Denpasar Bali Airport

Generally speaking my views are identical to Mr Powell's review below. There were no "aero bridges" available for both my arrival flight or my Departure flight. The arrivals hall wad enormous spacious. I had arranged the VIP service through Garuda Orient Holidays so it took around 5 minutes to have my visa in my Passport. When my flight arrived from Brisbane there were already 2-3 International flights that had arrived before mine so was a rather long queue ahead but all Immigration counters were open and fully manned so the queue moved at a steady pace. All luggage came out at the one carousel what a mess. I waited around 10 minutes for my suitcase I was then whisked away to yet another long queue to have all luggage X-rayed. This process over you exit the arrivals hall into the mass of people from Hotels/Tour companies and the like waiting for arriving passengers. The traffic is non stop out of the Airport. Now the Departure information: You are dropped off at a ramp where you can get a trolley for your bags it's a short walk up to the first Security check where your bags are X-rayed takes a couple of minutes. Then if you decide to have your luggage plastic wrapped there are around 4-5 stations where this can be done. The "check in areas" are spacious plenty of signage areas A-E and the entire area is spotlessly clean. There are no restaurants/Cafes in the Check in areas a huge mistake as there were many passengers in need of a cup of coffee. After check in there was ample seating in the Departure/Check in areas whilst waiting. After check in you walk the short distance where you pay the IDR 200000 Departure tax (A$20.00). The waiting tine at this point was only a couple of minutes. Then more Security screening separate lines for both men and women moved quickly. Then we have the shopping Duty Free and a lot of high end makes Designer and beautifully displayed very impressive. They are set out whereby all passengers must pass by every single shop. There are a few restaurants as you pass by the endless shopping a little expensive but convenient. The Gate areas are well laid out but the carpet is somewhat worn. The Boarding gates they cannot get it "right" too many passengers running all over the place with the constant changes. The worst gate being Gate 10 where the majority of Aussie bound flights depart from and as in my case my Garuda Indonesia flight to Brisbane was scheduled to also depart from this gate along with 4 other flights on Virgin Australia Jetstar bound for Perth Adelaide and Melbourne. It was total chaos. Headed down the escalator to yet another holding area where all passengers on the four flights were jammed in like sardines with airport staff screaming out the flights to a lot of confused people never seen anything like it in my 40 years of traveling. The airport may be lovely when first observed but the organization of the Departure/Gate areas require urgent attention. My holiday in Bali was just wonderful but with the airport debacle at the end put a sour taste to my Bali experience. Just for your information I arrived in Bali on Friday 7th March 2014 and departed on Friday 28th March 2014.

They have spent a lot of money on "upgrading" Denpasar airport but IMO the overall effect has been to make it worse than the old airport. I have travelled to Bali many times and was quite familiar with the old airport so feel qualified to comment. Arrivals have gradually improved over the years. The VOA is much quicker than it used to be the immigration desk is generally quicker although bottlenecks and delays do occur from time to time. Sometimes the bags are off the carousel before you get to them but at other times there can be a short delay. Overall arrivals are OK. The Departures area looks impressive as you first enter. Signage is pretty good although the sign for our check-in desk was wrong. The Virgin check-in desk had only three people on duty and was handling flights to both Sydney and Melbourne at the same time causing delays. The departure tax desks are now very close to the check-in desks and are a huge improvement on the old desks upstairs. Security is segregated male/female causing some confusion as people queue in the wrong line. Then you come to the Immigration department and from this point onwards the new airport is a failure if not a disaster. Long queues at emigration control then down this channel of shops/duty free whose quality is poor yet whose prices are so much higher than the street prices in Bali. Food choice is very poor food and drink prices are over the top such as a can of soft drink being more than treble the price on the street. Then you come to the chaos of the waiting area. There are inadequate seats and passengers sit on the floor in great crowds blocking access to the gates etc. Even though its a new space it is grubby and shabby. Long queues for ladies toilets but not for mens toilets. Once the flight is called it is a mad rush to more queues at the departure gate and another security check which seems pointless since it is very cursory. I bought a bottle of water after passing the main security check and after checking with the vendor walked four paces to the second security check and had the water confiscated! Then its down the steps to a holding area and here it was crazy. A throng of people aiming for two different flights heading to the same door; staff members yelling/screaming trying to get some sense of order. Then on to the jam-packed little bus that takes you to the plane. Only after boarding the plane can you breathe easy once again. I absolutely love Bali but this departure mess is a sad way to end what otherwise was a great trip.

I arrived at DPS around noon last week. It literally took me 14 minutes from plane purchase of VOA immigration and customs. Granted we were the first flight that had arrived in about 45 minutes and I was in business class so I was the first one off the plane. However the entire system worked extremely well with friendly staff baggage waiting for me on the belt (10 minutes after landing) and a quick and easy customs. I had some friends that were forced to wait an hour or so because of arrival during a peak time but overall the new airport is beautiful and works very well for arrivals. I did not depart Bali from the airport so I cannot comment on departure.

The New International Airport Arrivals - 4 star plus experience. Huge improvement on Old terminal. But International Departures dramatically worse than the old one. A very poor departing experience. Full of Low Cost Flyers having to wait hours lying all over the [dirty] carpets. Gate Management is chaos. Never like this in Old terminal [10x better]. Shopping "snake alley" - a bit too obvious forcing all departing pax to walk - and 95% nothing from Bali. Facilities - some toilets as good as any anywhere. Carpet - fine if it's going to be pulled and thrown out 31st March latest. Yes understand work is still in progress - but January [1 hour + to get in first checkpoint] and even late March 10 mins plus. Some real hard changes definitely needed and none difficult. The last view of Bali needs to be the lovely happy relaxed and lasting Balinese experience.

After reading bad reviews we were dreading our trip to Bali but were pleasantly surprised! After leaving Perth airport (a disgraceful small airport with non existent facilities) we arrived in Bali at 4.25pm along with 2 other flights. The visa on arrival desks were plentiful with smiling attendants. Then onto customs/immigration which were a bit slow but once again friendly officers. Our baggage was already on the carousel so we were out of the airport and into a taxi within 10 minutes.

My review will be less inflammatory than others because I have the good fortune to only ever use Bali airport at off-peak times. So I'll acknowledge that it's a massive improvement over the old terminal. There's more space and it's much more comfortable and attractive. There were still hints that despite spending a lot of money on a new terminal they still didn't cater to the existing demand (immigration took 20 minutes and there was a relative lack of seating airside otherwise things moved quickly). There are definitely still problems - hopefully some are temporary - that people should be aware of. Most flights are using buses at the moment and the terminal entrance where they drop you has 2 big steps and no wheelchair ramp - I saw 3 staff struggling to get a disabled guy up them. We didn't get arrival cards on the plane and there is very little in the immigration hall to tell you that you need one or where to get one (there were piles on some - but not all - of the VOA counters) plus there was one single desk in the entire cavernous hall where you could fill them out. Signage is not finished (or it's intended to be terrible) and it can be hard to see how to get from arrivals to departures (with a new terminal they really should have catered for airside connections) or where the taxi booth is. There are rigorous security checks before AND after check-in - the first one seems like an afterthought since there isn't enough room to do it smoothly. There are no ATMs in departures so if you forgot the R150000 departure tax (I had miscounted and I ended up R500 short!) it's back down to arrivals and then through security again. And what is the stupid serpentine gauntlet of shops that you have to run to get to the gates? I wonder where this horrible trend started - I know Sydney's done it for decades (but mainly in arrivals). All up a massive improvement over the old terminal in off-peak times.

Just had my first experience with the new airport. Still a few bugs to be ironed out but I think it's not so bad. On arrival we had to get bussed to the terminal we had pre arranged express visa but there wasn't really a line at immigration anyway. It's well worth it at peak times though. As usual priority business tags on bags were not first out. It also meant there was a short wait to have the bags screened upon exit. We were then shown to our car by the express visa girl which wasn't far and were away. After reading all the negative reviews about departure I was prepared for long lines. It wasn't too bad. First line to get into terminal to pass baggage screening was about 10 minutes. There was a long line at Virgin check in but was no one in business class line so I was straight through. The next line stop was departure tax with pretty much no wait at all. The customs line was the longest probably about 15 minutes. They have free wifi at the terminal so wasn't so bad. Two extra staff would have made this a breeze. Seems to be a few complaints about the shopping strip you have to walk through. There's all you usual duty free here at exorbitant airport prices. Made my way to the temporary lounge. The furnishings are very nice and comfortable the food selection is basically the same as the old lounge. Very limited and not high quality but pretty much standard for most of Asia. It was pretty much at capacity when I arrived and was annoyed that they were letting in people paying to enter. A couple of flights were called and it soon cleared out. The lounge wifi didn't work at all but the free wifi provided by the airport was great. On departure bags were once again scanned and the plane was on a sky bridge so boarding was quick and easy. Things are certainly not as bad as previous reviews have encountered. I did love the outdoor terrace garden at the old airport lounge hope they have a similar setup once the new business lounge is complete.

I fly to Bali regularly. Wasn't a fan of the old airport inefficient gloomy shopping areas etc. I was hopeful seeing the new shiny airport. This cost a lot of money but is no improvement. Immigration queue ~2 hours with a "VIP" fast track for 25 USD. Gate shown barely 30 minutes before departure. Very little seating space. Poor cafe options with no appetizing food options and unappealing seating. Very long shopping mile which you have to walk through too few gates for number of departures. Very poor passenger management at gate. Two flights to Singapore were located at the same gate all passengers from both flights herded into the tiny gate area (no seating whatsoever) and staff tried to sort out by shouting. Staff were giving attitude to passengers who did not immediately understand the crazy sorting of passengers. Incompetent crazy passenger traffic management. Good points? The bookstore (Periplus) is fine and the toilets are reasonably clean.

Arrival okay just slow. Departure horrible. Queues long and they must try to employ the rudest staff they can find. Cash only for departure tax and yet no one thought to provide an ATM. Once through had lunch at the closest sit down cafe only to be served an awful club sandwich. No decent food places and nowhere else to sit. Bags opened by security many times and queues for everything. Worst international Airport available. If the staff were at all friendly it would at least make the lack of facilities bearable. Indonesia should be ashamed of this effort on such a beautiful place.

I passed through the new Bali airport in November without any problems so some of the reviews below got me a little anxious for my January trip. Arrival at about 5pm wasn't too bad VoA payment was quick Immigration not as quick but there was a fair queuing system in place and it only took 20 minutes to clear. My departing flight was at 1am so I made sure to reach the airport by 10pm. Check-in departure tax and Immigration were all quick - I sympathise with the reviewer that clocked check-in at 20 mins per person but maybe some airlines are better than others. The compulsory walk through the shopping area seems to have got longer funny although signs in the airport say it is "smoking and tobacco free" I distinctly remember seeing a tobacco section in the duty free shop. After the shopping area things start to show signs of stress; too few toilets with queues spilling out VIP lounges just fenced-off departure lounges; not enough seating people all over the floor. There are a few food stalls which look pretty temporary but prices are close to western airport prices. Surprisingly there is free drinking water to be had but only a couple of dispensers and supplies were running low. No information counters and no PA speakers in the toilet. Clearly the new terminal isn't really ready yet but all this said my experience could have been a lot worse.