Santorini Airport

❎ Unverified | What is wrong with people? Yes, we had to wait 3 hours, in the sun, plenty of refreshment available. It's a very small airport dealing with a lot of travellers at times and if you ask me does rather well. If you can't cope with what is a minor irritation then pitch a tent in your back yard and stay at home!

✅ Verified Review | Categorically the worst airport that I have ever flown from - and I have lived in many so-called "Third World" countries. Huge queues for absolutely everything. You have to queue for check in outside in the heat, queue to check in inside, heave your bag off the scales and queue to have your luggage x-rayed and taken from you. You then squash into a waiting area this size of a postage stamp at the gate with hardly any seating. You are then called back from the gate to queue to have your passport checked, back to tiny gate area, queue to get through gate. You will have now lost the will to live but you then queue for bus to get to the plane which is like a furnace when you get on it. Chaos, crowding, heat, just hideous, will never fly out of there again. If you are visiting the beautiful island of Santorini, fly home from another island, take a ferry, swim, anything but leave from Santorini airport, it will spoil an otherwise fabulous holiday.

✅ Verified Review | After reading the previous reviews of this airport we were not expecting to have the best experience and were pleasantly surprised. We arrived 2 and half hours before our flight and were directed by a very friendly staff member to the outside bar and to come back at 6.30 when the desk would be open. There was more than adequate shade at the bar. Then when we went back to the terminal, we were directed to check-in where there was no one waiting in front of us so straight through. There was one person in front of us when we had to take our bags to be scanned, and then two people in front of us at security. Admittedly it is a very small airport and not a lot of seats for people, so there were a lot of people standing, but everyone is in the same boat. The toilet was clean and working. We queued for our flight which left on time! The staff at the airport were more than helpful and friendly.

❎ Unverified | The airport is tiny, so requires good organisation and management. Unfortunately, this airport has neither of those things. I arrived within one and a half hours of my flight. The airport had 9 queues outside and bizarrely the boards inside have no information on which check in desk should be used for which flight. Therefore it is down to staff to correctly send customers to the correct queue. I was sent to the queue marked "Manchester" by airport staff. Unfortunately for me, my Manchester flight was actually marked as "Bristol". By the time I had queued with other passengers to Manchester, who's flight was one hour after mine, the baggage check in had closed and I had no way to get my baggage on my flight. The airport staff then became defensive and instead of helping me resolve this issue, refused, complained and actually walked away so they didn't need to deal with me. I was told to wait for a few minutes and after 20 minutes of this was forced to seek help from elsewhere as the staff member did not return. Due to the diabolical disorganisation of this airport, I missed my flight despite being at the airport with plenty of time.

❎ Unverified | This airport is an embarrassment to Greece. We arrived 2 hours before our departure and spent very single minute in a queue. 40 minutes outside airport in searing heat waiting for BA checkin. Barked and shouted at by staff throughout. In fact some women who we presume was an airport manager started balling at us as she said we had walked too far and we were blocking an entrance. What she failed to check was her staff had told us to move to that particular spot. Finally checked in, then had to queue to drop off bags, queued to then go through security then queued at our assigned gate which was boarding an EasyJet flight at the same time! The disorganisation was unbelievable. What was a great holiday in Santorini left a very bad taste. No wonder this airport is voted the worst in Europe. Tourism should boycott it until we are given a serviceable airport.

✅ Verified Review | Dreadful experience departing JTR yesterday. Arrival on Sat 15th July at 5pm was fine, probably as only flight arriving at time. Only 1 immigration officer and line was split into EU citizens and others, we were breezed through and I felt sorry for non EU who had to wait. Luggage arrived swiftly. 30 degree weather and driver there to collect. Perfect 10 days in stunning island with lovely people. Departure however was different story. Left on Tuesday 25th July BA to London City 1705hr. Well first of all you are not allowed into terminal building but asked to queue outside in 31 degree heat albeit partially covered area. Not all queues were identified for which flight so bit confusing. I arrived 2hr before departure and glad I didn't arrive earlier as would have just meant standing longer outside. The problem is the terminal building is so small that there is not enough room for everyone during busy periods. So we waited around 30 to 40 mins outside (I have since read reviews that could be 2 hrs or more), then allowed in to check in desks - crowded and chaotic with poor management by insufficient staff. 2 desks for BA but poorly managed lines and all bit of a mess with people blatantly jumping queues leading to frayed tempers. During this people pushing through lines to access the security lines which you are supposed to access from another door. People opening zip lines and coming and going and airport staff not batting an eyelid - surely this is a security issue to a degree? Even Sharm El Sheik airport payed more attention to security and passenger movements and look at what happened there. So having finally checked in you unbelievably have to carry your own case through the crowds to another disorganised queue to place bag on scanner. Again lots of queue jumping and one American family started hurling abuse at other passenger who challenged this. Onto the security line next and busy although processed reasonably quickly. Then you are in the small departure hall/gate area with crowds of people awaiting boarding - claustrophobic and you'll be lucky to get a seat. There is a small cafe bar but couldn't get near. However the only saving grace is that there is a cafe on the first floor with outdoor deck area which wasn't too busy. They also sell water at 50c for 500ml which isn't too bad for airport. The door to deck outside crashes closed loudly much to the annoyance of the cafe staff - why not put a damper on it or something? Then to boarding and through gate to get bus - hurrah! Then left outdoors for 20 mins to await the bus to plane! Glad to get on BA plane which was nice and cool. Minor plane computer error but after rebooting all well and left 55 mins late. I have travelled widely over many years and I have to say this was the worst , most stressful and upsetting airport experience of my life. There are just too many tourists and too many flights in high season for this small airport to cope with, and it needs rebuilt on a much larger scale. However the management could do much better to try and avoid that ensued. This is an embarrassment to Santorini and Greece and they really need to do something about it - tourism is a huge part of economy. It would put me off returning again to be honest. But I enjoyed my stay hugely otherwise!

✅ Verified Review | This is madness! No, this is Santorini Airport! If you're traveling to Santorini between June-Aug, I'd think twice about flying out. Look into taking a ferry instead. Arriving at the airport is fine, departing is utter chaos. The airport is way too tiny to accommodate all the demand during peak season. It is laughably understaffed to deal with the big crowds. 1 x-ray machine and maybe 2-3 staff to manage a chaotic, sweaty and confused crowd of 500+ people standing outside, out front in the exposed heat because there is no room inside the airport, let alone enough staff to get them checked in and through security in less than 2 hours. My initial flight from Athens to Santorini Airport was delayed 2 hours, as were many flights going to Santorini. It wasn't until my departing flight from JTR that I realized the cause of the delays was the chaos at the airport. The little staff that are there aren't organized, proactive or assertive enough to handle the big crowds. They get distracted by confused individual passengers, who stop them for one-on-one exchanges which delays them from their work exponentially, as they repeat themselves to each new and confused passenger instead of using a megaphone to communicate to the crowd as a whole. The staff are too polite in that chaotic environment, they are sacrificing time and creating further delays to be polite. Instead, they need an assertive drill sergeant type person with a megaphone to put the crowd in order, communicate clearly what's happening with each flight and direct the crowds into flight-specific queues that go through security based on departure time rather than the chaotic free for all most pit that lets people with later departures cut the line, go through security, then block the already jam packed gate area for a plane that won't board for another hour while planes that were supposed to take off 2 hours ago are still trying to get their passengers through security and boarded. It's madness! One solution that could help ease the chaos might be colored stickers. Each flight has it's own color. When you arrive you're giving a sticker to put on your shirt or hat, somewhere easily visible. The color indicates which flight your on, and gives the staff and security a quick way to see what your priority is. Instead of the one staff person they had at the main door who wasn't very helpful and just directed people to wait in the long line, he could police the lines, grouping people by their sticker color/priority and making sure those on later flights did not try to cut the line or go through security before those on earlier flights. With a little organization they could easily cut the delay times in half.

❎ Unverified | This airport is a total and utter shambles. Chaos is an understatement. After spending a gorgeous week in Santorini, this departure experience spoilt the whole holiday and for this reason, we will never return. We arrived at departures at 18.30 to queues. We joined the back and stand outside in 45 degree temperatures with no rep from easyJet informing us about anything or advising us where to go. After an hour and half queuing outside in the heat, we have our cases checked in. We then had to take them over to be scanned. Then we are advised to go out of the airport for refreshments - up the hill. We then go back to the airport, stand in another queue outside for another hour to go through passport control. We then stand in another queue to board the bus to the plane. People are frustrated and tempers are frayed as, you fret about missing your flight. If your flight is due to depart before you get through the queues, you are ushered through the hundreds of people queuing. Our flight was delayed over 3 hours. Anyone travelling to Santorini beware of the chaos as you leave. It's an absolute joke.

✅ Verified Review | This is a joke! Santorini is ine of the most visited Islands of the Mediterrenean, with hundreds of thousands tourists a year which are by far the only and biggest source of revenew of the island. With that in mind, the airport couldn't be more inadequate. The departure area is so small that people have to queue outside the airport before check in and go through airside. One! Security check line and scanner for no less than 1.000 people per hour. If you want to sit, prepare for a game of dancing chairs and who needs aircon when is well over 35C outside. Lets bake in!

✅ Verified Review | This is a joke! Santorini is one of the most visited Islands of the Mediterranean, with hundreds of thousands tourists a year which are by far the only and biggest source of revenue of the island. With that in mind, the airport couldn't be more inadequate. The departure area is so small that people have to queue outside the airport before check in and go through airside. One security check line and scanner for no less than 1000 people per hour. If you want to sit, prepare for a game of dancing chairs and who needs aircon when is well over 35C outside. Lets bake in!