Phuket Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 105 reviews
3/10
No Skytrax Rating
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1/10

"the worst airport"

(Russian Federation)

Trip Verified | With bunch of tourists coming to Phuket every day it would be a definitely good idea to organize the airport’s work and take care of its cleanliness better. This is the worst airport I have ever been to so far. I didn’t expect that the 3 last hours in Phuket to turn out to be the worst during the whole vacation. I am Russian. I was going to China from Phuket having a business visa with 90 days of stay. I was the only foreigner in the queue. First of all, the queue to check in desk was unorganized. When it was my turn, the staff at check-in desk told me that they can’t check me in because I don’t have a ticket from China to Moscow. And they were assuring me that I need to buy a ticket otherwise they can’t check me in for the flight. Which was totally absurd. Having had 3 Chinese business visas before I told them that the plane ticket back to Moscow is not necessary to cross the border of China with Chinese business visa, because I don’t know for sure yet if I leave in 1 month or 2 months. Arrogant check in staff asked me how can they know that I don’t overstay my visa. How can they be sure that Chinese immigration will not send me back to Thailand if I don’t have a plane ticket. That’s the first time I encounter such a ignorance. They were telling me that they asked the airline about this issue and I need to show the ticket to check in staff to get to my airplane. While I was trying to solve the problem and assure that the Chinese immigration law doesn’t require the plane ticket if someone crosses the border with business visa with 90 days of stay the check in was almost closed. Taking into account that I didn’t have enough money in my bank card to buy the ticket to Moscow I started to panic. Staff was super rude and didn’t try to help me at all. Finally I bought the ticket from China to Hong Kong as they were the cheapest one on the website (the money I had in my bank card was just enough to buy the cheapest one). Now the staff said that the the ticket wasn’t issued yet so I have to wait. Can you imagine how absurd this situation was. The check in closed and I was the only one staying there and waiting for the ticket to be issued on the website and it could take up to 45 minutes. Long story short, I bought the ticket and finally they checked me in and thanks god I didn’t miss my flight. And of course no one at the border of China asked me for the ticket back to Moscow or anywhere else. I had to buy the ticket just to show that rude staff at check in desk. I just hope that in the future the check in staff will be less ignorant and no one else will have problems as I did.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitMarch 2018
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
5/10

"quick and painless journey"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Arrival: A large regional airport serving a busy tourist island in Thailand. It appeared that we were on the only plane to have landed at Phuket Airport. We sailed past Immigration and had to wait for our baggage. This duly arrived within about 30 mins. Departure: A quick walk to the check-in desk, through immigration and security. We were though to the airside of the airport within 30 mins. There have been many comments that Phuket Airport is very busy and perhaps, it was because we were visiting Phuket in the low season. Hence the quick and painless journey through the airport. Or we were just plain lucky.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitNovember 2017
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
yes
3/10

"Dreadful welcome to Thailand"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | Dreadful welcome to Thailand. Three hours of queuing to get through immigration. No organisation or direction of queues, no staff to help. More desks were opened during the 3 hours but the passengers from the flight behind us jumped on them and got through before us! We were dreading coming back through the airport to get home but were amazed as it was like a different airport in departures. Proper roped lanes with staff directing, we got through in no time. If only they would put the same into place in arrivals!
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitFebruary 2018
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"a very stressful experience"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | Unfortunately this is the worst and most unorganised airport we have ever been to. 4 hour wait to get through passport control. Lack of staff and not all booths were open. After a long journey it was a very stressful experience. Please employ more staff Phuket airport.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitFebruary 2018
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
3/10

"a lot of tourists and this is madness"

(Estonia)

Not Verified | I wouldnt reccomend this airport (HKT Phuket Int.) because staff were horrible and couldnt handle a lot of tourists. We asked them politely to please create lines so people wouldnt skip queues and wouldnt rush in because a lot of people were missing flights. They said we dont know English so they didnt do anything. Staff were horrible and HKT needs to train their staff in the English language because there are a lot of tourists and this is madness.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitFebruary 2018
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"disorganisation is an embarrassment"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | This is the third time this month (January 2018) at this airport waiting from friends from UK to clear Immigration. I have been here many times over recent years. It is now 3 hours 30 minutes since the flight I am waiting for landed and still no sign of my friends. This is how it always is with a miniumn clearance time of three hours. The disorganisation in this airport is an embarrassment. People have been travelling for many hours and then have to face standing in a disorderly queue for three more hours plus. It is not fair on already tired and stressed travellers. The Arrival/Departures form causes many of the delays. It is too complex for people and too difficult to fill in under cramped poorly lit conditions. Reviews like mine have been made many times and no improvements are made.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitJanuary 2018
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
3/10

"efficiency is terrible"

(Canada)

Trip Verified | I've traveled through this airport five times in the past three weeks. You simply can't have enough time or patience to navigate this place when it's busy. The queue times are over three hours for departures. The efficiency is terrible, particularly in the passport check area. The lower departure gates at the tarmac level is one of the worst examples of airport organization I've seen anywhere. Chaotic, noisy, overcrowded, poorly designed. In thirty years of airport navigation I've never witnessed such a mess and so much stress inflicted on travellers.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJanuary 2018
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

"there were no signs anywhere"

(United States)

Verified Review | Phuket airport is the worst airport I've ever been to. We were only there for a layover, a quick 85 minute layover, so we were trying to not miss our flight. The flight to Phuket was awful too. No one knew how to transfer, there were no signs anywhere. After immigration took 30 minutes because the line we were in had to merge with another because one of the airport staff just left their post, we asked multiple other staff members where the domestic transfers were and they kept leading us to the wrong places. As another review perfectly put it, "there's no organization and nobody cares".
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitAugust 2017
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Staff 12345
no
9/10

"much improved experience"

(United Kingdom)

Unverified | A troublefree and much improved experience. Flew into Phuket via Abu Dhabi and arrived into immigration hall with one or two people ahead of me at immigration booths. Another one was opened as I waited and I was beckoned over. Luggage took a while to come onto the belt but only because I had breezed through immigration so quickly. Departing Phuket the other evening on Etihad's evening flight I found the need to have bags checked before entering the terminal has disappeared and I arrived at check-in with no queues whatsoever. I was then escorted through to an empty immigration desk by Etihad staff but he immigration hall was pretty empty with plenty of desks open and no queues. In the lounge about 5 mins after getting out of taxi. My only gripe was that they are refurbishing the Thai Royal Orchid lounges and there is quite a lot of hammering and drilling going on but it is only a minor issue. Flight boarded quickly and left on time. After a poor start this airport has got its act together very well indeed in my experience.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitAugust 2017
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
9/10

"a small airport with not much walking"

(United Kingdom)

Arrived on a Domestic flight into the original terminal. A pier into the terminal and down to the Baggage Reclaim with 2 belts. Out round and into the Arrivals Area you pass a fenced off area before you get outside with all the tour reps with signs. The Arrivals Area is under cover to protect from tropical rains but is exceedingly busy with cars, mini-buses and coaches in a space that was designed for a different era - a new terminal is currently being completed and phased into use (March 2017). Pretty quick delivery of the bags. Departing gets more complicated if you are flying domestically to Bangkok but on a connecting ticket out of the country - if so you can use the CIQ system at Bangkok (BKK) airport and arrive as a transit passenger having cleared customs. To do this you have to Check-in at the International Terminal at Phuket airport not the Domestic one. The new terminal is very spacious with various Check-in Islands at the front and then Passport Control followed by Security and the Departure Lounge. Departures has an array of shops and cafes to provide what you need along with various Thailand souvenir stalls. There is free Wi-Fi but you need access to your Emails to obtain the password required to access the Wi-Fi Gates look out onto the apron and are connected mainly via air bridges unless you are on a CIQ flight when gates 82-84 bus you to the rear of your aircraft in the Domestic part of the airport. Check-in was OK as was Passport Control and Security and apparently a huge improvement on the older system. Hopefully as more of the terminal is brought into use it will maintain this. It is still quite a small airport with not much walking between the different parts. It can get very busy as Phuket is a major tourist destination and the most busy airport after Bangkok in Thailand.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitMarch 2017
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes