Shanghai Pudong Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Most of the staff are untrained in proper English at this "Pudong International" Airport. No hotel facility for the long layover flight passengers. The washrooms are not maintained properly. The immigration facility is under staffed. The immigration forms are limited, so we have to rush and fight to grab it. China sells its products across the globe, but unfortunately it itself is sub-standard in management.

✅ Trip Verified | Had to transit here from Air France to China Eastern. Got off a 10 hour flight from Paris and had to re check in here. Queued for over an hour in a disorganized queue to get to speak to an incredibly rude female who issued two boarding passes for me and my wife but not seated together. We later found many other couples with the same issue. Then queued again for nearly an hour to get through immigration checks even though we were only in transit. Most of the people that tried the automated passport check got rejected so ended up in our queue anyway. Finally got to front of the queue and the official just closed his desk and left leaving the remaining people trying to filter into another queue. Most of the staff we had to deal with were rude and their English was poor. I’ve travelled through many different airports as a transit passenger and this airport was by far the worst! Do yourself a favor and transit via any other airport. This one is a joke at best and most definitely not up to the task of being a modern transit hub in the 21st century.

✅ Trip Verified | Shocking experience at security. I live in Shanghai and had just flown to Hong Kong from here a week ago with the same contents in my carry on. On this occasion, security confiscated my tiny battery pack and hand sanitizer. Absurd. Staff were rude and refused to get a manager involved. Shanghai is a great place to live, but they need to do something about this airport. I won't even start on the delays.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is a disgrace and an embarrassment to China. It is supposed to be a major hub and it has flights landing and departing well into the early hours of the morning. I was delayed here on a flight to Clark for 3 hours. We were due to leave at 11.10pm but left after 2.00am. What really annoyed me is that all shops and restaurants except Starbucks close at 11.00pm. This is very poor given hubs like Singapore and Dubai have shops, restaurants, cafes and lounges open for 24 hours. Furthermore queues at security were ridiculously long and many checkpoints were unmanned. I will therefore try to avoid transiting here in the future especially on a night flight.

❎ Not Verified | 9 hours of hell. This is the most disgusting airport I’ve been to. The bathrooms are a mess, the temperature is freezing cold, the staff are beyond rude and unwilling to help, and the WiFi is poor. Literally every staff member I’ve asked a question to pushed me off saying, “I don’t know.” I was asking if there was an airport hotel my family and I can sleep in during our 9 hour layover. Based on previous reviews there is a hotel between terminals 1 and 2. I simply asked with and without my translator, “what terminal is this” or “what terminal are we in?” To which, literally, every single person replied with “I don’t know.” I asked them after if there was a lounge or hotel we can rest in. Can you guess their reply? “No. No hotel here. I don’t know.” We went to the VIP lounge for China Eastern Airlines (the airline we are taking) and the lady at check-in said even if we paid, we couldn’t have access to the lounge. I asked her again, “where can we go? Where is this hotel so we can rest for a while?” She just said, “I don’t know.” Bottom line: PVG needs major changes. Sanitary improvements in its restrooms, retraining staff to be polite to travellers, and warming the buildings. Though none of this seems likely in the foreseeable future, I’m hoping their cheap habits change soon. I’ll never transit through this airport again.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai Pudong was a complete gong show. This airport has no transit desks and no check through for bags. I had a 4 hour transfer time and needed every second of it to get from one flight to the next. I had to claim my bags they don't check through at Shanghai Pudong. To get to your bag you must first line up to get a transit visa! Upon finally getting your bag you cant move on to your next flight with the assistance of a transit desk - you must clear customs. Following this I had to find a bus from the international terminal to the domestic terminal for an international flight! Exiting the international terminal there are absolutely no signs even hinting at the existence of such a shuttle bus. Upon eventual arrival at the domestic terminal (Following a security search just to get in the building, once I found an entrance that was unlocked - not kidding!) you are treated to a whole new massive line up for regular check in with your newly recovered bag! This is followed by, you guessed it, immigration line up to clear the transit visa just issued 2 hours before. This is where they ask for the exit card, yes the one airline staff took from me at "re" check-in. This was followed by security screening - the only airport I have passed through that required me to switch on the phone, but then asked me to disassemble it - no easy task. After that circus, on the the gate line up and buses to the aircraft and one final line up to get boarding passes checked again in order to get on the plane. A total of seven significant line ups in 4 hours of absolute chaos. I have only had one airport experience more chaotic, that was Mogadishu, while under fire, in 1993. they had an excuse! That was my first and last trip through Shanghai.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai Pudong is a backward, mismanaged, chaotic mess! By far one of the most frustrating airports that I have set foot in. Don't be fooled by the "world class" amenities provided by this airport, including the modern air conditioned terminals. I would assert that Pudong serves as an Urban Spectacle, with cutting edge technologies like it's Maglev train (which is admittedly very impressive), but when it comes to the passenger interface technology, this airport lags behind from it's significantly older peer, Shanghai Hongqiao. While Hongqiao has already implemented the E-Channel allowing Chinese Nationals to go through immigration in a matter of seconds, Pudong still requires that all passengers go through immigration counters. While it is nice that they do have a dedicated line for passengers rushing to catch their flights, they should still focus more on just reducing queuing times in general. This airport, or at least my airline has some protocol in how to manage delayed flights, I had a free meal because my flight was delayed for 4 hours, but it was infuriating to only be informed that right after my scheduled departure time. At the gate next to me, was a flight that was delayed for 6 hours, and looking at the departure screen, it was absolutely frightening to see that just about every plane departing from Terminal 1 was delayed. Airport staff were visibly stressed, dealing with the crowds of angry customers, being unable to provide them with any information with regards to their flights (it seems that they weren't told anything either). Considering how I was flying to Hong Kong, it would literally have been quicker to take the High Speed rail down to Guangzhou, and then take a train back to Hong Kong. In future, I will likely use Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, or the train to get to Shanghai.

I flew several times from and to Pudong and you never really know what you get. This time my arrival was on a Sunday evening, immigration was quite busy and it tooks me 45 minutes to pass it. After I passed through my luggage was already there and I took the Maglev to Pudong station as the taxi queue was long. For departure I had a flight at 10 am, it was not busy. Procedure from check in to departure area was done in just 15 minutes. Plenty of choice for eating and shopping but nothing special. Prices are ok for an international main airport. Overall this time the experience was better than most of the other times, especially for departure. Looks like 10 am is a good time to fly as not so many flights at this time.

✅ Verified Review | Shanghai Pudong is a very big airport. Immigration process fast. Clean and well sign airport. Staff are friendly apart from some at the check in counter. Airport transportation really excellent, easy to move Shanghai city center. It's big airport; terminal 1 to 2 little far. Has a lot of outlet and duty free shops. Main problem is no free wifi without China SIM card. Overall I have good experience this airport.

✅ Verified Review | At Shanghai Pudong Airport the men's toilets were dirty and smelly. I was looking around to see if there was a roster on the door to see the last time they were cleaned, I found nothing. Perhaps they could consider putting in showers for travellers (with long lay-overs) to shower in-between flights. More importantly, ensure they are clean. The airport is sterile with no atmosphere whatsoever. There are no western food chains (McDonalds', KFC or Hungary Jack's) except Starbucks. There appeared to be no airline counter (China Eastern) to go to and ask questions. Having your hand luggage checked when you get off the flight and get back on again is laborious and very time consuming, this took 1hr including going through passport checks. There is really no need for this considering this was done in Sydney en-route to Paris. HK, Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore are better places to transit through. As a frequent traveller, I won't be going back via Shanghai again en route to Europe anytime soon. Terminal signs and direction were convoluted. Terminal shops were more Eastern than Western, as a result, I didn't buy anything. Terminal staff were few and far between. The only good thing was Wifi was great and almost instant. Pudong Airport needs to move with the times including better information on its website. Had to disembark (Air France and China Eastern) on the tarmac and not via an aerobridge. Obviously these two airlines are saving money here while disadvantaging there most precious cargo - passengers.