Dhaka Airport

Dhaka s getting better. Passport control is a bit slow. Only a few shops and at arrival the duty free is very low stocks and doesn't take any credit cards. Baggage claim need to be improve and faster. A Taxi cab booth needs to be opened inside the terminal building so people don't get hassled by the cab drivers and middle men. Custom checks should be quicker and liberal for the long journey passengers. All other things are nice - friendly staff clean secured and quiet.

Departure from Dhaka airport is much better than the arrival. However the arrival also on the side of OK. The main problem in arrival is to get a transport after exiting the terminal. Full of taxi agents and chaos. After renovation it is nice clean modern and most importantly very spacious. Although the airside facilities are limited only into a small duty free shops and couple of restaurants its ok these days as you dont have to wait a long time as there is almost no transit passenger.

Check-in is usually a bit busy but everyone is polite and it works OK. Immigration queues are longer for Bangladeshis than foreigners as there are generally many more Bangladeshis. Once through there is a lovely Sheraton cafe on the first floor which everyone can access but its always very quiet and relaxing compared to the pretty tacky cafe on the ground floor. No real shops to speak of but to be honest thats a refreshing change these days. Arrivals - if you are at the back of the plane the queue at immigration will be long by the time you get there. If flying to Dhaka try to get a seat near the front of economy so you can get to the immigration before the crowds. Everyone is very friendly and the hall is spacious. Baggage is sometimes slow and exiting the airport can be a bit daunting.

I found the airport to be reasonable. Immigration was a bit slow on the way in. No other problems though. On the way out there are a limited number of shops/restaurants. The airport is quite modern and clean. Even the toilets are OK. The domestic terminal is quite small but again not too bad.

Departure facilities are excellent. Ground staff of the airline you are flying will largely determine your experience. They are usually quite good in Dhaka. Arrival facilities are a mixed bag. Immigration signs are large and clear upon disembarking your aircraft. Passport Control slow but functioning. Nothing to worry about. Baggage handling a bit messy. Conveyor belts are on two sides of passport control. I went back and forth between the two since they kept changing their minds about where to dump our luggage. Eventually they settled on one belt. Note: Bags can arrive on a belt adjacent to the one they mentioned on the board. Also the new conveyor belts are a little narrow meaning your suitcases have a hard time staying on them. Look around a bit if you cannot find your bags. If you are arriving from Europe or North America you may be asked to jump the queue and exit the terminal ahead of those arriving from the Middle East who are subject to rigorous customs checking. Arriving in Dhaka would be a more pleasant experience if baggage handling was more disciplined. It must be mentioned that people who have travelled to Dhaka over the last few years will definitely appreciate that things are however much better that they used to be.

More qualified & smart people should work at the immigration. Most of them do not know about transit visas tourist visas and rules followed by other major countries. I always find them asking to their so called seniors for advise. The parking area has become a taxi stand for the unmarked microbuses. There should be specific number of airport taxis and no authorized help person at the arrival hall otherwise the re-entry is horrible. This country will take long time to rise if the airport is not found friendly and comfortable by the foreign visitors/investors.

Zia Airport - though improved still needs a lot of help. While the airport has new boarding gates and the arrivals now boast new luggage belts the appearance of the airport is still cute unclean and the layout leaves a lot to desire for. On arrival why do passengers have to go through such long series of stairs to the immigration area? I noticed some elderly folks with large carry on pieces struggling to walk down those stairs. In the arrivals hall immigration processing is way too slow. Under a new directive all information is keyed in computers to a database while a passenger enters and exits the country. Unfortunately this takes an incredible amount of time to enter all the info. I don't know why the process cannot be streamlined by scanning the passport info into a database and the keying in done at some other location at a later time. The customs area is working in better condition and I am very glad for it. The area where passengers take cars from the arrivals area is still chaotic although blocking general public access is a good idea. They still need to filter out taxi/porter and agents from this area. The departure immigration procedure is equally painful. I nearly missed my flight waiting for the line to move. It took 40 minutes for the 6 passengers in front of me to clear immigration. Boarding gates are ok but can they not put news on the tv in waiting areas rather than music tv? I guess that is partly due to the taste of the passengers so I can't complain much. As for the domestic terminal it runs a lot better than the international one. Check is for the two airlines is neat and easy. The terminal lounge is clean. The arrivals area is now graced with a luggage belt so it is definitely more efficient.

Improvement within a span of a couple of years. Hopefully more to come. It's no Singapore or Dubai but it's no Mumbai or Calcutta either. Small efficient and tidy for the most part. Transit passengers may be bored during long breaks. Not a lot to do. Next improvement must involve changing of several security personnel who ruin the day by their misguided pride in their work. First time foreigners with no one to meet may still be perplexed at the chaos once outside the neat terminal.

ZIA has gone through extensive renovations and has become an excellent airport. The new departure terminal is very comfortable. The new VIP Lounge for business and first class passengers is excellent. Impressive!

I have flown 8 outbound and 7 inbound international flights through ZIA in last seven years. The airport checking-in and immigration layouts have been remarkably improved during last two years. The departure portion is now comparable to most other international airports. The new parking structure attached to the main terminal is a great job done. The arrival portion is still messy specially outside the airport. Placing transparent glass between the baggage unloading people and the baggage claiming passengers has also reduced the baggage cutting (stealing) disasters. Thanks ZIA. We would like to see more continuous improvements.