Bordeaux Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 175 reviews
2/10
No Skytrax Rating
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2/10

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(France)

How to negotiate Billi terminal at Bordeaux Airport. Don't travel with children. Don't travel with hold luggage. Don't have a need to use a toilet. Don't have a need to sit down. Don't enter the Billi terminal more than 30 minutes before the announced gate closing time then go straight through security. Expect airport staff to be in a permanent state of stress. Don't arrive hungry or thirsty. Wear light clothes or avoid travelling during hot weather due to the lack of ventilation and air conditioning. In the event your flight is delayed or cancelled then immediately make your own arrangements for rebooking a later flight, food and/or overnight accommodation, keep recipes and reclaim your fair and reasonable out of pocket expenses direct from the airline. Don't rely on the airport staff to do this for you. Don't have normal expectations. The Billi terminal of Bordeaux is like nothing you will have ever encountered before whilst travelling in Europe.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitAugust 2015
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
1/10

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(Ireland)

I travelled through Bordeaux airport last week (inbound and outbound) and it is the poorest quality terminal that I have experienced as a flight customer. As highlighted by a number of the earlier reviews there are many problems/inconveniences: As I approached the security area - I was asked to push my carry-on luggage along chip-board tables (while sometimes taking my luggage off to avoid the roof poles). The security area was so busy (and it appeared the staff were stressed) that a 200ml bottle of sunscreen that I had forgetten to take out of my handbag was not picked up by the security screeners. We could not proceed to go through the passport control (unusually enough this appears to be a requirement upon leaving the airport) as there are only 2 boarding gates (beyond passport control) and they were full with passengers waiting for their flights. Once we could proceed to our gate (called 35/45) it was clear that the facilities at the gate were extremely basic. It has very few seats (I'd say about 10-15 for a full flights of about 200 passengers), no air conditioning (or at least that is how it felt), no toilets (and in our senario our flight was delayed by an hour) and no snack / beverage areas (particularly if one needs water). The procedure to use the toilets requires one to give one's boarding card to the airline staff at the gate, take one's passport to go out through passport control and to use the toilets in the 'main' lobby of the terminal. In some parts of the terminal, particulary in the arrivals area, there is a very strong smell of fish. A very pleasant security guard sought to explain what the cause of the smell is. I didn't quite understand his French - however, it is clear that the fish smell is a problem and the authorities are aware of it. The same security guard stated that the design of the terminal resulted in a very poor experience for both passengers and staff alike. I commend all the staff we encountered as they were very courteous and professional while working in a stressful environment. I think the Billi Terminal in Bordeaux Airport gives a very poor impression of the airport as a whole and it is should be a priority to upgrade it.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJuly 2015
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
1/10

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(Ireland)

I arrived into the main terminal with time to spare to see on the information board that the check in desk status was Billi. I had no idea what that meant nor was there any explanation so I waited for 15 mins or so for an update as I assumed it was just too early to check in. I eventually asked a member of staff what Billi meant and was told I had to leave the building to go to another terminal outside. On arriving here I found an enormous queue/crush out of the narrow doors onto the street and had no choice but to join. It was an hour before I and my 2 small children got to the desk to check in where I discovered I had to take my bags and put them onto a conveor belt myself (via another 10 min queue) to go to the plane. Then i joined a 15-20 minute queue to get through security followed by a rush to passport control. On arriving at passport control we were pushed to the side as there was no more room in the departure area due to delayed earlier flights so we waited 20 minutes. Eventually we were ushered through passport control and arrived into a hall area with seating for 10 people tops! At this stage my son asked to go to the toilet and I was told no toilets existed in this area and I would have to leave and come back in through passport control. Also our flight was delayed by 1 hour but as there were no screens or information boards we had no idea of this so spent well over 1 hour in this area. No toilets, no info, no wifi. My advice - stay away from Bordeaux unless travelling mainstream airlines!
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJuly 2015
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
1/10

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

Departure from the Billi Terminal at Bordeaux Airport is without a doubt the worst airport experience I have had in the developed world. Aesthetically it resembles a pre-fabricated shed, that aside: the check-in process is pathetically poorly designed, with passengers having to take back their baggage for the hold once they have checked in and carry it round themselves to the x-ray machine. Then once through security there are too few seats for everyone waiting for their flights, so yesterday I would say 20% of passengers had to sit on the floor or perch on ledges. Then when we got through to our gate there were maybe 10 seats, reserved for EasyJet "special" customers, and no seats whatsoever for the rest/majority of passengers, so another bout of standing up or ledge perching. If I had known I would have paid extra to use another airline using one of the proper professionally built and operated terminals, or indeed a different airport altogether.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJuly 2015
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
no
2/10

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

I think there are two sides to Bordeaux airport: the main terminal and a budget airline terminal. The latter was really bad when I travelled through a few weeks ago. I think they must be in the process of upgrading it, or building it altogether! Presently its like a DIY airport made out of Ikea flatpack. When you check in you have to take your bags round to a separate desk for them to be tagged and sent to the plane. This created a pretty chaotic and busy environment. The queue for security was long and merged with the queues for the bag drop area. Once through security there were more queues that snake round the shopping section whilst people wait to go through immigration and the boarding areas for the flights. This means that its impossible to look round the retail area and food areas. It was all so chaotic and such a muddle! I'd hate to think what it'll be like once peak season kicks in. As i said, i think they're in the process of constructing this terminal, which is called the 'billi' terminal, as it had a very temporary feel to it. In the meantime, prepare yourself for lots and lots of chaotic queuing. Review is based on billi terminal only - rest of the airport may be a dream!
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJune 2015
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity N/A
no
na

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

Billi Terminal. Reserved for low cost. I fly lots for work either on low cost airlines or regular flag carriers like BA and Air France. This is the worse low cost I've seen followed by Bergamot Milan Linate and London Stansted. You may disagree but then you have not tried these airports during school half term weeks.
Queuing Times N/A
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(United States)

Our flight used the terminal called "Billi". Perhaps this is the dreariest dirtiest least comfortable terminal in all of Europe. This was worse than a third world terminal. Seating inadequate boarding procedures cumbersome bathrooms filthy. In a word this terminal is a disgrace. Even worse if one plane happens to be unloading boarding for other flights must stop since boarding and unboarding passengers cannot be isolated from one another. Who is the genius who thought that one up.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(United Kingdom)

We were with Easyjet and had to depart via the Billi terminal. This is a shed with very basic check-in procedures no conveyor belt at the desk so you have to drag your luggage across the hall to a belt and queue again. Then another queue for the hand luggage check again very basic. Forget eating here unless you are desperate. The lounge area is small limited seating very untidy. Shopping is limited so don't leave anything to the last minute. When the departure desk opened more queuing there were no seats and after being checked onto the flight we had to queue again in a horribly crowded area. Avoid if you can!
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(Switzerland)

If you think Luton is bad (and it is) the Billi Terminal at Bordeaux is awful. People living in the Bordeaux area must be appalled at this joke of a terminal. With no facilities to speak of (even seats) it is worthwhile avoiding airlines like easyJet until they stop using this ridiculous black painted tin and chipboard hut. Absolutely filthy and dysfunctional avoid Bordeaux (Billi Terminal) like the plague.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no
na

Bordeaux Airport customer review

(France)

Well a lot of people agree Bordeaux Billi Terminal is dreadful and there are many derogatory words used to describe it. I agree with most of what has been said. The question is who was involved in its planning and design i.e. who should take the blame? Is it purely the Bordeaux airport authority or did any of the low cost airlines become involved in it's concept and thus became implicated in any criticism? Does anyone have an answer? For me I will avoid Bordeaux airport completely and fly from the far superior Toulouse airport or from Bergerac. I would vote that Billi should be demolished like many others.
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
no