Warsaw Chopin Airport

❎ Unverified | Frederic Chopin airport is easy to get around, clean and generally passenger-friendly. A lot of seats for passangers who wait for their flight. Enough joints to eat and drink as well as places to do your shopping. Security quite tight, staff to be found almost at every corner.

❎ Unverified | Nightmare at Chopin Airport. I traveled from Toronto to Chisinau, Moldova on Sept.9, 2017 and back on Sept.2017. During the first part of my trip after leaving the plane from Toronto, without a problem I was redirected to the area with the gates, where I had to board my plane to Chisinau. Information boards on a wall showed certain gate number. After sitting for a while by this gate I started to realize, that probably gates were changed. I addressed my question to a person behind information desk and was told to check info on board on a wall. It showed initial gate number. After some time I understood, that this info is incorrect, again went to information desk. This time I was told to check "interactive information unit". Why people who work behind information desk could not give me proper info right away? But the worse part happened on my way back. First of all the LOT flight from Chisinau to Warsaw was 1 hour late. After landing in Warsaw for some reason people were kept inside of the plane for 20 minutes, even though the pick up bus was right there. Finally we got to the airport, where we were redirected to our connections, but before that we had to pass security check again! And this happens after each of us already passed this check boarding the plain from Chisinau. In other airports, if there are potential problems during flights connections people working at this airports help to solve them. Not in Warsaw. Quite a rude young fellow just kept rushing people there, but nobody was behind this scanning machine. After 5 minutes a young girl appeared and turned on the machine. Boarding on our flight to Toronto already started, but we still had 30 minutes, while other people didn't have this luxury. And this girl worked alone! Normally one person is looking at the screen, while another is checking suspicious items. This time just is was just this girl. So if she didn't like anything she was checking bags herself going back and force from scanner to bags. Of course it was taken double time. Luckily I was in front of the line and made my connection. I feel sorry for other people. "Funny" that my 87 years old dad had exactly same experience at Chopin Airport flying from Chisinau to Toronto last year. So it's not an accident. Thus my advice would be to avoid Warsaw Chopin Airport by any means.

✅ Verified Review | Clean, airy airport. I like the fact that you do nit need to zigzag through duty free store to get to gates. Free unlimited wifi. But the prices at the airside are insane and food of medium quality, avoid eating or even taking coffee there. Even McDonalds is way more expensive than in the city. Security is inconsistent - sometimes quick and polite, sometimes slow and borderline rude.

515914Mafia-like exclusivity system of only allowing Polish national currency or penalizing pay by electronic means. Unbelievable that within the European Union it is allowed for an international airport to only offer food and goods in the national currency. One is either forced to purchase Polish national currency, or pay electronically: both of which incurs extra costs for citizens of the EU.

✅ Verified Review | I've been travelling many times through WAW either as p2p traveller or as Schengen to Schengen transit, and I always enjoyed this airport. It's easy to move around, not too big, close to the city and the LOT lounge is a nice one. However, I just had a nightmare experience as a Non-Schengen to Schengen transit. We landed from Kiev a bit ahead of schedule at 1835 and we had a connecting flight at 1945 at MXP, therefore a standard transit time. As soon as we got to the passport control we started to worry: several planes had just landed and there were just 4 counters opened: 2 for EU citizens and 2 for all passport citizens. As EU citizens, I would have also enjoyed an E-Control gate as in FRA or MUC. Basically it took almost 45 minutes to get thought it and the shame is that I could see some people of the Straz Graniczna (the Polish Border Guards), having a chat in their office next to the queue. A bit of common sense would suggest to open a couple of counters more, in order to speed up all the procedure, but it seemed too complicated. Beyond the passport control, there was another 30 metres long queue for an additional security control. The scandal is that there was just one position opened, and was advancining very slowly. As our flight had been already boarding for a while, we took the decision to skip the line and pass over. We are ashamed for it and we apologized to the other passangers standing, but it was the only option. Luckly we made it to the x-ray machine, where a couple of very rude employees enjoyed their little power to bother us and the other passengers. Once done it, we had the chance that our gate was very close and we could board the plane a couple of minutes before it closed. To summarize, I highly recommend to have a comfortable layover time in case of Non-Schengen to Schengen connection, I would say at least 2 hours. Additionally, I love Poland and Polish people, and it's a shame that somebody that arrives for the first time or just is in transit will keep such a bad memory of this wonderful country. To finish, I recommand LOT to take some action with the airport authorities, because they might lose passengers that would remember this kind of experience as a nightmare and therefore connect elsewhere. However, I recommand the airport for Schengen to Schengen transit.

❎ Unverified | I am not satisfied that I needed to wait an hour to just grab my luggage on 6/09/2017 (came from Rhodes). After arrival I had 50 minutes to catch a train, however due to very long waiting time, I missed my train. I travel often through many different countries, and it have never happened that I would need to wait for a luggage an hour. It takes normally 30-40 minutes. I think it would be a good idea to employ more workers to make it quicker.

✅ Verified Review | This is by far the worst airport I have ever been to. As a seasoned traveler I was very disappointed at the service and processes by the staff maintained at this airport. Luckily my partner and I arrived 2.5 hours before our flight as that is the exact amount of time it took to check in our luggage and then get through the security screening. The most inefficient process I have ever seen. Once we got to our gate the screen at our gate showed a different flight which was boarding. After asking for some clarification we were informed that the screen was broken and that we were in fact at the correct gate. No common sense was used to add additional signage to display the correct flight or turn off the monitor that is displaying the incorrect information. An all round infuriating and disappointing experience.

✅ Verified Review | The security staff were very unpleasant and arrogant. In the process of denying us the right to keep a water bottle for our infant (totally legal as of the date of travel, but for the sake of argument I could accept that our completely ordinary bottle somehow seemed "suspicious" to them) they acted very impolite, arrogant, and with a pronounced air of superiority. Also, they communicated with us mostly in Polish, I have no issues with different languages when they aren't used to demonstrate power. When I said that it is in fact allowed to have a water bottle when traveling with an infant, they made up "a rule" that the water bottle must be in a safety bag. When I provided one, they said it is not a "safety bag". A local polish traveler in front of us suggested we just give up "because they are particularly rude here, and always right". So we did. Since this is not my first experience with rude airport officials (3 out of 4 times of flying through Poland, to be exact), I now tend to think that there is a culture of arrogance and power abuse common there. I am European and have traveled extensively throughout the European countries. I typically don't leave any reviews anywhere. But I am starting to see a pattern here so I thought I would warn other travelers, particularly the ones coming from countries with a friendlier, more client-oriented service culture.

✅ Verified Review | Nightmare. Avoid at all cost. The staff on Schengen transfers seem to delight in working slowly and blaming airlines for short transfer times, never themselves. Definitely not their fault that it takes them so long to scan bags that have already been scanned by another airport. And definitely no worries that you may miss your connecting flight. They have a job to do which includes being the worst possible advert for Warsaw and Poland. Good job done to make as many people ands possible finish holidays only remembering their bad experience at Warsaw airport

✅ Verified Review | Warsaw airport service is terrible for transit travelers. No special places for relax after long flight, and no special places for work can be found. Almost all of the comfortable places are organized as kantinas or restaurants. The seats are fully metal and super cold, esp. if you need to stay more hours. The airport speakers are super loud and often you can hear double speaking. Most of the personnel speak with poor English, and if you need to stay in transit more than 4 hours it can become super annoying. Additional "crowd control" and boarding services are applied, which often leads to constant hourly long speaking, and calls for passengers.