Berlin Tegel Airport

Not Verified | Welcome to Germany - a dirty crowded ramshackle airport greets you in Berlin - it’s capital - an example of all things wrong with airline travel in the 1970’s - though this is 2018. Poor signage, no easily marked entry, pod design means seating and services are token at best, staff are as depressed and gruff as the airport facade, waiting times are usual and unexplainable such as 45 mins for bags to be offloaded - delayed departure but no courtesy announcement- what a bummer for Berlin and Germans.

Not Verified | It feels like you are at a bus station. One of the worst airports I have ever been in. Officers are unprofessional, place feels unhygienic, and crowded. I am little shocked. Avoid this place if possible.

✅ Trip Verified | Berlin? Never again! The airport was packed, long waiting hours for security, opening of gates too short to have time to do anything, information scares, announcements difficult to understand, not kid-friendly. Even Berlin's museums are not worth such a nightmare. Never again.

✅ Trip Verified | First time flying into Tegel and hopefully the last. Even the pilot on our plane couldn't help himself, wishing us "Good Luck in Tegel" upon landing. We were kept waiting for 20 minutes because no buses had come to take disembarking passengers to the terminal. Once in the terminal, we were kept waiting a further 50 minutes as one lonely bag soldiered along on the baggage carousel by itself. Until the carousel stopped and stayed stopped. Passengers attempted to find some ground crew to help out or even get some information about the delay, but there was nobody to be found anywhere. Wifi was not working either. A scheduled 19.15 landing saw most of us enter the departure area well after 21.00 - not a word of explanation or apology. I don't know if this is just typical of German airport behaviour, as I've experienced even worse service countless times at Frankfurt - but Hamburg and Munich seem to function without fuss, and Stuttgart manages if it's not overwhelmed with people. Not in any hurry to return to Berlin after this experience.

✅ Trip Verified | Probably one of the worst experienced I have had. They did not have enoug buses or push back trucks so every flight was delayed extensively. Amazing in a city like Berlin to experience this degree of incompetence

✅ Trip Verified | Poor airport, public transport from Berlin Hauptbahnhof was a bus but not dedicated to travelers so no provision for luggage which was necessary, long check in queue with just 2 desks open, security staff unfriendly and offhand, signage poor, probably the worst airport I’ve ever visited.

✅ Trip Verified | As a pilot I travel a lot and get to see many different international airports and am familiar with their operation and efficiency. I have arrived and departed as a passenger from Berlin Tegel airport (the only international airport in Berlin to travel out of the European Union) three times this year and think I’m qualified to give a review of my experience. This airport is a disgrace. I’m ashamed as a German citizen to see international travelers arrive at the capital of my country and being welcomed by a stressful and very negative experience. Besides the ridiculous ways of trying to operate this massively dwarfed auxiliary airport which is built in and still is at a technical standard of the 80s, I felt multiple cringe moments watching staff doing their job. First off, all passengers disembarked the 777 from Doha in the middle of the apron and not like you expect after a long international flight straight into the terminal. Everyone had to climb down a stairway and queue and get on a long bus ride to the arrival gate (and not comfortably walk into an air conditioned ‘finger’). This seems to be standard ops since we did it every time. The arrival gate is by the way the only one in Tegel Airport and all 300 something pax had to be cramped into the too small constructed building. 30 or 40 people were queuing outside the building because of not enough room inside. There were only six immigration stations of which only 4 were being staffed. (Why not operate all 6?) It is not clear which of those stations are for EU citizen only because all signs are in German. So people queued in the wrong line and were sent away when it finally was their turn. There is no staff helping people finding their queue. There is 1 staff member walking around picking 20 people of the end of each line and guiding them to another, newly opened immigration station after 30 mins, annoying everyone else ahead of them off. This guy didn’t even speak English. As you can imagine this caused more problems and confusion. Passengers around me were angry to say the least and everyone was talking about the bad condition and organization. Waiting time was 40-50mins until passing immigration. Right behind immigration and I’m talking 2 meters here, was the belt (one) with arriving baggage (from 300 pax) from our flight which was packed and overloaded with luggage because of the long waiting time through immigration. The only trolleys available can be operated after inserting a Euro coin only, which no international arrival traveller carries. Imagine arriving and carrying your heavy bags by hand through the whole terminal. What a joke. To be able to get upstairs to catch a bus or taxi to the city center (no train connection), you’re forced to take the elevator. When I say the elevator I mean the only one elevator installed in the terminal. The queue took us another 20mins. Again, not enough clear signs with directions where to go. There are confused passengers everywhere, still in awe whether this is the German capital they’ve just landed in. While queuing in this cringy place observing people’s stressed out faces and listening to the comments and helplessness, I felt ashamed admitting I’m German and face the unbelieving questions and anger. Shame on you Berlin Tegel! This airport should be shut down immediately! Nein, Berlin, Nein Nein Nein!

Not Verified | International departures is essentially a warehouse with a duty free store, a magazine stand and a small sandwich stand. Wholly insufficient for the number of people that come through this terminal. There are maybe 10 places to charge electronic devices in the whole terminal. No air bridges means that every time a flight boards it becomes incredibly loud in the terminal. The HVAC system is woefully under powered, we were there in 30+ degree heat and it was miserable. Airport wifi only lasts for 30 minutes before you have to reconnect.

Not Verified | Horrible airport! Worst of the worst in Western Europe. This airport is a shame for any self-respecting country or capital city. When I arrived, it was chaos all around: - no security staff around. Some passengers ended up at the exit without having passed passport control or the luggage belt - no signs or any explanation on where to go. Passengers asking for help were treated like dirt - rude and arrogant ground staff: not a word of English and they couldn't care less (they tell you so in German!). Not quite your best exampe of country branding... - old and dated infrastructure, filthy all around It's puzzling how the capital of Germany has such a low-standard airport (apparently the other one is just as bad). Never again will I pass through TXL. Avoid it at all cost!

Not Verified | I do not usually leave reviews but this airport is under all standards. Having a connecting flight I had to leave the terminal where I landed and exit the airport in order to go to my next terminal, which was difficult due to very poor signage. After having found my terminal at last I went inside and it was roasting due to no air conditions. The terminal was packed with people but there was no place to sit at all. I later went to Starbucks where the staff were very rude for some reason (have worked as a barista myself so know what is considered normal courtesy). The toilets were absolutely disgusting and looked as though they hadn’t been cleaned in days. I later found my gate where there was a massive queue for 3 different flights. This queue barely moved at all and blocked most of the room. Having checked in already and having no luggage I instead waited in the line for security. All the people who checked in later also stood in this line but the line did not move at all. We stood like this for probably 40 minutes and were given no information at all as to why we were not moving. The people who had checked in (who had already waited in line for about 25 minutes) joined the line and everyone were quiet upset. The security took ages as they would only let one person pass at a time and as we were going to three different flights you can imagine this took ages. I would not recommend this airport to anyone and am going to do my best to never come here again. Someone who usually doesn’t complain.