St Petersburg Airport

We passed through this airport from a domestic flight from DME using a new terminal. The facilities inside the new terminal are good. It is spacious and very modern terminal. Good connection to city centre via nearby Metro station. The shuttle bus is inexpensive (RUB25 per trip) but the bus is usually crowded. Security was quick and easy. My first impression of this airport was good.

This airport might be acceptable if we were living in 1952 but by today's standards it is shocking. Waiting areas at the gates for flights have less room then the airport in St. Vincent few seats no shopping and no cafes. I couldn't believe that this is the airport of the second city of Russia. Allow lots of time for security checks. Passport Control was speedy. Just pray you don't have to use this airport when multiple flights are taking off. A new airport is being planned for the future.

From 50+ airports I have been to never seen Pulkovo-1 (domestic terminal) would definitely be the worst. No electric stairs operational bad smell toilet only in main building and not at boarding gates 1-6 old building from Soviet era with half of lights missing or burnt limited to no information panels etc.

Watch out for taxi scams at this airport. We were approached by a man with official-looking identification right in front of the official taxi booth. We thought he was one of their staff. He directed us to an unmarked vehicle whose driver extorted us for twice the official fare. Insist on booking your taxi at the booth itself and ignore anyone else. The airport authorities and the staff of the official taxi booth who could see what was happening seem unconcerned about the issue.

Extremely accommodating! We booked a last minute flight to bring my elderly father home to Pennsylvania and from the minute we walked through the doors we were treated with nothing but kindness! What we feared would be a high stress nightmare couldn't have gone smoother! My one recommendation would be the addition of a family restroom. Because my father could not go into the restroom alone. However again an airport employee came to the rescue and actually closed the men's room to allow my mother to accompany my father. Highly recommend!

This airport just would never handle any volume. We arrived and immigration wasn't too bad. We had heard horror stories but maybe 20 mins maximum. The horror is luggage collection. No trolleys and a single conveyer belt handling a full plane. I wasn't sure how I was going to drag the 4 bags across the terminal without a trolley. At the last minute a passenger gave his up so we were saved. Taxi system is wired but seems to work. We had a very adequate BMW that was reasonably priced. The terminal looks awful though.

Several flights to and from terminals 1 and 2 all international. The airport is not good at all. Even coming in and out with public buses (frequent and reliable service) is trouble because all buses have to queue at a single gate which serves as parking entrance and general terminal access altogether. Strange queues at entrances to terminals with security search done with no idea of what line management is. Check in desks in two terminals are located before (Terminal 1) and after Customs (Terminal 2) which makes confusing departure procedures even more painful. Secondary security search is done before passport control at Terminal 1 and after passport control at Terminal 2. Confusing again. The security search procedure is deliberately inefficient with lack of manned lanes. Passport control didn't delay me these times so I was lucky both going in and out. Duty free selection and stores appearance is laughable there. The best places to eat are Burger King in Terminal 1 and Costa Coffee in Terminal 2 (both landside). Everything else is much less inspiring. Such a strange facility for such a great city. Shame!

An unimpressive airport to say the least. Very difficult to take a school group of teenagers through from the first moment to the last. Queuing to get into to the airport to have your bag screened is bad enough. Simply no help once through customs about check in for BA. 3 desks allocated with no indication when we arrived [3 hrs prior to flight] which desk was for Club bag drop etc. Half our group therefore were in the wrong queue and local staff were unhelpful to say the least. Massive queue then for passport control [had they not spotted several European flights leave at the same time?]. Then further security in a very cramped space at the gate the queue for which made it hard for other travellers to get by. Facilities very limited. I believe the airport is in line for an upgrade. Can't come soon enough!

Absolutely no system. Arriving from Helsinki the immigration hall was already full there was no sign of queuing at all and so it became a chaotic rugby scrum with each person protecting their space. Unfortunately people barged their way through others sneakily tried to take advantage and families invited others to join them putting one back several places. The whole process took over 80 minutes. I felt sorry for the children who were getting hot and fractious and for older people who could have become very uncomfortable. A trip across the hall to get a drink or go to the toilet was out of the question. This chaos could easily have been solved by using the 'extendable queuing tapes' that every other airport uses.

Very helpful Lufthansa staff who managed to check me in after the check in desk had closed. Try to avoid Friday afternoons at this airport if you can. Book a Taxi inside the arrivals area and you not get overcharged RUB 900 into the city compared with RUB 4000 charged by Hotels.