Corfu Airport

Horrible airport surly staff. We queued for hour and half in the sun just to get inside. When we did I was subjected to an aggressive body search (I am a 56 year old woman) and told to empty my hand luggage. I refused had had enough of their treatment and told them so. I was allowed through.

Just returned from a cruise of the Greek islands with our flight back from Corfu airport. Again we had to queue outside in midday heat to get inside taxi drivers were on strike and all walking about the main stretch. Inside we stood in a queue to have our cases weighed very surly staff with no greeting. I had an excess baggage charge which shocked me I was told I could not have my boarding card and sent to an empty booth for 20 mins until a woman told me I owed 48 Euro for my baggage slapped the change down and walked off. Once through and heading to our gate boarding cards were torn off without a smile or even looking at the passengers while talking to another staff member. It left a bad taste in our mouth we shall avoid this airport from now on.

Just returned from Paleokastritsa - in 1971 the terminal building was merely a small villa type dwelling where you passed through customs and they crossed your case with chalk I understand the building is still there. No hassle or queuing in those days and then off in an awaiting taxi to the destination. May 2011 we find hoards of people congregating outside the terminal. Once inside the arrivals/departure hall was far too small. Large numbers of people with children had to wait outside the main departure hall in temperatures of 30+C. Once inside the departure hall it was chaos. People checking in were mixing with people waiting to enter Passport Control and you just could not find the end of the line you needed to get into. Airline reps were ushering people in all different directions and at one stage we came to a halt because people outside were given priority to go through Passport Control as a last call for their flight to Manchester was announced over the intercom system it was an utter shambles. Anyway after an hour and a half we finally managed to get into the departure lounge exhausted but thankful we allowed sufficient time to check in. For a holiday destination where some areas of the island were not officially open until June we were amazed at the number of people departing on one day.

The arrivals/departure hall was obviously far too small for the volume of traffic. Large numbers of people had to wait in line outside the main departure hall in temperatures of 38C. Once inside found the departure hall to be total chaos. The staff points were rude and unhelpful even snatching the passports and tickets from our hands in an aggressive manner. The prices for food etc were a joke with the staff adopting a couldn't care less attitude. I will never book a holiday via this airport again - without doubt the worst we have used.

There are good and bad points for CFU. The major change is the attitude of the staff - obviously the Greek economic crisis has made the staff worried about their jobs but they are not winning friends with a 'why are you coming to our airport' attitude . Still have to queue outside but the Thomson Airways staff did their best to minimise the hassle.

Plenty of time to study Corfu Airport as we had a 6 hour delay for the return flight courtesy of easyJet. In some respects it has improved in the intervening period eg. more space in the departure lounge but in others it remains the same eg. rip-off prices for refreshments. Arrival was easy particularly since we were on hand luggage only and there were few other flights at that time. Departure seemed smooth enough too until the delay became apparent. We acted on the advice of previous correspondents and entered through Arrivals but in any case the check-in area was not too crowded. Seeing that the departure lounge had plenty of empty seats we went swiftly to security (short queues) and were through quite quickly. Our online paper boarding "cards" did seem to be a cause of some surprise though. We were quite impressed by the security staff who were both pleasant and efficient. I forgot to extract my liquids bag from my hand luggage: it was spotted on the scanner I was asked politely to open my bag and after the contents were inspected I was thanked. On our second passage through having had to go back to the landside restaurant for our free "light refreshments" the pencils my wife invariably carries in the top of her socks were spotted and investigated: no one else has ever noticed them on any of our trips abroad. The departure lounge did become crowded at times announcements were hard to hear - partly because of the combined noise of several hundred people but also because of the speed at which many of them were made - and the screens were less than informative or up-to-date. There seemed to be long queues at the food counter and if the prices we saw as we had our free refreshments in the restaurant were any indication the airport must be making a mint (each free pie + bottle of water would have cost 5 euros with a 1.50 euro cover charge on top). Predictably enough our spare unopened bottle of water handed out in the restaurant upstairs then had to be surrendered at security downstairs but the security lady was charming about it. When we returned to the departure lounge after our refreshments it was much quieter and there was room to spread out for the rest of our wait though the metal seats are scarcely comfortable. Also why are they in threes when so many passengers are in couples? Overall a mixture of pluses and minuses but I would give it 3 stars rather than 2 because of the surprisingly positive impression we gained of the security staff.

For a busy holiday airport this has the worst departure lounge facilities we have experienced! If you are in need of refreshment as we were there is no cafe just a long queue to a buffet counter where you are ripped off! We had to pay over 15 Euro for two small lukewarm barely drinkable coffees a miniscule tooth breaking baguette and a soft drink. This was virtually thrown at us by two disinterested girls who probably would not understand the meaning of common courtesy or customer satisfaction. Only a couple of the monitors mounted from the ceiling were working - others broken or switched off and nothing like enough of the hard metal seats to accommodate the crowd of people who were waiting for flights when we were there. Toilet facilities are very poor which I would not like to elaborate on! I pity anyone who has to spend any length of time in this confined area.

I agree with the comments by Phil McVey (12 August 2008); inbound the ground staff had great difficulties unloading the luggage containers from the A300 hence a wait of about 40 minutes and yes the tour reps are a menace but a fully laden trolley (if you find one) is a suitable weapon. Departing follow Phil's suggestion we got to the airport about 30 minutes before check in was scheduled to open were marshalled by a very helpful Monarch rep and checked in a few minutes. The departure area is small and there would not be enough seats if it was busy it is bright and cool. I've been to far worse airports - Gatwick springs to mind.

Airport very busy but found arriving by hire car just as check in opened meant there were no queues. Check in took 5 mins stayed in upstairs cafe until 40 mins before departure time and walked straight through departures onto bus for aircraft. Plenty of staff around all went well and seemed well organised. Main issue is as others have said tour reps blocking the areas. All in all though a much better experience than expected.

Agree with Sue Nicholas's comments re independent travellers and problems with tour reps. Here's what I have done last 5 years returning from golf holiday. Presume you are arriving by car or taxi. Time it so you arrive just about start of your check in. Don't drop off or go direct to departures from the road but go inside via the arrivals section and walk through to departure thus bypassing all the reps and crowds outside. Normally at most airports arrival and departure are separated but not at Corfu.