hard to enumerate them. There is no Wi-Fi and the staff don't speak English at all, so it is literally impossible to get any kind of information once there if you are not fluent in Chinese. The baggage transfer didn't work for any unknown reason, so we had to pick up our luggage and check in again even though I was only transiting. There is no hotel in the airport so it is impossible to take a rest. All restaurants are expensive, and the staff doesn't speak English so it is impossible to have any explanation about the food. KFC doesn't sell french fries, and MacDonald doesn't accept credit cards so it is impossible to get french fries without converting your money at exorbitant rates. The security check is incredibly complex and messy. We finally realized you have to scan your passeport to get Wi-Fi. This was of course not explained anywhere (thank you very much really). Bonus point : You get to give your opinion on the efficiency of the inspector after the immigration check, but the button isn't working. Chinese democracy at its finest. Regular traveller, I had never had any of those problems in any international airport I have visited. I was incredibly surprised to discover them all at the same place. In summary, this airport is made only for Chinese people, speaking Chinese , carrying Chinese yuan and used to Chinese way of doing things. Avoid at all costs if you don't fall under these requirements.

❎ Not Verified | Horrifying experience at this airport. Extremely confusing with no people speaking any English at all, not even information desk. Absolutely dreading having to go back through this airport again in a few weeks on my way home. Could not even order food at any restaurant or café because of the absence of English speaking staff.

✅ Trip Verified | My family had a 20 hour layover and a 12 hour lay over at Beijing. We decided to go visit the Great Wall. To leave the airport for this short time you need to get a Temporary Visa. We waited 2.5 hrs in a queue to fill out a form which contained the same information as the arrival card filled in on the aircraft to enter the country through immigration. This form is then photocopied. Your passport is stamped. Your photo is taken and then you proceeded to immigration and the process is repeated again. Then you go through security and the process is repeated again. On the second entry there were no staff at the desk and we had to search for staff to carry this exercise out to exit their airport. Then immigration had no staff at their desks. It was quite unbelievable. Plus no apology. Plus no help with young children. I personally found the experience very strange, very disconnected and odd for something so insisted upon.

✅ Trip Verified | Although this was my first trip to China, I've flown to other international airports. I had read many unfavorable reviews about Beijing Capital beforehand but experienced little of the problems mentioned. The passport inspection area was well-staffed and was easily one of the quickest I've gone through anywhere - even in the States. The trains that take you to Terminal 3C for baggage claim and transfer run every 4 minutes - just don't be afraid to get up-close and personal with your fellow riders - they are not squeamish about packing the cars full but it's only for 4 minutes. The only frustration I had was the checked luggage wait - the bags came very sporadically and I waited 30 minutes for mine. That said, I'd guess that most of the passengers got theirs prior. After that, it was through customs (I had nothing to declare) which was about the same as I've seen elsewhere. I was then connecting for a domestic flight to Yinchuan. That meant taking an elevator up from the area after customs to the 4th floor - that's where all of the check-in counters. I had a boarding pass and my bag had been tagged through to Yinchuan but I simply had to drop it off at a counter there - they have specific ones for baggage drop. Signs are in Chinese and English everywhere. Then I went through domestic security when I was careful to empty out all of my little electronics - charging cords, Game Boy (yeah, I'm retro), iPod - the things that usually can stay in the in the US along with my laptop. Belt with metal buckle and shoes stayed on and the jacket came off. I did set off the metal detector but they wanded me and patted me down - very quick and professional - welcome to travel in the 21st century. But I forgot to remove one gadget that usually stays in the bag in most places - an external battery pack. The security person calmly said I had a charger in my bag and asked me to remove it. I apologized and removed it and he nodded an acknowledgement before taking my bag and running it through the belt again. It came through fine and he brought it back to me - no hassles. Overall, my time from deplaning my international flight to being at my domestic gate was slightly under 120 minutes - and this as done at a leisurely pace and includes the long wait at baggage claim. Some tips that may help save others some confusion: If you have a domestic connecting flight and your bag is tagged through to that destination, you still need to take your bag through customs. If you have a battery charger, make sure it has the input and output ratings (volts, amps) on it. They will check and the only times I've heard of problems was that if there were no ratings written (or easily read) on it. Chargers must be in carry-on luggage and not in checked luggage. They have signs to that effect and make announcements. Portable electronics are not allowed at anytime on a domestic flight once the plane leaves the jetway - not just during take-off and landing but during the entire flight. Again, they make announcements but if you were planning on listening to tunes at 30,000 feet, that's a negative. Again, they explain the rules - I'm just giving some extra notice. It's worth it to pre-purchase Boingo Hotspot Global service before going. No hassles with Wi-Fi.

❎ Unverified | Total mess at the security makes this airport the worst in the world (my personal rating, but includes decent competitors like Maputo, Riyadh, Moscow and many more). Closed booth, duplicate checks, incredible delays at security belt, personnel speaking no English. Nearly missed my flight after queuing for more than 2 hours.

✅ Verified Review | Very nice airport - the building. But, on my first transit through PEK, all passengers were de-planed down a stairway onto the tarmac where we waited for buses to bring us to the terminal, and again upon departure. There were many unused jetways visible, and these were large international planes. On my returning flight, they used the jetways. "Free WiFi" required one to go to one of several specific gates where an access code was promised. First designated gate I found had no posting. Second one did, but then directed users to go back to the area where we had left the security screening. It was not user-friendly, confusing, and in the end I decided I'd rather not open up my email address and iPhone to those in charge of PEK airport. I didn't see a single working escalator. There were moving walkways in the terminals, but only going in one direction. I guess you'd better not be in a hurry the other direction!

✅ Verified Review | This is up there with Mexico as the worst international Airport! Although security is being ramped up everywhere, the security here is overbearing. The signage is very poor so it is incredibly hard to work out where you are meant to go. There were several passengers who waited in line before me for ages, only to be told they needed to be in another queue. When I went to the short-term international transit desk, I was told to go to another area to get a boarding pass. I went there - wrong. I needed to go through customs first. At another time I was lining up, there was a local guide, and he told me to go to a particular line, even though that was for "Chinese passport holders" according to the signs. Once you go through security there is nothing but toilets. I left and went to some shops, a restaurant and had a coffee before going through security. Avoid this airport if possible (I was in transit from Europe and will avoid in future)!

✅ Verified Review | I can only comment on one thing during my transfer through Beijing airport and that is immigration control. Due to my limited time there and my one and only visit, I won't deduct too many points for this, but in my assessment of immigration checks at the airport, I will be critical. I believe that for transfers, more of an effort should be made by the airport to get foreign travelers through immigration checks faster. I had a 2 hour 15 minute transfer in Beijing airport at 5.00am, and the queue was 100+ in each section (international transfers and domestic transfers/arrivals). In both sections, there was just a single booth open, and each client would take 1 minute to be assessed. It took a large amount of time out of my transfer time and ultimately I felt pressured to accept assistance for payment to reach my departure gate for the next flight. I think Beijing airport should have had an extra staff on each section to get foreign travelers through faster. After about 45 minutes more staff did arrive to help, so this would suggest that there is staff available - common sense should have been applied. Other than that I was satisfied with Beijing airport. It was tidy, easy to see where to go, and I was not stressed about my first transfer in Beijing airport.