Cochin Airport

✅ Trip Verified | This is by far the most horrible airport I have ever experienced in my life. The sad part is this airport is the gateway to many foreign tourists who come to Kerala. The airport is no better than a bus stand and I have seen better bus stands. I am adding some of my review comments below in hope that airport authorities wake up: 1) Checkin - I was traveling with an infant and this is one of the airports where you have to security check your checkin luggage and the carry on luggage. There was a huge line to get your check-in baggae to be security scanned and post that a huge queue to get check-in luggage to the your airline stall and get your boarding pass. 2) Security - Post checkin there is a humongous line to get yourself patted down by the CISF personnel, again this had very few counters and needless to say understaffed and chaos all around. 3) Waiting and Boarding - There are only 4 departure gates for the domestic terminal and it resembles something from the 1950's. It was very tough to find a place to sit and there are just two food counters serving food which most of the passengers complained about, the food which I purchased was in fact smelling so bad that I had throw this back into the bin. The food area was not at all hygenic 4) Nursing Mother Area- There was a small room for lactating mothers which was extremely stinky due to garbage bin for diapers etc not been picked up frequently. 5) Toilets - Super stinky as well and not upto international standards. 6) Staff - Rude and arrogant and do not have any consideration for parents traveling with infants.

✅ Verified Review | Departure terminal now located in the first tier is extremely spacious, you are welcomed by statues of 10 elephants as seen during the Thissur Pooram, the interiors of the airport is modern while keeping the traditional cultural values of Kerala. The toilets are neat and clean, check in ares are well designated, can improve with the information boards and the markings on the check-in segments. Hamad and DXB terminal 2 are better examples. The immigration system is pretty fast now, the duty free area is really good. Waiting area is very nice and the food options are also good, wifi connectivity is also very good. Overall good experience.

✅ Verified Review | Very quickly, new arrival terminal is a delight, amazing ambience, the airport has a new international feel while maintaining the native Kerala culture. Sculptures of elephants are a feast to eyes, the airport was clean, bathrooms were really clean, the service was pretty quick, I loved the new arrival terminal, its ambience and services.

❎ Unverified | The airport is unique in the sense that it is completely dependent on solar power - it is one of the greenest airports in the world. Having said that, the domestic terminal at this airport must rank as one of the worst in India. The screening of bags before check-in is an ancient process but CIAL seems to be proudly committed to it. The whole process is utterly chaotic with long queues. Once that process is over, we have long queues to check-in at the airline counters. The check-in process with most airlines is painstakingly slow. Once you've crossed that hurdle, we have more queues for the security check - the number is screening points is just not adequate. After this process, one gets into a waiting lounge which is woefully inadequate in size - if there are more than 3 flights, it is filled to the brim and people have to stand due to lack of seating space. Finally boarding is announced - once again, long queues that wind through the lounge. This time around, I was in a queue that ran perpendicular to another boarding queue - can happen only in Cochin! How do they manage to have exit / boarding gates that are perpendicular to each other? Simply brilliant! They seem to be renovating the part of the airport that has been vacated by the international terminal - hopefully things will improve. Until then it will remain one of the worst airports in India.

❎ Unverified | The new Cochin International airport is very spacious but unfortunately there are no restaurants or food courts on arrivals. We arrived at 11 pm on Air India express famished as they only served a piece of cake and dry sandwich on the flight. Couldn't find a place to eat (plenty of whisky in duty free) and had to go outside to the other side of parking to a pathetic restaurant aptly called Chillies as you need a fire extinguisher to douse the spicy flames. No menu, its more like a wayside joint. Impossible for people with bag carts as there is no access over the islands, and you've had it rains. Very poor planning. Even the food court in departures is not marked clearly and entrance is through escalator in one corner of duty free. Most people dont see it. The air conditioning is pathetic and cheap flooring which is sticky. Wish they had some international consultants for an international airport as its clearly not the case. In a few years its going to look run down as they have used cheap stuff.

❎ Unverified | I visited Cochin with my wife and had to pass through this airport. When we arrived, it took us ages to get our bags. There are unwanted checks at the arrival and the policemen who work there make things complicated. At the departure terminal, we've been checked 12 times from entering the terminal. The staff bully the passengers in the name of security. Most of the procedures are unwanted and very inefficient. There were queues everywhere, the passengers are treated like criminals here. Even if it's an international airport, hardly anybody of the security staff speaks english. There aren't enough chairs for the passengers at the departure terminal. The air conditioning wasn't effective either. It was a very bad experience for us.

✅ Verified Review | At Cochin Airport everywhere it is written 'This is a silent zone, no boarding announcements will be made, please check TV Monitors for departure' but announcements were made all the time with female and male voices shouting over the loudspeaker system. Duty free leaves a lot to be desired, very limited goods on display, non-exciting promotions. Couldn't even find a pack of biscuits. Air conditioning not at all effective throughout the terminal right from the check in until boarding. All in all a poor experience. Avoid if you can

✅ Verified Review | Domestic terminal Departure: Getting to this airport is no mean task what with all the construction going on. However it is the terminal which is a big let down, old and dilapidated! The check in counters are insufficient to deal with the number of passengers. The security check in takes ages, mostly due to just a few counters, once that is done on the other side there is one big waiting hall very 70s possibly. The only food option is a tired little shop selling south Indian food, which with all that spice is not the first thing that comes to mind at 0700hrs. However there is a new terminal coming up and I am pretty sure that will overcome the present shortcomings.

To be honest, I had a pretty bad experience at Cochin Airport. We got to the airport 2 hours before our scheduled flight, but immigration took centuries to finish. The staff were so slow in doing their work and some of them didn't even know English, so it was very hard to communicate with them for directions. There were also so many unnecessary security checks that wasted a lot of time. I wouldn't recommend coming here unless you have to.

I frequently use this airport for travel needs from my city Kochi. This Airport may look old, but has free WIFI and modern duty free shops which make it quite good. The First Class and Business Class Lounges are also very good, especially for Emirates and Malaysian Airlines flights. But with the new airport coming, this Airport will become operational only for Domestic Services. For almost 8 years, I have been using this airport. But lets talk about the airport. There are many places to eat but the selection is not great. Then the 3 duty free shops are nice. The prices aren't bad either and free wifi is everywhere. It's also quite clean and the staff at immigration and airline counters are friendly. All is smooth and all is on time.