Bologna Marconi Airport

Not Verified | Marconi Express monorail service: Surprisingly poor service upon arrival at Bologna Airport from Bologna Centrale. My ticket wouldn't open the gate. I wasn't alone in this as a few others were the same including a man with a baby in a pram. Some got through the gate easily, others with difficulty. My ticket failed to work. There was no visible way to call for help or assistance. We were there and prisoners to the closed gate. The trapped father with pram sent his wife for help; from trying to get out first to help arriving took over 14 minutes. The staff member, when she arrived, was rude and brusque telling that we must have done it wrong. I am not aware of having done anything incorrect but, if I had, there had been no avenue for assistance. Having travelled the world, I can normally cope with a automated ticket! The Marconi Express Experience was very disappointing and actually quite anxiety inducing. At the point that I got through, the poor man with pram was still blocked and it took another 5 minutes for him to get through. I waited with him as he did not speak Italian. The assistant was rude and unpleasant in her responses offering no support or apology. As I waited, I watched another family trying to get through from the other side to go towards Bologna and also struggling. When they eventually got through, they also needed immediate assistance as their child got on the train they, with their luggage, struggled to get on. The doors closed and neither parent was on board. All anxiety inducing stuff! I'll look to get a taxi next time unless the service improves.

✅ Trip Verified | Unpleasant staff, long queues with no space, accessibility is a nightmare (Marconi express is insufficient for the amount if people travelling to/from the airport, car parking are even worse, taxi is the only option).

Not Verified | Worst experience ever! Understaffed at Security and check in. 2 persons checking in 1000+ people. Law of the jungle - everybody fighting to get their bags dropped and not missing their flight. Feel sorry for the staff - shame on airport management.

✅ Trip Verified | I am forced to use this airport for logistical reason and I use it 2-3 times a month and each time it is a nightmare. Few seats, long waits for security checks and baggage claim and expensive and often full car parking. People sitting on the floor and inside shops mixing worth those in the boarding queue. But there are a couple of Lamb's in the windows though. I don't recomend it unless you have, like me, and I advice you to have a lot of patience or 30 minutes of meditation before going there.

✅ Trip Verified | Disagree with one of the previous reviewers about the Marconi Express which I found efficient, uncrowded and easy to board if expensive at 11 euros. No queues at the vending machines which are easy to use. However anything else about this airport is a bit of a disaster. It is basically too small for the amount of passengers it handles. Huge queue at security since out of 9 gates only 4 were working, No fingers to board the planes, indifferent staff at the expensive food outlets. As usual nowadays a lot of terminal space is taken up by expensive retail outlets resulting in people having to sit on the floor. A very bad airport for an otherwise beautiful city.

Not Verified | 3 security checks open out of 9 in a pre-holiday afternoon. Infinite queue at the security checks. Customers are left alone to deal with skipping the queue, generating arguments. Slow boarding time with 20 minutes waiting time on the stairs waiting for the bus transfer to the plane.

✅ Trip Verified | The airport is dysfunctional once you get through security. See attached picture with totally stand-up overcrowded departure hall. Eat outside; there are many great cafe and sandwich places. The food place inside however serves dry sandwiches at 10EUR a piece.

✅ Trip Verified | Where does one start? Most airport experiences begin with arrival at the airport in question and so it is with Bologna Airport. The airport and indeed substantial advertising promote the so-called “Marconi Express” train service from Bologna Central Train station to the airport. This “service” is advertised as running every 7 minutes and supposedly only takes 7 minutes. This is not the case! In the train station there are only 2 small ticket vending machines and one was broken the day I needed to use this “train”. The queue for the machine was horrendous and there were no staff available to help and no ticket kiosk. The “train” is in fact a single track mono rail consisting of three small carriages. On the day I used the service a rail was placed to preventing overcrowding and rather than the very 7 minutes claim of the website and posters one waited 34 minutes. There are NO SEATS at all in the waiting area for this “train” and so elderly people and those who are frail are left to stand. Moreover the charge of of 9 Euros one way is an absolute rip-off. Once inside the Monorail the windows are greened out with advertising and there are few seats so standing room only. There is a considerable walk from the arrivals areas of the Monorail to the departures areas of the airport. I did not see any assistance for disabled people and would imagine that wheelchair users and the frail would find this very difficult to manage. I will add that I did not see any uniformed staff at all. The check-in area on the ground floor of this airport is absolutely fine. The problems begin when one clears immigration for the non-EU flights. The departure area is very small and was clearly designed for a different age such as the 1970s with a smaller volume of traffic. The non-EU departures area is an absolute disgrace. I used this on 29th July 2022 and the area was an absolute health hazard. I had to stand for almost 2 hours in extreme heat with no air conditioning and I noted how the toilets were left in a dirty state. I shall add that the boarding of several flights operated by a range of airlines was poorly managed. Differences in booking class, groupings and no doubt fares paid were not honoured or respected and a general “scrum” seemed to be encouraged. My experience of this airport is very disappointing indeed and I will not use it again in the future. One does not need the hassle and inconvenience at an end of a holiday.

✅ Trip Verified | A poor, stressful experience. This airport has an extreme capacity problem. There's not nearly enough staff to direct travelers or even space to accommodate the number of individuals passing through. Security lines are long, and people cut regularly. Be sure to give yourself extra time or you may very well miss your flight. I would not recommend flying from this airport to anyone

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is one of the worst, especially given the pretensions the city has to a cultural, culinary and engineering heritage. Appallingly filthy floors, seats at gates, toilets. Staff unavailable or uninterested. Security process as bad as ever. I have always tried to avoid BLQ and travelled from here this time only to try to save time. The airport is unacceptably dirty. I shall certainly make every effort to avoid it in future.