Oslo Airport

Terrible service at the security queue and very unpleasant manner of airport workers. Have been flying several times from this airport for business trips and all the times there was no quality of service whatsoever.

My usual hub for travelling business or private. I like the departure hall it is spacious and the swing of the Airport has become very crowded during peak season resulting in lack of seats insufficient amount of restrooms and long queues everywhere. It is also very likely to get in serious trouble when you have a transfer from an incoming international to a domestic flight. Travelers are subject to redundant procedures like collecting your luggage from the carousel then going through customs and go through the check in procedure again in the departure hall in a long queue together with new and other transit passengers while you already have your boarding pass and your luggage is correctly labelled. Finally you have to go through security again. Like authorities usually act many years too late it seems there is now a decision to abandon these crazy procedures in 2015. In my case last year I had to wait a long time for my luggage then had to run to the departure hall and look for an understanding staff member to assist in bypassing the queue for check in. That way I was just in time to catch my connecting flight. This year I was not so lucky when the luggage handling system was down due to a thunderstorm for the rest of the day. I finally arrived in the departure hall with my luggage where thousands of people were waiting not knowing what to do. The announcements by the pubic address system were only an apology for the inconvenience which was of no use at all instead of giving a clear explanation about the workaround implemented. To give instructions for dropping the luggage for your departing flight the staff member who could yell most loudly was selected. Of course these messages were missed by many people. Finally I ended up for hours in a queue of hundreds of people in front of the service desk to get my missed flight rescheduled and was lucky to reach my destination the same day and got possession of my luggage 4 days later. Definitely an airport to avoid during peak season when you have a connection to make. Hopefully things get better in 2015.

My usual hub for travelling business or private. I like the departure hall it is spacious and the swing of the big wooden beams is nice I think. Connection to city is one of the best and fastest I know (express train regular train several buses taxis). On arrival I usually get my luggage within 10-15 minutes which is extremely good even if I don't have priority tags. Facilities aren't really special but enough for me. Due to missing custom clearance on many small Norwegian airports people with connecting domestic flights have to check in their luggage again here. This is ineffective of course but has to be solved by the other airports/the custom authority. Or tickets shouldn't be sold without enough transit time.

Oslo Gardamoen has ongoing construction works. On arrival there was a very long wait (1 hr) for our luggage. Many flights had the luggage arriving on the same carousel. Passengers appeared to be visiting the liquor store before picking up their suitcases etc. It seems one can buy tax-free before passing through customs in Norway. This caused a blockage of suitcases and the carousel stopped frequently. Very irritating for passengers with connections to make. Hopefully when the construction works are finished there will be more carousels.

We flew on the same airline from Kirkenes to London via Oslo. Strangely we were not able to book our bags through from Kirkenes to London but had to retrieve them in Oslo and book them in again. That could be a problem with the airline but actually managing the bags at Oslo was hard. Having got our bags and already in possession of our boarding passes we were shunted away from bag drop off to the main (long) queue where in effect we had to check in again. After security we entered a lounge area absolutely packed with people were we had a 4 hour wait for our next flight. It was hot and noisy and it took my wife and I almost an hour to get 2 seats together. There were very long queues at all the shops and cafes. There were far too many people for this terminal. Finally at boarding the agent held my wife up as she is not a British national. Even though my wife doesn't actually need a visa to visit the UK and even though she does have one the agent insisted on checking by phone thereby holding up the queue of people trying to get on the plane. It was resolved after about 5 minutes but over the years and in many different countries we have never experienced a similar problem. I know security is tight at the moment but surely this should have been sorted out at either of our check ins at Kirkenes or Oslo. The most chaotic and uncomfortable airport I have been in for many years. Avoid if possible.

An absolute disaster. Use another airport if you are planning a trip to a destination in Norway with a stopover in Oslo. If you are determined to use Oslo airport to change plane from an international destination to a domestic one be sure that you are using the same airline all the way to your final destination. Then if you miss your flight (which you will) you can get a new ticket for the next available flight. If using different airlines on your trip you should probably have about 4 hours to change plane in the peak season just to be on the safe side. But again: do not use this airport if you are changing plane to a domestic flight.

Our problem was with the kiosks for check-in. We arrived a bit over two hours before our flight and therefore were unable to get luggage tags. Instead we had to wait 20 minutes for the KLM people to arrive all the while watching the clock and the increasing lines at security. Also at the kiosk we had trouble getting the passport scanner to work and had to get the agent to come over and help. This was unnerving as she had to be contacted again for the second passport. Security was OK even though the line was long it moved must faster than in the US. It helped to have the video which let you anticipate what was needed. Shoes did not have to be removed. It was unclear why the entrance to the airport from the fast train had the strange paddle style man traps that caused many people to trip over one anothers' luggage.

Twice in the last month I have stood in the passport control for non EU members for over 30 mins and along with other passengers became anxious that the gates would close before I reached them. I stated that I felt they needed more staff to cope with the demand but was told "you should have come earlier". As a frequent traveller I felt this response was extremely rude given that on both occasions I went to the gate at the given time on my boarding pass. Either the authorities need to change the time of going to the gate or extra staff need to be employed. I also found it strange that given the queue for EU members was very short or non existent why did the staff of Norwegian Air push past us thus holding our queue up rather than going through the EU queue. If Oslo want the Olympics they will need to treat their foreign visitors better than they are doing at present. The attitude of the staff was arrogant to say the least.

Unlink Helsinki they have no pay lounges for exhausted passengers unless its for an international flight. So if you want to sleep you have to sleep sitting up because the arms of the chairs don't move I'm here for 7 hours and I've been up for nearly 24 traveling. They also make you pay for wifi! The bathrooms are tiny and few and far between. The staff is rude and the line for TSA was the longest I've ever seen. I will tell you this much unless you are coming to Norway avoid this airport at all costs. It's absolutely awful.

This airport was a disaster! Reykjavik to Oslo with SAS. Arrival in Oslo 3rd September approx 4pm - flight was delayed leaving Reykjavik giving us only 30 minutes to transfer for our Frankfurt flight. Up and then down some stairs and we arrived in a very poorly signed corridor where the only exit to transfers was 2 elevators that could hold probably 6 people with luggage. Huge lines for these elevators. There was only one security belt/screener attended and it was terribly slow. No information in this corridor for people with connecting flights. You had to get inside the security room which was very small to see the board. Several times we tried to "queue cut" saying our flight was boarding. An employee said everyone was in the same boat and maybe the airlines would hold the flight. We tried again to push in to no avail. We waited almost an hour! We had to run to our gate which wasn't too far luckily and that made it also a bit ridiculous and the airline had held the flight for everybody. This airport needs more signage more directions and more staff!