Berlin Tegel Airport

✅ Trip Verified | It is like back to the middle ages. You need to queue for bag drop, then again to security check. There are no x-rays but they actually tear your bags apart. There are no signs, no instructions. It is not clear if you can get anything to eat or drink after the security check. My new number 1 worst airport ever, and I have been to a few. Arrival was ok, so I give 1 star.

✅ Trip Verified | I travel frequently both for work and pleasure and can honestly say that Tegel is one of the very worst airports that I have had the misfortune of having to travel through. There are so many things wrong with this airport that it is hard to know where to begin. To anyone that has travelled there it will be clear that the root cause of Tegel’s issues is that it is chronically short of capacity to handle passenger traffic. This results in: Very long and chaotic queues for security boarding and check-in, a lack of seats at the gates, a lack of service personnel to handle the chaotic flow of passenger traffic, a lack of physical space in the various Terminals (terminal D is hands down the worst gate in Europe). In addition the airport: lacks a consistent way of expediting passengers who need to skip the security queue because they are late i.e. there is zero passenger assistance or communication to other passengers queuing, which leads to a lot of misunderstandings between passengers, is very poorly designed in terms of direction signals and terrible interior design and lighting.

✅ Trip Verified | You don't need to be a mean person to badly rate this airport. Tegel provides you the perfect image of Berlin: it is chaotic, disorganized, dirty, poor and aggressive. Passengers at Tegel pay a high price for the fact that the state of Berlin was incompetent to setup a new airport (BER) that meets the standards for a major big city in Europe. It is a disgrace. Tegel is a torture especially for the departure. If you are lucky to have your departure in Terminal A so at least there is some structured environment with understandable signs. Even though you have to cope with very small and crowded departure gates. Terminal C is worst. long queuing times, unfriendly security guys and a departure gate(s) that is a huge hangar

✅ Verified Review | There was no information about our flight in terminal anywhere at the airport two hours before our flight was scheduled. When we finally managed to find a correct check-in desk, we stood in line waiting to be served 1.5 hours. And we were in the very beginning of the line! The personnel's response was that this situation is not their fault, there are just too many flights leaving from the Tegel airport that day. Then we were asked to hurry through security checking, just to see, that there was one small cafe serving hundreds of people several hours with no places to sit to all. How is this possible in the city like Berlin ?

✅ Verified Review | Not the worst airport I have been to but definitely the worst airport in a big city. Everything looks old and outdated. Very unfriendly staff and most of the staff don't speak English. My flight to Amsterdam was delayed because of inclement weather in Amsterdam. No problem so far but there was no information provided by the airport until half an hour after the original boarding time. Berlin needs a new airport!

✅ Verified Review | This was the first European airport I ever witnessed and was looking forward to my trip. However I can safely say it has been my absolute worst airport experience to say the least. The airport is clumsy with no help or signage. On arrival after a long international flight, my bag along with a few others did not make it. Unfortunately there was no airport staff nor Air France airline staff to help or guide. We finally made it to the baggage service centre which was another level of low. A company called WISAG takes care of the baggage and they were rude and unfriendly and were asking passengers to not create a crowd. After losing the bag that is none of the passengers fault, at least expect an apology or a smile. That was not to be seen. Was rudely told the bag would come that evening on the next flight however my bag arrived after eight days. On my way out of Tegel as well, the check in and security check was slow tiring and unfriendly. Asked them to put a fragile tag. Surprisingly they said they don't put it and I have to go to another counter for the same. The toilets are small and distant. Eating places and sitting places not enough and staff well the least said the better. This is a disgrace of an airport.

❎ Unverified | Arrival at the airport was no problem and we thought it looked a good, modern airport. However, on leaving a week later, we were astounded at how bad it was, especially being in Berlin which is a city that deserves a much higher standard. There was very little seating and very few catering facilities with not much choice between them. We were early for our flight and were looking forward to sitting down in a restaurant on the departure lounge side and were amazed to find only one food outlet which had even less choice than the others. It was also very expensive. Plus, the seating was awful. No thought was given to customer comfort or service, and we found most of the staff to be borderline surly. The toilet facilities were also not sufficient for the number of passengers, and somewhat old-fashioned. What is Berlin doing having this as a gateway to its wonderful city?

❎ Unverified | Absolutely dreadful experience at this airport, as always. Am a frequent flyer and I can't bear this airport - the staff were rude at the check in desk, didn't break a smile, refused to seat me with my husband in the flight, the queue was so long that an old lady fainted before getting to the front, the queue for security was then another 40 min catastrophe and the gate area is minuscule and has virtually no services and those that are there are criminally expensive. On arriving at Tegel you have to queue to even get out of the plane as the passport systems are so slow and there's nothing electronic. Miserable airport, avoid at all costs.

❎ Unverified | I visited Tegel airport for the first time on Aug 30/31, 2017 and it was one of the worst airline experiences of my life. I have traveled to over 80 countries and spent years in the 3rd world and have rarely encountered anything so horrible as Tegel. I was transiting from Warsaw to the Middle East, business class. The flight was over 90 minutes late and I missed my connection, as did many other people. There were no ground staff to help or to direct passengers. We were first falsely told that our connecting plane had been held for us and urged to run all the way to gate C88 on the other side of the airport which we did. Upon arriving at the gate, there was no one at all there and we learned the plane had departed - long before. There were stairs everywhere, no elevators or escalators. There were no clear signs. Airport staff were unhelpful and amazingly rude. As we appealed for help, or simply directions, many airport staff ignored us, others literally turned their backs and walked away. Those that did talk did so only to tell us that it was not their job or responsibility. We were told to go to some place called "AHS" to rebook but no one could / would tell us where AHS was except to say near Gate 57 - however was no Gate 57 and no sign. We were sent all the way back to the side of the airport we'd started at, then sent all the way over to the other side again, and then back. Dragging our carryons up and down stairs. It was like something out of Sartre or Kafka - literally "No Exit". After about an hour, a security guard finally told us how to get to the AHS, just two people at a counter with a long line of enraged passengers off of their numerous late arriving flights from Warsaw, Copenhagen and elsewhere. There were no special lines or priority accommodation for business class passengers. Everyone was being treated abominably. The airport seems to primarily service just one carrier (though there are a few other carriers using it) and most of the disgruntled passengers seemed to be from that one carrier, which appears to regularly delay / cancel flights. Dozens of people were stranded in Berlin due to missed connections (and no, there was no weather problem at all that day, sky was blue and clear) but staff were asserting that they could not provide hotel, taxi or meal vouchers because (verbatim quote): "airline [name omitted] is bankrupt." (This assertion was made several times and if true, may explain the terrible state of Tegel airport if this is Tegel's main client.) Everything about this airport was miserable - ugly, shabby, not very clean, and almost unbelievably unprofessional and disorganized. The only place I've seen something remotely similar is in some small provincial cities in the former Soviet Union. If I had not personally experienced this nasty airport, I would never have believed that a leading EU country like Germany could allow such a wretched facility to operate on its territory. It is a public disgrace to the city of Berlin, the country of Germany and to the entire EU. I will never, ever, voluntarily set foot in Tegel again.

❎ Unverified | The worst customer service. Waiting for 4 hours to pick up baggage from lost and found with no concern for anyone's frustration nor any explanation for the wait. Very disorganised and no system at all. I rarely write reviews but this is the last time I will travel to this city. Very disappointed.