Edinburgh Airport

I went through Edinburgh Airport recently and was faced with a bizarre setup; they'd replaced the budget check-in desks with self-service units and a single manned desk. Nobody could use the self-service so there was a massive, badly formed, entrance-blocking que or the one member of staff. It didn't save on staff either as they were busy redirecting people from self service to the poor soul on the desk. It made what should have be a quiet time very very hectic. I'd go out of my way to avoid Edinburgh airport in future.

Avoid this airport like the plague. Where to start? Earlier this month I came in from the USA and it took 1.5 hours to get my bag. The staff response? 'not my fault'. Used it again this week to fly to Copenhagen. Going the plane was delayed because they didn't have the staff to get luggage off the previous flight. Returning the plane was delayed getting in to Copenhagen because the plane was delayed leaving Edinburgh. Staff response 'not my problem'. Due to the delay in getting back I missed the last bus to Glasgow and had to pay £105 for a taxi.

Fantastic flight into Edinburgh on American Airlines. All went through immigration quickly. Then we had to wait 40 minutes for our bags. When I was asked I was told that they are understaffed. Disappointing. It's a while since I had a good experience at Edinburgh Airport. Flying out is a nightmare. Too busy and not equipped to deal with so many flights.

Edinburgh to Salzburg, 30th July to 6th August. Stood in queue for 1hr 45 mins to check in. One incompetent operative and a defective baggage label machine, apparently 4 operatives failed to report for duty. Returned on 6th, over 1hr wait for baggage, two flights behind received baggage before ours. Massive queues at both ladies and gents toilets, apart from being inadequate were found to be a disgusting condition. Must agree with other reviewers re. general congestion and confusion. Welcome to Scotland and the Edinburgh festival.

✅ Verified Review | The airport staff and management here are operating a Circus. I am ashamed for Scotland claiming this as its gateway to the world. I am a frequent flyer, have platinum, over 1m miles. This airport is worse than many and 3rd world airports. This goes to security at departure. Loud, brash, unhelpful, intimidating security staff. Bulldoze the place and start again, don't keep adding bits on and hope or expect it to improve. Further annoyance is the double length walking route, funnelling through duty free shopping, when many have zero interest in being pestered by sales staff. It is getting as bad as being pursued at foreign airports for unofficial rip-off taxis.

Arrived into Edinburgh from Mallorca and then had to wait for nearly 1.5 hours as there were no drivers to collect our bags from the plane. On departure, our Etihad flight was cancelled due to technical difficulties. Etihad were great and very informative. We were all put up in hotels for the 14 hour delay. Now we are sitting in am empty airport and we still cannot leave on time. 2320 departure (now) and we are all still sitting at the gate.

This airport has outgrown its buildings. There is not enough seating and therefore passengers waiting for transatlantic and other flights on large planes spill into the walkways causing havoc for other passengers. Staff add to the mayhem with careless positioning of cleaning/refuse trolleys and stock carts. Check in lines are long and slow. Signage is minimal. Planes are parked on the tarmac whilst jetty bays are used for bus transport. Parking is outside and it is pretty much impossible to transit to/from the airport by car without getting wet in bad weather. Way behind the standards of the rest of Europe.

When they first expanded the terminal building a few years ago it became a great space to wait in, spacious and not too busy. Also the security was always relatively quick and easy. But that was then, I have used the airport a few times over the last year and the experience just gets worse and worse. The new security search area borders on farcical, its the worst configuration I have ever seen, if I am using EDI then I always pay for fast track - although one time even that was comical. Also the staff seem so stressed it makes them rude. Have never used the bag drop, but here too they have made life harder by using those self check in systems for bags - lots of confused travellers, and lots of staff doing it for them. Not much of a self check in after all. The departures building is full to bursting with people, not helped by arrivals passengers who have to walk through the same area. Its hard work to find a seat, and you will not get any peace due to the constant announcements on the PA system. Heathrow is a more enjoyable and relaxing place to be. On your return, if you come off an international flight then you will also need to be patient, you could be waiting a long time. The final kick in the teeth is that you have to pay to use the pick up/drop off zone. If you don't want to pay then its a bus ride to the long stay car park to get picked up from there for free. Awful airport with an awful attitude based on maximising revenue at all costs, been in better low cost terminals in Asia.

Transported to arrivals by bus, had to wait on the bus for some time until the queue inside the building reduced. This was the clue that something was wrong. Arrivals can only be described as a shed and we were the cattle. The building was bland and unwelcoming and the queue at border control was very long. The border control staff were very friendly when we finally arrived at the desk but it took some time to get there. Next we had to wait for our luggage, the delivery of this seemed very haphazard and took over 1 hour from arrival to getting our luggage. Customer service was non existant and the staff that I did see tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone in case they were asked a question. I felt embarrassed that this represented our country, how disappointing for visitors. Time to get your act together Edinburgh, this is not acceptable.

I have to start by saying that there were no issues when departing from Edinburgh airport (to Mallorca). Fairly efficient given the holiday season. Our problems arise on arrival. It was terible. We arrived an hour late. We had to sit on a bus and wait for a huge queue for passport control to reduce (with 2 young children). We could see alot of passengers waiting in a tunnel to get through. It seems that they had to stand in this tunnel as the doors were closed on them and they couldn't get through. Once off the bus we had to slowly make our way through passport control - I have got no idea why the airport didn't think to put on more staff. They must have known the number of flights / passengers that were due. Very badly managed indeed. It took us the same amount of time to travel from Mallorca to Edinburgh as it did to get off the plane and get our bags (our bags were actually waiting for us, it took that long to get though). We travelled from the Aberdeen area to Edinburgh but we will not be using Edinburgh airport again.