Abu Dhabi Airport

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is just too small to support volumes. 3 out of my 4 flights were to/from a remote gate and this just takes up time. On top of that there was no priority security screening which again adds time. That said the buses were always waiting though on one of the transfers we sat there for 20 mins before leaving with doors open and a 34 degree day. Was travelling at a quiet time of year so the airport itself was quiet but at peak periods you can’t move freely around. New airport looks great and would hope there are less transiting problems when this opens. Shops are a bit limited. Would have expected far more options.

Not Verified | Claustrophobic and dizzying airport. Who’s great idea was it to put everything inside a circle. Terrible layout and architecture. The only good thing is the passive transit security. No problem transiting sealed wine bottles in my carry-on.

Not Verified | As usual arriving anytime after 7.30pm night time this place is severely overcrowded - for some reason we arrived at T1 yet on an Etihad Flight you should disembark at T3? At least we were lucky no bus. T1 security seems more efficient than T3 so was through this in around 5 minutes which is unusual here .. there is no fast track or business class lane here so be warned if you are a business class passenger .. then you have a walk to T3 which is fine but the air conditioning doesn’t work so the heat is still felt here on this walk. When arriving at T3 you just get hit with an overcrowded terminal with masses of people everywhere..... again using the toilets at gate 58 area it’s still well clean & no waiting. At this end of the terminal it’s less crowded with good working air conditioning so I waited for my connecting flight here.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport became a mess in the morning at the time I think most of the international flights arrived. Shoes were supposed to be taken off at security check. Pathetic. Terminal 1 is particularly awful. Repugnant smell, over crowded and small. Once you enter T3 you feel like breathing again untill you reach the ground floor concourse which is again pitiful with insufficient seating space and gates too congested. Toilets were tidy though with regular cleaning. Please avoid this airport untill they open the new terminal which looked quite impressive from flight. Till then absolutely not recommended.

Not Verified | Possibly the worst international airport I have been through: Courtesy = 1/10 Scanning = 3/10 Restaurants = 0/10 Organisation = 1/10 Chaos = 10/10. Couldn’t wait to get on the plane.

✅ Trip Verified | I travel a lot between Europe and Pacific Asia. Second time I transited through Abu Dhabi Airport and this was by far my worst experience in a so called "modern" airport: overcrowded airport, endless bus rides to and from the plane, disorganised and unfriendly staff, endless queues for security check, and even to go to the men's rooms (which are not that clean), lines, crowed, lines, lines, lines, even hard to know which lines goes to which gate! With so many poeple walking everywhere! 2 hours is very short for a tansit because such a poorly managed airport. First time I was in that airport it was a bit less busy but staff for security check at the gate was quite rude. A place to avoid when you have so many better options.

✅ Trip Verified | Arriving reasonably early from Melbourne at T3 which sadly we were as is the norm bused once again from a major destination from a faraway area & we must have got very lucky as the security control for transit passengers was virtually empty so it was a breeze of only 2 minutes to get through and done! At this time in the morning you can at least walk around the airport unhampered. I used the toilets next to gate 35 & they were clean & not crowded with passengers despite the gate being in use. WiFi here was awful though this time & just hanged for several minutes & sometimes disconnecting - early morning before 7.30am this airport is easy to move around but after that it’s back to being overcrowded with many morning flights scheduled to leave. Hoping the new airport when open is more spacious.

❎ Not Verified | Transit chaos during Ramadan as usual with only 3 X-ray machines operating & huge queues with more passengers arriving so quickly. As an Etihad Guest Gold Member you can avail of the fast track lane through security at the transit, but sadly it was poorly manned & complete misdirections by security staff & it was a free for all for all passengers. Truly dreadful transit experience by totally inept security personnel, at least the toilets near to gate 58 were still clean & actually manned by janitors & relatively quiet. This transiting experience has become a major issue at this Airport for so many passengers & nothing is done. All the X-ray machines should be open during what was becoming peak period of planes arriving with so many passengers transiting but poor airport management here ensures passengers continue to have bad experiences with huge queues so tight connections could be missed because of waiting.

✅ Trip Verified | No queues at security checks, barely enough staff to handle customers, and those staff who were available were clearly untrained. One particular 'security' staff (not the customs staff but rather others employed by Etihad/the airport, can see them wearing black suits) started to push me around while screaming at me because I simply because I asked him if I'll miss my connecting flight because my inbound flight was delayed. Not the best airport experience when you're publicly humiliated and screamed at. The airport in general still uses airstairs, even for their long-haul flights which is a bummer because this means getting to and from the gate to the plane will take around 30 mins or so on average.

✅ Trip Verified | The airport is very disorganised and the signage is not very clear. I found the ground staff to be rude when I asked for directions to my gate. I wish they had a wider range of duty free shops.