Bologna Marconi Airport

I use this airport frequently, at least 6 times a year travelling to and from Istanbul. I arrived at Bologna on 1st November with a Pegasus flight from Istanbul SAW. The flight arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule but passengers were kept on board for at least 25 minutes. On reaching the arrivals hall a sizeable queue was obvious but the reason for the queue certainly not clear at first. The queue barely moved but it transpired that additional screening for passengers and hand baggage has been installed. I'm not sure what benefits can be derived from this as all passengers are thoroughly screened before embarking before departure. The time delay was significant as two flights had arrived around the same time and compounded by the fact that there was just one screening unit to process both sets of passengers. The two staff spoke only Italian to passengers giving instructions not to crowd the area, instructions that many people could not understand. The whole scene was chaotic. After eventually passing through the security check there was yet another long queue for passport control. I have no problem with the tightest of security measures but there should be adequate equipment and staff to deal with large numbers of people arriving simultaneously. The situation here is completely chaotic and not able to deal with the influx in a timely fashion. My other choice is Milan Malpensa, further away from my home but so much better organised.

✅ Verified Review | The airport of Bologna is quite small but it was very busy when I arrived there. I had some difficulties with finding the check-in services and then there was a long line in front of me. After maybe 45 minutes I was finally checked in. Luckily I could just walk through security. Although there was also a long line at security, it moved quite fast. Then I entered the terminal and it was so packed with people there weren't even seats left so I sat down on the floor. I tried the wifi but it was really slow. After that, I was pleased when they announced the boarding of the plane had started!

Having got up at 4 am, we arrived and went through security in good time and then had to wait and wait until they arrived to open up the passport check. The area between security and passports is a thoroughfare and it was getting more and more crowded so that it was difficult to get through. The cafe wasn't very good - freshly squeezed orange juice ok, coffee weak and croissant soggy. Lavatories ok with a large mother and child area - bad luck dads. When I got onto wi-fi it didn't work for WhatsApp.

Bologna is a wonderful designed airport with lots of good shops, but the Kiss and Park scam is tasteless and will make me avoid the airport and warn everybody about it. 10 minutes is workable when the areas are not blocked by other cars, but it was and the 1 minute we overstayed resulted in a 10 € Parking Scam Fee which is displayed nowhere when you enter. Besides that, the allocation of Check-in desks resulted in a 75 minute queue, not sure whether SAS or BLQ is responsible.

A bit chaotic and definitely in need of overhaul/expansion, but functional. I have mixed feelings, in part because I love Bologna (the city) so much and have such fond memories of arriving into BLQ. That said, departing is a bit more stressful, as there is never enough room for everyone and there are no real gate areas to speak of (they still use bussing). The airport is generally clean and the staff courteous, with enough by way of restaurants and such. Just a bit "tight".

Bologna Marconi is arguably one of the worst airports in Western Europe. The airport has been under constant renovation for at least 15 years. They're still messing about with bollards and the single lane at arrivals which is now the same for departures. So traffic in the airport is absurd. They are now planning a light railroad into the city to reduce the traffic which the construction disruption has caused. For automobiles, you can use the short stay parking, 10 minutes for free. Unfortunately many people are too cheap to drive in and pay if staying longer so instead clog the roundabouts adjacent to the airport and passengers regularly walk in the middle of the road to meet the friends and family waiting for them. If you land after 11 at night, count on a nice long wait for a taxi. Smoking allowed everywhere in the semi-covered arrivals / departure area - there is a special smoking section but it is placed so close to the exit and entrance to the airport that you can't avoid having the effects of a cigarette when you're leaving or waiting for a taxi. For boarding at times you can walk to the aircraft or sometimes you're taken by bus. When flying discount airlines, you'll sometimes be stopped at the bottom of a stairway without air conditioning until somebody opens the door. Late night flights are characterized by your arrival at passport control after locals race off the bus to watch the border guards quickly scamper into their little booths as if it was a surprise that an airplane full of people are there. They have installed an automatic passport scanner but it still isn't working regularly as I'm told it's an 'experiment' - when other airports have been using these for quite some time now. For shopping, Bologna has got its walk through style facility so you can't avoid it. Nothing worth buying, exorbitantly priced wine, poor selection, and mass market buy anywhere perfumes. The Business lounge serves very good coffee but no regular cleaning of the tables, scant collection reading materials, no free easy access wifi. Employees chatter and sip coffee at the coffee bar made for passengers. A bottle of water on the non EU side costs min Euro 1.89.

The Italian coffee shop near gate 24 should be ashamed. Rude, bored staff with takeaway coffee that is nothing like the Italian coffee you have come to expect. The seating near the gate is uncushioned hard plastic and about as comfy as sitting on the floor. This is not a nice place to end your holiday in. Duty free was ok for such a small departure lounge. The "wine tasting" stand was interesting at first, and I didn't just try it for free wine but was genuinely interested in the brand. After a couple of tiny samples the lady then whipped out her sales pitch, I said I wasn't going to buy any but thank you for letting me try the different options. At this point she gave me a sour look and turned away like I had insulted her.

Italy is a country where there is not a major dominating airport, but plenty of medium to small airports. It has some advantages, but some of them are not really up to the challenge. Many refurbished airports have had the bad habit to make the simple fact of getting a rental car difficult, clumsy, badly signed and in a word unduly complicated. Although not being refubished, Bologna falls into these defects. You have to walk outside quite a distance on not-at-all "suitcase-friendy" paveways to get to a "temporary" metallic construction where the cars are parked like sardines in a tin (had to enter the car by passenger door). My understanding of this situation is that Bologna airport authorities could not care less about business travellers. When coming back, I (foolishly) followed the sign "departures", arrived straight at safety control, and finally found somebody who explained me I had to check-in at arrival level. Did that (had to wait because they open check-in only 2 hours before boarding time), came back to the security, and discovered: 1 - that there is no priority lane, and 2 - that the business lounge is before the security. Security was not too long, but the food/drink offer Inside is limited especially if you want to sit (and as my plane was 2 hours late, it was the case). Then boarding is not nice because in Bologna, all deboardings / boardings are done by bus, which means priority boarding is a joke, and difficult for elderly people, or those who carry their luggage or bags. Globally this terminal seems inadequate for the traffic and it is worse in summer (the whole area is a wonderful destination).

Bologna's airport is a very nice airport. It's a very clean and well organized airport. Yearly an improvement takes place and the airport is becoming nicer year by year. Food is excellent, with several traditional restaurant and also shopping is quite worth. When I fly to and from Italy I always use BLQ.

The security procedures were awful: too few staff and it was a fight to be there on time. It took me and my family two hours to get through and the staff were inefficient and did not really care about anything. Our gate had already closed but due to the helpful staff of Ryanair, we just managed to board. I had a similar experience a few months before when travelling alone to Bologna. I try to prevent using Bologna, but sometimes it is just necessary when Rimini has no flights from Holland.