Pisa Airport

Easy enough airport to use. Checkin was simple, plenty of shops and services, security was a breeze. Duty free and cafeteria area after security . Departures sitting area quite crammed with limited seating.

Pisa airport is OK Medium Sized. Our flight landed in a 10mins early (Easyjet from LGW) and had to wait on the taxiway for 5 mins as a plane was leaving from our allocated stand a little bit late. We had to disembark by air stairs and walk a long distance to the terminal building. Immigration took 10 mins and as we were only there for a long weekend we had no baggage. There was a large taxi rank which was a delight from our 30min wait at Edinburgh for a taxi last year. Flying out we got at the airport 3 hours before our 10.10 departure (easyjet to LGW). We were expecting long queues at security and customs. However there wasn't and we were left in the departures lounge with around 10 duty free shops and cafes. Annoyingly they said go through customs (for UK and intercontinental flights separate departure area upstairs) 90 mins before departure and around 50 of us did. However a hazard was the escalator was kept running and we had to cram in to a small area for 25 mins before they opened up customs. We boarded 35 mins before (inbound was 40mins early) but there was a long walk down ramps (quite odd) our plane was at a stand the other side. It took a while to get down to the planes and a Ryanair was disembarking and pax had to walk across the ramp which caused a 10min hold up. (We where last to board before hold up) We push backed 10mins late and departed in just 2 mins. We arrived 5 mins early. I would say Pisa airport is a standard medium sized airport but it is quote odd in having to walk long distanced from a gate to either side of a ramp to the aircraft and vies versa.

Arriving with hand luggage was extremely easy about 10 minutes from stepping off the aircraft to walking out of the terminal. Departing was satisfactory not great but I have experienced worse elsewhere. Queues for security were fairly long (about 10 minutes wait) but kept moving passport checks took a couple of minutes. Once in the 'non-Schengen' area seating was very limited and there is only one snack bar. Note that the railway station is closed for a year while the line to Pisa Centrale is upgraded it is not a huge problem as there is a shuttle bus that takes you there in about 10 minutes (buy tickets in the terminal or when you get on); it arrives and leaves from the opposite side of the station to the main concourse it is well sign-posted.

Dec 29th. British Airways to London Heathrow. Flight was called approx. 60 mins before departure. Door at the foot of the escalator was opened escalator switched on door at the top of the escalator was not opened. Passengers coming up the escalator had nowhere to go and were being piled on top of each other. Emergency stop button in an awkward place so it took ages to stop it as more people were being thrown onto each other. Lots of people screaming. No one from Pisa airport took any notice. After passport control it was the usual boarding chaos one would attribute to Ryanair. Will try Genova next time.

The airport itself is very convenient when arriving by train. It's nice and small and queuing times are little. There is however a shortage of decent places to eat compared to the rest of Italy and of course Pisa downtown. The restaurant upstairs (called Cafe Aero or something) was terrible - we were going to eat there but watched three couples fight with the waitress before walking out. Instead we went to a pizza place on the Ground floor where the food was instant. Aside from food it's a good place to fly from.

Really good airport keeping increasing its efficiency the amount of passengers is still growing but the airport seems to handle it well; very fast check-in times and the choice of destination is wide. in the airport there are 3 restaurant and a lot of shops. The airport is 1 km from the city center! And the public transports connect the airport with the town and the nearby cities.

The airport seemed to be pretty small for the amount of passenger traffic. It was heavily crowded and the shops are huge and occupy passenger space. The queues that form near the gates extend to every corner of the airport. Very disappointed with what is an international airport.

We fly to and from Pisa Airport every year but this year it was July and the airport was not at it's best there was little in the way of air-con and the temp was 34deg outside. The only places that were cool were the shops and a waiting area upstairs around the back of the Toscana restaurant. Also the self serve restaurant was closed from 2pm-4.30 so the only place you could get a cold drink or a quick snack was on the main concourse downstairs and there was only one person on the cash desk with people queuing for miles in the heat. Once in the departure lounge same story really. The airport is in need of a new building and some better staffing. and Easyjet need to up their game as far as check-in and boarding let's have seat booking please instead of the race to the gate/bus/plane etc. Also why does the bus for the car hire not take you to directly outside the Terminal building instead of having to walk across the roads.

We've just returned from Pisa Airport having used it to travel onwards to Florence - ideal as the train leaves from the end of the airport and is less than an hour to Florence. However we arrived at noon for our return to Bristol scheduled for 2.05pm and made the grave mistake of going up to the gates rather than remaining at ground floor level. We thought the ground floor deeply uninteresting and hoped for something better upstairs - vain hope. Small coffee bar one set of loos and people everywhere insufficient seating blank walls to look at as the windows are limited no information screens and no information from Easyjet staff either. The gate showed both Gatwick and Bristol intermittently and the total lack of info really was beyond a joke - even allowing for yet another lightning strike in Italy. We left two hours late so we had had to spend 4 hours in this very unpleasant area. If you have to fly from Pisa then stay downstairs for as long as you possibly can.

Not one of the better low cost airline airports. On arrival it was incredible that we were bussed to the terminal as it was no more than a few steps! On return the first challenge was to find the correct area for baggage drop. Once located it seemed strange that staff were being trained at such a basic level e.g. this number here is the one on the boarding pass that you're trying to match. Surely there is some back-room training not starting beginners from step one? The main departure area was pleasant enough but once at the gate the 'cafe' consisted of a snack bar and the gate area got uncomfortably full as a flight was delayed. There was a lack of information about the flight departure until it was called.