Venice Marco Polo Airport

My review relates to customer service at the lost baggage counters at Venice Marco Polo Airport. As a result of delayed and changed flights (Austrian Airlines) our bags were not there on our arrival. We filed a lost baggage claim straight away with a fairly unfriendly and unhelpful staff member who assured us our bags would be delivered to our hotel by midday the next day. Apart from her surliness and unhelpful attitude we accepted this as our flights had been delayed etc. No sign of our bags the next day so we rang the number on the form - no-one answered. Our hotel also tried ringing. I might add that if your luggage does get lost unless you speak fluent Italian it is impossible to get any assistance whatsoever over the phone. Also the lost baggage counter is not open all day. On the third day we spent time and money travelling to the actual airport to try to get assistance in person. I accept that bags get lost but never at any airport I have been to have I encountered such unhelpful, rude and completely incompetent staff who handle the lost baggage counters. Our hotel also told us they were often rude and completely unhelpful. I will NEVER go back to Venice again.

The check-in area for Brussels airlines on 31/07/2015 was total confusion and staff incompetence. No organization, no communication, and total chaos. Coming back from Brussels on 30/08/2015 late at night and our luggage was lost. Stuff on the lost luggage counter of Aviapartner just fine but nothing more than that. In front of a terminal building the real face of Venice airport: chaos and filthy, the filthiest airport that a have ever being. And no staff at all to clean the mess.

Arrived on an Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna connecting to a United flight to EWR. No one at security. After waiting 20 minutes and 3 calls on the intercom, finally someone from security arrives to man the screening station. They seemed totally perplexed that a group of people arrived. Asked us all where we came from and wanted to see boarding passes from our previous flight. Totally disorganized and incompetent, a farce. The airport itself is filled with super high end shopping. The Marco Polo Lounge was crowded and unkept, uncomfortable, grouchy help, not a good 1st class lounge experience.

Bus from the plane to the baggage claim was on time and fast. Baggage did arrive relatively quickly. I did have some trouble finding the bus to take me into the city, and accidently walked for a while to the water bus station, so I feel public transit could have been better marked. There was significant construction going on outside the airport. Overall, not bad, but just given the distance and hassle of traveling from the airport to the city, I was glad that I left Venice by train.

Fly through Milan Malpensa and take the train to Venice. Arrivals was an farce, considering how they decided that 4 immigration counters were sufficient to unload a couple of large planes including a 777, I do not like having time limits on my WiFi and they had the audacity of only providing 30 minutes free. Arrivals was very crowded, which I will find is the norm of the entire airport later when I make my way back. As I was making my way to departures at the airport, I found that they wouldn't allow me to check in as they hadn't opened up the counters, partly because they were still being used by Air Canada. Their Departures floor was crowded and it was near impossible to find a place to wait. We managed to get through security in a matter of minutes, and we were pleased with the number of shops that were available, but their line for detaxing was unforgivable. They had one counter for tax refunds in Euro and another for any other foreign currency. Due to the ridiculous rates that they offered for tax refunds in foreign currency, however, everyone flocked to the Euro line, and as a result, it took everyone about an hour to get their tax refunds, especially since the person performing Euro tax refunds clearly of questionable levels of competence. The gates were confusing since each gate had 2 different numbers, and we later found that they cordoned off a tiny segment of the terminal for passengers flying international, meaning everyone was stuffed into this tiny space past immigration. That would've been fine if it wasn't so hot. I don't particularly enjoy flying, but by the time I was done with this airport, I was thrilled to board the flight.

Departing Venice Marco Polo Airport was an example of how not to board an airplane. Leaving on a British Airways flight to London, the gate area was total confusion and staff incompetence. No organization, no communication, and total chaos in attempting to get passengers aboard the flight. No announcements made to passengers on when to board the shuttle buses to the plane, and we left 30 minutes late! Avoid Venice airport.

It all started so well with quick and efficient security check but after that it all went downhill. With reasonable space available to browse a number of outlets it soon became clear that the area was becoming very crowded and it appeared evident that passengers were having to queue for passport inspection in lines so long that they extended out to the retail area. Then followed a long wait with several anxious passengers worried about missing their departing flights. Once through passport control we were directed to Gates 21-26 where passengers were sat on the floor or left to stand because of overcrowding and lack of space. In order to try to clear space at Gate 21, passengers were boarded, in no particular order and by one member of staff checking boarding passes manually, onto a waiting bus to be taken to the aircraft. In very hot conditions and with no aircon, we were left for over 15 mins on the bus. Then after a slow drive to the plane the driver got out and again left the passengers on the hot bus before getting clearance to board. At the end of our flight the BA Captain advised that he would seek an investigation into what went on after what he rightly described as 'an unacceptable situation'.

Returned from Marco Polo to Gatwick yesterday with Easyjet. ATVO coach from Piazzale Roma to airport very good highly recommended. Airport is having building work done so some chaos there! Had checked in online so easyjet baggage drop was a breeze. Coffee shop downstairs hot crowded and not very good. Better upstairs. Not a great deal of outdoor seating and it was really hot in the airport even in April. Had read terrible things about security being a total nightmare but it flowed very quickly and easily with no problems at all - much faster in fact than the passport checks on getting back in to Gatwick. Having gone through security there is loads of places to eat and drink and sit and of course shop but duty free prices seemed more expensive than Gatwick - made the mistake of leaving some purchases until return journey which I won't do again. Boarding was very slow - not sure why - and although Gatwick had been strict about 100ml maximum size for water bottles at Marco Polo they couldn't care less. Maybe that's the Italian way of doing things.

As on previous occasions the Easyjet baggage drop really lets down this company at Marco Polo airport The staff are indifferent and slow. There were gaps in the barrier which enabled queue jumping and nobody around to replace or sort out the mess. On 15/3/15 with a growing queue two staff wandered off one on 'Speedy boarding' took a phone call and there is an air of bemusement that passengers are disgruntled. Perhaps they really don't care. The upstairs café is quite pleasant but not somewhere to visit in a hurry. Easyjet must hate this place as all the 'services' they need are done so badly. All the passengers were ready and waiting to board but everything is done at snail's pace. The security checks re-organised last year are worse than ever even at a quiet mid-March time. Boarding took far too long because only the front door was available so on a quick turn- round it was impossible to get to our seats quickly. The air-crew don't seem to understand the problem is not generally the passengers who've been ready and waiting for a good hour at the gate. If it wasn't in Venice we'd not be back. As for the prospect of expansion eek! They can't cope now.

We travelled back from Marco Polo on Saturday 2nd January. We've been to this airport before and had no problems but when we arrived at 2.00 for our 4 o'clock flight we found chaos. We only had hand luggage but the queue for security was out of the door and there was a scrum around the entrance to the barriers of the queuing system. Everyone was pushing forward and at times it was hard to stand up we were so squashed. Then some people started pushing in up the side or undoing the barrier tapes to cut off a corner. There were no airport staff to manage the queue. When we got near the front of the queue we found that the reason for the hold-up was that they've introduced automatic boarding-pass readers but only two for the whole airport! And a member of staff was there holding people back presumably to allow through people who'd booked priority boarding. It was a total shambles and it took us an hour and a quarter to get through security. It was quite a dangerous situation which could have been much better managed.