Chennai Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 126 reviews
2/10
No Skytrax Rating
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2/10

"Baggage took forever"

(Qatar)

Unverified | Connected from Bangalore and onwards international. Baggage had to be picked up and checked in again in spite of through check-in. Baggage took forever. Absolutely no help to travel the long distance from the domestic to the international terminal. No inter-terminal buses seen. Buggies non-existent. The one that did come was racing off on his own business. Had to insist firmly to airport police before they stopped it. Neither airline staff, nor airport staff, nor police were helpful. Long check-in queues. Customs and immigration were not crowded that night. Airport facilities dismal. No quality F&B outlets. Just some shabby stalls without any selection. No cold bottled water on a hot day. Excuses ranged from "cooler not working" to "don't have". Almost 3 hours between flights was insufficient for a hassle-free transfer. The experience was incredibly stressful and an absolute disaster. Never travelling via Chennai airport again.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitOctober 2017
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
10/10

"excellent experience"

(India)

Verified Review | Excellent experience at the security gate. Impressive effort by the guards and the management to ensure that total time in line was under 10 mins. This is the best experience I have had at peak hour in any airport in India, hope the rest of the airports can follow suit.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitApril 2017
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
1/10

"good amount of inconvenience"

(India)

At Chennai airport for departure security there are no tags present, which causes a good amount of inconvenience to passengers who have web checked-in and come direct to security counters. In all other "major" Indian airports this facility is there and here also it should be promptly there.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitDecember 2016
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"more like a bus stop"

(India)

Chennai is amongst the worst airports I have seen. Bathrooms very dirty and worst is that they don't even keep toilet rolls stocked. As soon as you enter the airport you see people lying on the floor sleeping everywhere - it looked more like a bus stop.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitDecember 2016
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
7/10

"the domestic terminal is all new and much better"

(Qatar)

Verified Review | Relatively new airport as expansion to the existing. New airport consists of all check-in desks, immigration and four gates served by air-bridge for bigger aircraft. All Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 are served by older airport attached to the new. Limited duty free and food choice is very limited in the international terminal. On the contrary the domestic terminal is all new and much better in terms of facilities and space. Domestic terminal has decent food court aswell. Immigration queue at evening hours becomes too long with a wait of about 45 mins. There is no priority immigration queue for business class travelers or fast track so allow plenty of time for immigration clearance, but after immigration the gates are very nearby.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitNovember 2016
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
1/10

"feels like a bus terminus"

(India)

For domestic arrival the moment you arrive into Chennai Airport, it looks like you have stepped back in time a bit. It has all the basic facilities at a bare minimal level. A few seats (if you are lucky to get it) that you can just sit in. Forget about sleeping or reclining in. Just one single coffee counter for the entire airport that does not serve tea and provides railway quality coffee at ridiculous airport prices. Free WiFi - you get it for 30 minutes only which is ok for a check on your emails, but no leisure surfing. Very few power outlets - found one and I had to sit on the airport floor to work there on my laptop. International arrival is significantly better looking. Long walk from gate to immigration counters. I think there was just 1 or 2 travelators for a few feet (maybe 10% of the way). But immigration and baggage pickup were fairly quick (not many flights when I was there). But practically no seating space available in entire arrival lounge after baggage pickup. It means you pick your bag and get out of there asap. Domestic departure is Ok, but confusing signs and no decent seating - very hard seats throughout entire airport. Air conditioning runs at minimal. International departure is absolutely the worst experience. At around 7pm, there were 1000's of passengers queued up (or crowded up) against 2 entry gates in the blistering Chennai heat and humidity. After enduring 1 hour of this, we finally get in and then an equally long line to get to immigration. Even worse line to get to security. It actually took a full 3.5 hours after reaching international terminal to go through the entire process. My wife and I had to run to catch the aircraft despite thinking we were there well in advance. There are no officials that will usher in passengers with limited time remaining. Horrible. For transfer between Domestic and International airports they use golf cabbies (only 1 or 2 will be operating at a time even though they have a dozen of them). Expected wait time can be anywhere between 10-20 minutes to get one of these. And there's no queues or sign where these cabbies will pick up passengers. You have to ask the airport staff where exactly to stand or guess by the crowd of people waiting for them. Better to just walk down the half km distance if you don't have too much baggage. In terms of food there is nothing inside the airport (except for some really overpriced small coffee stalls with bad cold sandwiches). There is a cafe outside next to the domestic terminal that shuts down around 11pm. After that there is only the Sangeetha cafe which also runs out of food around the same time. So essentially, if you arrive around midnight there are no food options available. Shopping is non-existent. Overall it feels like you are a bus terminus rather than at an airport. The only reason I went through Chennai was because the flight prices out of there are significantly cheaper than flying out of Bangalore direct.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitOctober 2016
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
3/10

"like a bad ritual"

(India)

Arrival hall at Chennai is lousy. One has to wait for more than 30 minutes to get baggage after clearing immigration and walking well over half a KM. If we have 2 bags, the first bag may arrive early and for the second one we have to wait for long time. Arrival area toilets are not like an international airport. In the departure area their is just one restaurant where food is available. Trolleys are slightly better than last time but still need a lot of improvement. No one from the airport to help first timers. Car park is a nightmare. It is like a bad ritual one has to go through while entering and leaving the country.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitSeptember 2016
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
3/10

"arrival hall quality was awful"

(Switzerland)

Being from Chennai, I feel really bad the way the arrival passengers are treated at Chennai airport. During my last visit I had to wait for around 90 minutes and the arrival hall quality was awful. Many immigration counters in were empty and I was literally wondering what happend to the immigration staff. Forget about the locals, I really felt bad for foreign tourists as they had to wait longer. Separate queue for foreign passport holders does not exist anymore. In our country we have to promote tourism therefore foreign tourists should be welcomed and treated well upon arrival. I am always canvassing my collegues these days to visit India for tourism but I worry about advising the to book for Chennai because of the awful facilities. Please put more staff on the immigration counters and move the queues quick and treat the foreign tourists well.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitAugust 2016
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"a bad first impression"

(United Kingdom)

I have travelled through this airport for 17 consecutive years and is the worst airport anywhere in the world. The immigration wait is not at all necessary, and the baggage claim wait is a joke, always takes far too long before luggage starts to come through and then is a stop and start affair. I cannot understand why this has not been addressed, it is a bad first impression for first time travelers to India, shame on the administration.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitDecember 2015
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
7/10

"shop charges exorbitant"

(India)

The international departure area of Chennai Airport was good but the arrival area was hot and smelly. The toilets were ill-kept and the air conditioning could have been better. The officers at the arrival area were not wearing their uniforms properly. The luggage collection area was in bad shape and belts were not running properly. The shops in the airport charge the passengers so exorbitantly.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitMay 2015
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes