Abu Dhabi Airport

Not Verified | Abu Dhabi airport is very badly designed. The signage is not proper. It does not have enough gates for direct boarding and most of the time, you are transported by a bus to the aircraft. (Which may take 10 to 15 minutes). If the climate is too bad in Abu Dhabi, you get exposed to that. The temperature was 14 degrees centigrade and none of us had winter clothing. There are very few water fountains and you are forced to buy water. Washrooms are also not enough. There is a transit hotel, which is much cheaper than Dubai, that is a plus point. Duty free shops are not well distributed and many of the items, available at Dubai (like spices) are not available here. Some of the food outlets, do not accept foreign currency, not even USD. The security takes a lot of time. Very few machines are operating even if there is a big queue. When I was there, they stopped the escalator as there was no space!

✅ Trip Verified | Nice but crowded airport. I landed here in the early hours of the morning and already Departures was crowded. As a result there was very little seating and the food outlets were very busy. The airport is nice and Terminal 3 is nicely arranged and sign posted. At the rate that they are going they need to expand faster.

✅ Trip Verified | Can Abu Dhabi Airport seriously and seriously get their new Terminal open now? I’ve been waiting and I thought it should have just open back at that time when I was already there last year. What shocks up until now it has not open at all. Seriously? People have been so tired of your airport and Etihad for offering service like this. Old Terminal, Terminal and facilities start to feel like 50 years ago and this is not a year like this? It’s already 2020 and you and Etihad cannot handle customers complaints and opinions on your own airport and airline. The lounge in Terminal 3 of Etihad is still good, but Terminal 1 is awful. Compared to other airports worldwide including New Istanbul Airport (TK), Changi Singapore (SQ) and most other major airports WW including Dubai (EK). Why can’t Abu Dhabi Airport do better than these airports now? What’s the problem with your new terminal delayed? And worst, Etihad service is worse than major airlines as well. I will never fly Etihad and will not return to AUH until their new terminal is ready. Next time when I get to AUH when the new terminal is complete, I will use other airlines instead of Etihad. I hope Abu Dhabi Airport new terminal open sooner as of this year and I hope that it will be better than this. On the positive side, the WI-FI is fast and the staff is good. The duty-free is also good. This is also Etihad fault for causing drama at this airport and that makes me the reason not to fly Etihad again.

Not Verified | Airport is too small for the amount of traffic it receives. Terminals are outdated and in need of upgrade. Layout is impractical. No flow through. Security area is a bottle neck. Severely overcrowded, slow, unfriendly and intimidating staff. Chaotic. Will never travel through here again.

✅ Trip Verified | Transfer security is pure horror in the early morning hours, took 30-45 mins in a giant crowd in a long walkway without seeing the end. Don't want to know what would have happened if panic occured there. Airport is older and has clearly not been designed to handle the amount of passengers it‘s currently forced to do. Long, narrow, twisted walkways, confusing airport layout, insufficient and confusing signs.

Not Verified | Transiting through this airport was the worst thing that could have happened to me. The 2 times I landed here, the security screening was horribly overcrowded and no efforts were made to fastrack the process. Oddly enough, both the times we faced the exact same scenario, wonder if the authorities are aware of this clogging. The cherry on the cake was, the AC wasn't functional on a pretty warm night which made this whole experience a nightmare. Etihad is going to miss out on quite a few passengers if this issue isn't fixed which is a shame for a reputed airline.

✅ 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.