Abu Dhabi Airport

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.

Not Verified | We are elderly passengers and needed wheelchair assistance. The staff were waiting as we arrived with chairs and called for us prior to our onward flight. They were very efficient and very smart in their black and gold livery, as did all the staff. Best service we have experienced.

Not Verified | The temperature in the airport is so cold. We asked staff to give a blanket but they don’t have any. We have to spent here all night waiting, and it’s super cold here.

Not Verified | Arriving from Bahrain and as usual bus from plane to terminal. This time at transit security there was a very pleasent security guy who was courteous and polite! So nice when you get someone who is well mannered. A tip if you want to find a clean toilet as I discovered is near to gates 58-61 there are two lots of toilets down stairs that are clean and only used when gates are in use. Try to go here while a gate is reasonably empty and you will have a good clean toilet experience. Even better than an overcrowded business lounge. Trouble free transit this time around even though it’s very crowded at night time..WiFi was pretty good reliable connection away from the main central area where duty free shops are.

Not Verified | Arriving from Melbourne a major city we were once again herded to the outer reaches of this airport where we had to use buses. As we were on an Etihad flight normally the bus driver drops you at T3 but for some reason this driver decided we’d be dropped off at T1! This meant a long walk to get to T3 & there were a few older folk who I know had connecting flights out of T3 so they’d have to endure a long walk. Not what you need first thing early morning arrival after 14hrs on a flight. The plus was that transiting was quick through security so quickly through here. On departure for flight to Bahrain the boarding process was totally chaotic, only 1 ground staff & 2 lines of passengers & here there was no such thing as business class or priority boarding it was a free for all, dreadful and totally disorganized, buses once again out to the nether regions of the airport to the plane. The Airport early morning is a lot less crowded than night time thankfully so you could get to use a toilet which are relatively clean because at night time they are filthy so obviously cleaned only in the morning. It’s still an airport that you are really glad to leave behind though.