Shanghai Pudong Airport

Customer Reviews

3 star Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 189 reviews
3/10
3 star Skytrax Rating
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2/10

"the worst airport"

(New Zealand)

Not Verified | Honestly, the worst airport I've been to - including staff members, service and the ease for transferring flights. My partner and I flew from NZ and were in transit to London in Shanghai for 5 hours. When we arrived at Shanghai airport, we went to the counter to confirm our transit. They took our onward flight boarding passes which were printed in NZ, threw it away, and told us to stand next to the nearest toilets for 10 mins (they said we were being "quarantined"). Less than 10 mins later they made us go through a strange hallway where the medical/quarantine checks were supposed to happen but didn't. Instead, there were 2 staff members with new boarding passes on their hands. My partner was almost given someone else's boarding pass! Then after that hallway, we had to go through an eerily dark corridor where the escalator to the actual terminal was. The airport itself was lame. No free wifi unless you can receive SMS overseas or go to a computer kiosk (we didn't want to log into our emails using those computers). Not much to do unless you want to eat or shop. Now to the craziest bit. When we were checking in to go back to NZ from London, we couldn't get our second boarding pass from Hong Kong to NZ printed nor our bags checked in, because turns out Shanghai airport staff removed the wrong flight while we were there! Unbelievable. Luckily the amazing staff at Virgin Atlantic Heathrow helped us out. And lucky we came a few hours early because the whole ordeal took about 1hr. Never stopping at Shanghai again, and probably not at any China airports either.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitNovember 2019
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
1/10

"Travelling nightmare"

(United States)

Not Verified | 4 hours to transit! What should be an easy exercise requires you to go through immigration, collect your bag, get a new boarding pass, check your bag, go through immigration again before you head to your gate. Totally messed up travelling experience. I will never connect in China again. Travelling nightmare.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitNovember 2019
Type Of TravellerBusiness
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
4/10

"not passenger friendly"

(United Kingdom)

Trip Verified | Transit in Pudong Airport is not passenger friendly especially for foreigners. In terminal 1 there are only 2 lounges, 1 for Business and first class while the other one is available for public. However the lounge only accepts cash or e-wallet (alipay, wechatpay) and not Visa / Mastercard. This basically stop international passenger from using the service and rest. Not acceptable, especially for someone that have more than 5 hours of layover. Food options are very limited. Most food and drink such as coffee and teas that cater for people to rest are not inside the terminal. I'm basically stuck inside and not able to find any feasible food options. There is no facilities for passenger than need to rest such as masssage, spa, temporary rest area, shower areas and such.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitNovember 2019
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
1/10

"worst customs queues"

(United Kingdom)

Not Verified | The worst customs queues and experience in the world. I’ve travelled a lot and have never experienced anything like this. We had done all our research and had everything ready in terms of 24-hour visa-free application for transit etc, we had one night in the city and landed at 7 pm so we’re looking forward to experiencing Shanghai for that night. By 10 pm, 3-hours after landing, we were still in the customs queue! The problem was a simple one; they have 30 staff on the gates, 29 of whom stood for 3 hours on empty gates whilst one served the 24 hour transit queue which was full. To add to this the officer in charge looked to be taking pleasure in people missing flights or standing with young children in a 3-hour queue. All in all, it seems they have no interest in wanting people to enjoy China and have put us off for life. We will never return.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitNovember 2019
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
1/10

"worst airport I’ve ever been to"

(Canada)

Trip Verified | The worst airport I’ve ever been to. I arrived at 6.30 in the morning and had done my research prior to the trip. There is supposed to be a grace period where you do not need a tourist visa in China for 44 hours. I had lived in China for many years prior to this experience and had done my research before going. I knew my flight would arrive early in the morning and I read online that any person could use the lounges if they paid 250 yuan. I was prepared for this and I just wanted a shower. The lounges in terminal 2 did not allow this. The first lounge I went to (Number 37) there was one female representative who was incredibly dismissive and rude to me. Then the second location told me that the information in the English portion of the website was incorrect. Then I went to the security guards where 2 of them really wanted to help me and I spoke Mandarin to them. However, I was told I wasn’t able to leave the airport to go to terminal 1 without the proper visa.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitSeptember 2019
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
9/10

"Staff members are helpful and nice"

(Taiwan)

Trip Verified | The airport is clean. Staff members are helpful and nice. Signposts are clear in both Mandarin Chinese and English. Passengers know where are they going directly. Goods in the shops are bountiful and various.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitSeptember 2019
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
3/10

"This airport needs some management help"

(United States)

Trip Verified | This airport needs some management help. The inside is clean and security isn’t bad but could be improved. The shops are plentiful but not much in food options so recommend eating before security. The China Eastern sky lounge is always packed too much and very hard to find seats. My biggest issue with this airport is the constant non use of a jetway. 4 times already they have made my Delta flight from Detroit disembark on the tarmac and take a bus. This is not good for travelers who have been on a plane for 14 hours. Plus I was in a leg cast and had to figure a way downstairs with no help. What is this airport thinking on having passengers get off of an international flight to a non jetway in the 21st century. That’s why I give bad review and will advise people to avoid this airport but the other airport at SHA, does the same thing so your screwed either way. Just be prepared for that is all I have to say.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitSeptember 2019
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
no
2/10

"the worst airport I have been to"

(Switzerland)

Not Verified | By far the worst airport I have been to in my life and I travel a lot. Smelly dirty and impolite staff that won’t even attempt to speak English. Don’t expect anything from the Busiess or senator lounge eat elsewhere terrible food that looks like it’s been out for hours! For a city of close to 30 million and many tourist coming through this airport it’s appalling! If you want to be state owned then look after it!
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitAugust 2019
Type Of TravellerBusiness
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

"What a screwed-up airport"

(Thailand)

Trip Verified | What a screwed-up airport. I was a transit passenger from San Francisco going to Bangkok via Shanghai Pudong. Upon arrival in Shanghai, I had to be finger printed, passport scanned and facial recognition taken before I could proceed. Then I had to obtain a transit visa, go through passport control, finger prints and facial recognition taken a second time. I was then forced to exit into the baggage claim area, even though all my bags were checked through to Bangkok. I had to exit the airport arrival area, go upstairs to departures and check back in with the airline, even though I had a boarding pass. Next step security control, long lines and yes, you guessed it, passport control where they scanned my finger prints again for the third time and facial recognition. Approximate transit time 1 hour. Luckily I had 2 1/2 hours between flights. To access WiFi in the Air China lounge, yes they scanned my passport again and my email and telephone number were required. FYI - China blocks many websites such as Google, Facebook, Line, so communicating via social media is next to impossible. Bottom line is transiting through a Chinese airport is a big hassle and time consuming with collection of your personal data many, many times.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitJuly 2019
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
1/10

"Stay away from China Transit"

(United States)

Trip Verified | After exiting from the plane to the arrival hall, everyone went into a bank of electronic machines to scan the passport. There is no sign telling people what to do. I just follow the crowd. I scanned my passport and placed my left 4 fingers on the glass plate. The machine kept on repeating “place your 4 fingers on the glass plate” and having countdown timing. After 2 minutes I hailed down an officer stood by 5-feet away and asked for help. He said, “Never mind, the immigration officer will do the finger printing process for you. It’s the same.” I explained that I was on transit and asked where I should go next. He directed me to take the escalator going down to the immigration “Dee Err Tai”. After I descended the escalator, I saw in front of me long lines of people facing windows #30, #32, #34, …#46, #48 a hundred meter to the left and right. There was an information booth in front of the escalator. I spoke in fluent Mandarin that I was on transit immediately and asked location of window #2. He pointed to the line directly in front which is window #34 and instructed me, “GO THERE!”. I waited in line in the “foreigner” section and after 20 minutes the immigration officer asked me for the visa form. That was the line applying for China entry Visa. So, the guy in the information booth just not bother to listen carefully and shoo me away. I was told to walk to the end of the building where there is window #2. There was no sign that I had to fill out a form for a temporary 24 hour transit visa but I saw a table with all the forms and fill it out anyway. There was a young woman with her 6 years old child in front of me. The officer gave her hard time asking for more document. Eventually, the woman was allowed to proceed for transit. After the facial recognition photo taking and finger print, I found a small sticker of 24 hour transit visa stamp affixed to my passport page. I had also to fill out a bottom stub to give to the immigration when exiting China. It is strange that there is no matching number with the top part of the card so that later immigration can match up and speedup processing in recognizing that this person has entered and exited the country. I waited 10 minutes to pick up my luggage from the carousel. There was at least a hundred other passengers placing their luggage into the X-ray machine and walked pass the green “Nothing to Declare” custom lane. This take times and eventually I was officially exit the airport. It’s a long 10 hours layover and only a bank of chairs in front of all the checkin counter. This section is fully seated with all the Chinese. People was cursing and yelling loudly into their phone regardless of the person sat next to him. His voice literally can be heard a block away. People are coughing /sneezing without covering their mouth or nose (I guess that’s how I caught the common cold suffering sickness 4 days later). I waited 7 hours and check in my luggage, got a new ticket (they don’t take the ticket issued from the airline flying to final destination). I gone thru security and immigration, onward to the gate. The ticket agent scanned the ticket and checked the passport, just ten feet away was another officer rechecking my passport then enter the plane. Stay away from China Transit. Save yourself aggravation.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitMay 2019
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