Alicante Airport

We travel through Alicante airport at least four or five times a year, and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Departures have been improved, developed and offer so much more choice. The organisation appears to be better also; we noticed all UK and Ireland departures are from 'B' gates and others from 'C', which in my opinion makes it easier as to where to expect your designated gate. There is also permanent signage for the priority passenger queue at each gate. Couple this with a friendly and smooth running security team, its a pleasure to use this airport.

✅ Verified Review | This must be one of the most expensive airports in Europe. This applies to the food and beverage offer as well as the "duty free " area. 2 examples. The cost of Amberleaf tobacco for intra EU flights is HIGHER than the cost in Ordinary Spanish tobacco shops. And the cost of a WH Smith Meal Deal is approx £7 in this airport. In Gatwick it costs £3.79.

Alicante Airport is a complete shambles in immigration where they have introduced 6 biometric passport reading machines. 3 or 4 flights arrived at more or less the same time meaning the undersized area leading to the machines was totally overwhelmed - at one of the quietest times of the year. There were two desks manned by staff for people without biometric passports. People who had biometric passports who tried to use these desks were turned away to join the throng elsewhere, consequently people with old style documents just breezed through. Up to 9 months ago this airport didn't even bother with immigration checks for intra-European flights; now it is a complete mess. Thank goodness I'm not flying into Alicante in the summer. If they are committed to biometric, they need to have 25 machines ready and waiting.

✅ Verified Review | While its definitely not the best airport, yesterday the 23rd January at 13.30 was worse than normal. Service at the Ryanair desk was lacking given that the check in guy was more interested in talking to his mate rather than doing work efficiently. Burger King was fairly normal. Queue for security was slightly longer than normal but not excessive for the time of the day. Managed to get pulled out at security. Not sure why, the metal detector beeped, even though I did not have any metal on me having taking everything off. Anyhow the beeping flagged an extra check for chemicals. Now here is where I have a gripe, do they not teach these people customer service? Do they prefer to wear big jack boots and stamp their authority on everything. Don't get me wrong I understand why they need these checks, but you can doing it by being civil or like you own the place. For the two ladies in lane 1 of security at approx 13.30, they definitely wanted to be in charge to the point of not being civil. So having flagged a check, I wonder if they ever actually find anything when they put your sample through the chemical detector? Looking at the sheet I am guessing not, which makes you ask a more basis question. Isn't there a more efficient way to do it. From a previous trip I found out you cannot walk through the metal detector with your hands in your pocket either. That flags a lot of jumping up and down and a full body search and the works.

✅ Verified Review | Surely this must be one of the most expensive airports in Europe. Beverages cost the same wherever you buy them airside. €1.70 for a small bottle of water. The WH Smith meal deal costs €7.90 here and £3.79 at Gatwick or Heathrow. The biggest rip off is the "duty free". Example. A 10 pack of Amber Leaf rolling tobacco costs €112 for intra Europe travellers. But in any Spanish Tabac it costs €79. Also the air conditioning in this glassy airport can't even cope on a sunny January day. In summer it must be dreadful.

There is nothing open in Alicante airport during the night, which doesn't make sense. People travel 24 hours a day so all restaurants and stores should also be open 24 hours a day. Apart from that, going through customs was quick and easy with no delays. Needs to cater for departures throughout the night, not just during the day.

Passport control is terrible at Alicante airport. It is automatic and offers no help. You have to be very lucky to be able to proceed. Numerous passengers had to join new queues to get through. Staff very unfriendly and offered little help. Instructions totally inadequate. Use Murcia which is much more user friendly.

So called intelligent passport control designed to reduce queues. Arrived on 2nd May 2016 to a massive queue of hundreds and if they had stuck to this procedure it would have been several hours before all of us cleared. Instead they went back to basics and had an officer on each desk checking passports visually. What a waste of money and time this new system is.

My main complaint of Alicante Airport is that we waited about 40 minutes for our bags to arrive off the conveyor belt upon arrival from London. Otherwise this is a pretty standard Spansh airport-large and airy (although yes, as other reviewers have noted, the accoustics are therefore dreadful) with very little to do landside and the normal selection of overpriced food and drink airside (10 euros for a Burger King meal, for example). On my depature, one security guard had something of a 'jobsworth' attitude, telling me to put my i-Pad in a separate tray for screening next time (this has never, ever been commented on in any other airport) but having lived in Spain previously I didn't have particularly high expectations for customer service, and am quite glad to have avoided a 'shopping mall' experience as so many other airports are fast becoming. I actually felt sorry for the Spanish staff who did a great job of dealing with British holidaymakers refusing to make an effort with the language. All in all, nothing special but needs better efficiency in dealing with incoming luggage.

My elderly mother was left for an hour in the sun outside while waiting for assistance that we had arranged for her. There is a buzzer to call through and repeatedly she was told that someone would come for her, in the end she had to struggle to get a trolley and struggle into the airport terminal as she needed to use the toilet and had to get herself to the check in otherwise she would have been too late. She was texting us and there was nothing we could do for her so both she and myself were very distressed about it. Then, despite Monarch saying the check in would print out her boarding card the woman on the desk was rude and offhand that she hadn't got it and moaned and muttered about printing it. Remember Spain, many of the visitors to your country are getting older and you wouldn't treat your family like that so do not treat mine or others like that.