Beijing Capital Airport

✅ Trip Verified | I had two experiences in Beijing Airport. Both of them were fairly traumatizing. When I arrived in China is was August 2019. I'm an English teacher and the airport had 3 separate security checks for foreigners, which is thoroughly unnecessary and very Chinese. But most importantly, I could not find a bathroom when I got off the plane. Anywhere. I begged half a dozen staff members for help. I was running around a wing of a very large airport just begging any Chinese person I could find for a bathroom and it was horrible. Almost no one speaks English at Beijing airport, which I feel is a very important point to make. But that cannot possibly compare to having my valuables stolen from me. When I left China, I was fleeing the coronavirus epidemic. On Feb 1, I entered Beijing airport with 10,000 Yuan. It was there in my onboard luggage. You know, so no one would take it from me. But the scanning people took my onboard luggage for "another scan". I was so distracted with my panic to leave China that I didn't even consider they might be stealing all of the jewelry, cameras, cash and oh yes, irreplaceable nature photography I kept on a 1 TB flash drive. That one really hurt. Yes, I should have downloaded it to cloud. I didn't think they would take it from me. I was pretty traumatized by all of this. This is the worst airport in the entire world and I've been to many countries that I can compare it to. I'm sure they are much nicer to Chinese nationals or anyone that speaks fluent Chinese. But if you don't, forget about being helped and you can kiss your savings and your valuables good bye!

Not Verified | CA 174 Dec 12, 2019. Beijing is the worst airport we have had the misfortune of visiting after travelling internationally for nearly 45 years. A late flight from Sydney gave us 70 minutes to connect to our flight to Zurich. There were no signs or anyone available to give directions to the transit area. By some luck we found the correct place. The airport security staff were rude, aggressive, incompetent and threatening. Passengers were rounded up and spoken to like animals. I had four 80 ml bottles, only one of which contained liquid, and a small torch. All of these were confiscated (stolen?) without explanation. My wife was subjected to the most humiliating and intimate body search by a rude security woman. I had my passport taken from me and my name and passport number recorded, again this was done rudely and without explanation. We just made our connecting flight with minutes to spare. It seems that the intention of the Beijing security system is to humiliate and threaten passengers. You get the impression that if you ask for an explanation or argue with them you will miss your flight or worse. After all of this I wasn’t surprised when I arrived in Copenhagen to discover my luggage was still in Beijing. We will never travel to or through China again.

Not Verified | Beijing is the worst airport we have had the misfortune of visiting after travelling internationally for nearly 45 years. A late flight from Sydney gave us 70 minutes to connect to our flight to Zurich. There were no signs or anyone available to give directions to the transit area. By some luck we found the correct transfer area. The airport security staff were rude, aggressive, incompetent and threatening. Passengers were rounded up and spoken to like animals. I had four empty 80 ml bottles and a small torch which were confiscated (stolen?) without explanation. My wife was subjected to the most humiliating and intimate body search by a rude security woman. I had my passport taken from me and my name and passport number recorded, again this was done rudely and without explanation. We just made our connecting flight with minutes to spare. It seems that the intention of the Beijing security system is to humiliate and threaten passengers. You get the impression that if you ask for an explanation or argue with them you will miss your flight or worse. We will never travel to or through China again.

Not Verified | The worst airport experience. Airport is very cold. Except at the gates there is nowhere to sit or relax. We were in transit and my daughter zippo was taken from her suitcase when we didn't even have access to it as it was sent straight from New Zealand to France. I will not go thru Beijing airport anymore. Couldn't access any website thru wifi unless you had a VPN.

Not Verified | The worst airport with the most disorganised and rude security. We were transiting through Beijing from the UK and on the way to Tokyo. I wish the staff at security would take a trip to Tokyo to see how it should be done. Security was mayhem to put it mildly. The staff shout at you as if they're rounding up cattle. The staff look harassed and they are unfriendly. It takes a long time to go through security and they speak very little English and bark orders at you. They rummage inside the bags and throw things on the trays and conveyor belt. The staff need to be better managed and need extensive training in customer service. In Tokyo the experience is fast, smooth, polite and so easy! Additionally, the vending machines in the airport are useless. They don't take cards or cash and buying a bottle of water is almost impossible! Nothing to eat or drink! I don't recommend this airport and will do my very best to avoid transiting through Beijing again.

Not Verified | I flew from Prague to Shanghai via Beijing.The airport was pretty clean. It was almost impossible to connect to Wi-Fi. The network required a Chinese phone number. The transfer to the departure hall was closed, I had to go through the main exit. A lot of airport workers don’t speak English. The transition between the two terminals is not very long. In general, the airport is good, although not very comfortable.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport I have ever been to. We were transiting through this airport. We were running around trying to find a bottle of water and something to eat. There is nothing around. The vending machines don't take cards, no cash machines around and no shops. It took us 45 mins to get some water still did not get much to eat. There is only one little Costa stall (which didn't have water) and Starbucks. Security checks very slow and disorganised. Unnecessary duplication of checks, we weren't even leaving the airport and our passports were checked 3 times while standing in the same queue. Our powerbanks went through one way but got threw away on the way back. The security guy grabbed my friend's powerbank and her to go with him somewhere. He didn't say where they were going and not even let her take her bag with her.

Not Verified | Further to my previous review of this disgraceful airport, I want to add that when we did arrive in the taxi from terminal 1 to terminal 3, my son had to leave me in the taxi whilst he ran down to find customer assistance desk to borrow a wheelchair. He was asjed to leave his passport with the desk and only then was he allowed to take the wheelchair. At time of checking in with LOT a/l, 8 hours later, he had to rush back to customer desk and return wheelchair and get his passport back in order to check in with LOT. Beijing is a dreadful experience at airport. Don't go there if you need assistance.

Not Verified | Disgraceful! I will make it a point to warn people not to fly through this airport if they are ill. Total non interest in my request for assistance, no facilities to help incapacitated people. My son asked for help for me - there wasn't any. We had to cross from terminal 1 to 3. A wheelchair, leg in brace, arm in plaster, son coping with all this plus luggage to help me. We were left to find a taxi to get from terminal 1 to 3 on our own. No wheelchair assistance even though booked. No working WiFi. I am furious. We flew from Dunghuang to Xi'an with change and then Xi'an to Beijing and then on to Warsaw and change to fly to larnaca. Beijing airport is a disgrace. No-one to ask for help. It was late. Never again. Your staff need training.

Not Verified | The worst airport ever. Transfer queues were very long, once it took us 4 hours to transfer from one flight to another. During a night all of the restaurants are closed, shops as well. Moreover it is cold in there and there is no staff to report on that! Staff is extremely unkind and the security check is ridiculous and lasts too long. On the flight to the destination I had a spray for hand cleaning there was no issue with it, on the flight back they considered it as dangerous. As a result, had to come with a security man to another desk and the lady took a photo of my passport with the phone - why? Nobody clarified on that. Furthermore, The toilets are pretty old, there are no showers in there. Credit cards are not accepted at the food machines. It was my fourth visit to this airport and the last one.