Islamabad Airport

❎ Unverified | Definitely the worst airport in Pakistan. Domestic check in area was small despite the fact that that this airport serves the federal capital of the country. Staff seemed least interested in their job and more in the daily newspaper. Absence of jet bridges was not a problem for me as I am an aviation enthusiast. Waiting for the day when this outdated terminal is finally replacedby the new Islamabad International Airport. Lack of eateries is also felt although the staff at the Mr.Cod outlet were courteous and quick but this airport remains a woeful sight.

At Birmingham airport my passport was checked I think 2/3 times, from the time I entered the doors to stepping into the plane. Here in Islamabad airport everyone wanted to look at the passport! Must have been about 7/8 times and one wanted photocopies of documents, why? In this day and age they still do photo copies! Which probably get binned as so as the plane takes off. No wonder Pakistan is making a loss when there are staff employed to check passports after the boarding passes are issued and we are on the way to the waiting area! He was just standing there by the door and put his hand out for the passports and never uttered a word. There's no other logical explanation why so many staff are employed to check passports and no one to check what's in the suitcase. One of my fellow travellers had over 50 sleeves of cigarettes and a kilo of tobacco and snuff as well and it cost him about £50/£60 to get it through the customs. How? The porters! He paid the porters and they in turn paid the X-ray guy, whose job is to stop cigarettes and other contraband and customs officers whose job is to randomly check baggage and it was all done with hand signs and whispers. The waiting area was ok but not enough seats for everyone. The chicken tikka sandwich lacked something, namely chicken tikka! And this was at the the dunkin doughnut concession. Whether it was a genuine Donkin Doughnuts or not I don't know. But there was piece of chicken the size of a child's thumb nail in the middle of the rectangle which had been cut into a triangle, to give the impression that there was chicken tikka in the sandwich. We bought 2 sandwiches and both pieces for show and nothing in the middle. Not good. Unfortunately the call to board was made and didn't get a chance to go to complain. Overall waiting area shopping was good and prices reasonable. But avoid Dunkin doughnut chicken tikka sandwich.

Without doubt ISB is the world's worst airport and recently had this status officially recognised. Use this airport every couple of months at the moment and always dread the experience. The rules and procedures fro negotiating the airport are all made up on the fly by individual members of staff. For some reason they are obsessed with stamping and checking a tag on your hand luggage. Seems to get checked at least 5 times. Staff are miserable and surly and there are always huge crowds of people at the airport regardless of the time of day and most of them are not passengers. Facilities are laughable. ISB sets itself very low standards and consistently fails to achieve them! Enjoy!

Truly awful airport. Aside from the actual facilities (not) on offer it is the people who work here that make this airport perhaps the worst that I have experienced. The biggest offenders are probably the Security people at the various checkpoints inside and at the entrance to the airport. They seem to make up the rules based on their fancy at that moment. Inconsistent security screening I expect leads to higher security risk (not surprised that the European airlines no longer fly here). Do they not realise the first and last impression they are giving about Pakistan? Really is a disgrace at present.

I visited the airport last year when I was leaving for Jeddah to perform Umra. We had to change our clothes and had to wear The Ahram. We were travelling in a B747 and the flight had 400+ passengers. For 400 passengers there were only ten changing rooms and all were dirty. It was very difficult for us to change. But the V.I.P lounge of the airport is good but still needs improvement. Overall the airport is too bad. Hope the new airport under construction turns out to be a good and well maintained airport.

Benazir Bhutto International Airport (previously Islamabad International Airport) has clearly outlived its usefulness and one could have said the same thing 10 years ago. The airport is clearly obsolete with an undersized terminal building undersized parking and an undersized baggage collection area. It really can not receive more than one international flight at the same time. The only thing on the bright side is that new airport is under construction and should be opening next year.

My first time travelling to Islamabad. Upon arrival we had to use the buses to transport us from the plane to the airport building. Upon exiting the buses and entering the building one is greeted with long lines and chaos. Airport does have sections labelled (Pakistani citizens Foreigners and unaccompanied women) but everyone fails to adhere to these rules. There are two carousels but there efficiency is ridiculous. When exiting the airport they have random checks forcing people to place their luggage in scanners afterwards they require you to hand over the baggage claim receipts. When departing from Islamabad airport the process is even more tedious and annoying. You have to present your ticket or a print out to enter the airport. Then you head straight towards narcotics check instead of having scanners they make you open your luggage and create an appalling mess. Then its a series of scanners and checking after which you finally reach check-in desks immigration desks further checking random checking stamping of carry-on luggage and finally transit lounge on the second floor. The duty free shops offer restricted merchandise bathrooms are horrible (a daunting task to use them). Overall a horrible unorganized chaotic below international standards airport.

I travel to Islamabad every after 4-5 months times and have noticed that its getting worse. As soon as you reach airport - the pain begins. Its such a horrible place to be. Custom officers greet you with such rudeness that puts you off and treat passengers as bad as possible. They open bags for checking and mess up every thing - leaving passengers to close bags in a messy situation - giving a very bad impression of Pakistan. There are no managers or any responsible personal.

Islamabad was my last stop on a long journey through the Middle East and Pakistan and this was by far the worst airport I've been in. I arrived from KHI which wasn't that bad the buses were waiting and took us to the arrivals hall for baggage collection. Departure from ISB was the worst as we had a flight at 3:25am to DXB and just to get into the airport there is a heavy queue to go through security (that people just cut anyhow) then once you're inside you have to go through Narcotics Control - fortunately they didn't feel a need to bother me so I didn't have to wait for them to check my bags then they scan your bags and you go through a metal detector again then after you can finally go to the check-in desks.. the check-in area is just terrible dirty and extremely disorganized bag scales broke midway to checking in for the flight so then everyone was shouting and making a scene (mind you this is 2:00am) finally after 30 minutes they fixed it and checked all the bags in after that you go through passport control then security again. The best is when you go to the "gate" which is just a door leading outside with multiple flight queues at the door. No PA system was used some guy was just screaming flight numbers and we went out to the buses then when we get to the aircraft it's not ready so we had to wait on the bus for about 30 minutes a little kid passed out as it was so hot on the bus and the driver refused to open the door - all I can say is never again!

I have been traveling through ISB for three years now and I continue to marvel at the pain travelers have to endure to get on an airplane. It is not uncommon to find three or four B777’s of varying carriers arriving and leaving at the same time meaning that every relative of each Pakistani passenger will be at the airport greeting or seeing off their loved ones. That is a big sea of humanity to wade through. There are several lines: first to get into terminal and that can take up to an hour depending on how many people cut in front; then there is a narcotics task-force check which is a guy who may or may not look at your passport and wave you to a bag check line; then there are 2 X-ray machines for all those people and all that luggage and no matter what there will be porters who push you out of the way just when you get to the X-ray machine belt to put tons of luggage that jams the screening machines; then you check in at your airline; then you get in one of the immigration lines which are clearly laid out for foreign native and women/family travelers but who reads signs? Then there is another passport check and handbag screening which gives arrogant travelers from around the world an opportunity to show how obnoxious they can be; then there is another check of the handbag to stamp it and the boarding pass and you’re in the departure lounge. If you are in a hurry pay a porter to push you through divert your eyes and swallow your shame. Otherwise cultivate patience.