Bordeaux Airport

I have to agree with most others here - I had a horrible experience here at the Billi terminal. It was stressful tiring and the Ryanair staff were rude and impatient. I was told to stand in a line that no one was operating and as a pregnant person with back pain from standing it was awful. I will never travel in/out of Bordeaux again and I warn others to avoid it for their sanity.

At Billi for Ryanair flight and experience once through security can only be described as like a cattle market! Is tiny and difficult to move around as queues for the gates go through the shopping area. Announcements are poor and can hardly hear due to the noise of passengers in this restricted area. Not enough toilets. We had a very uncomfortable and stressful experience.

As others have said it's a shed. A big wooden shed. My wife agreed it's the worst airport terminal she's ever been to and she's been to Africa! How could they possibly think that a "gate" without seating is acceptable in 2013? How can they think that a bag drop where you queue to have the bag weighed then queue again to put it onto a conveyor belt is providing an acceptable service to travellers in Europe in 2013? Paradoxically the rest of the experience was fine prompt disembarkation when we arrived speedy passage through passport control both ways and reasonably speedy security. It was just that bloody shed with its badly signed directions and lack of seating! They need to get a grip and provide facilities in keeping with the wonderful city they are serving.

Billi terminal quite a joke whereas the main terminal is quite pleasant. Had to wait there longer than planned due to a delayed flight to Barcelona. Hardly any seating arrangements beyond paying at cafe. No room to manoeuvre between queues cafe customers and shop clients. Boarding "gates" are laughable and boarding areas nothing more than cattle pens. I simply do not know why Bordeaux Airport is not making use of the main terminal to full capacity! I have flown on Air France from the main terminal and it is indeed a different world. At least security was pleasant and efficient as well as the baggage drop facility manned by friendly security staff. I will not even comment on the air ventilation air or the "outside" cafe made up of a van selling overpriced coffees and pastries. Quite sad for a wonderful city like Bordeaux with plenty tourists and business people visiting.

Billi Terminal is truly awful. Not even any toilets before security control. Virtually no seats at the gate. Rude and disinterested unhelpful staff. The terminal is just a poorly built shed.

Ditto to all the other complaints about 'Billi'. The one cafe was massively overcrowded no seating anywhere else. It is a basic warehouse with nil facilities for comfort or safety. The main airport I noticed with all its facilities was almost deserted. Empty of people! Indicating an absolutely idiotic policy of herding their main passenger base through humiliating cattle-like experiences. They are shooting themselves in the foot here. People do not like paying to be insulted. I was especially angry and annoyed to see elderly and disabled with no seating or toilets available even for them.

Bordeaux Billi - not the main terminal which is perfectly acceptable. The worst experience both for departure (crammed into departure sheds with little/no seating ) and arrival requires that passengers climb +- 20 metal stairs up then down (presumably over the departure gate) carrying a 10 to 20 kilo bag and or pushchair only to find that there are no WC facilities apart from in the main terminal. Who designed this shed and with what kind of service in mind? They tell us that their terminal keeps the price of our tickets low. I do not believe this excuse. It is my belief that they want the experience to be so awful that you will go back to paying Air France over priced fares on short haul flights! This is the worst airport experience I have ever had.

In relation to Billi: the very worst terminal I've been to. There are 5 areas to this terminal. Baggage arrival Arrivals hall Departures hall Departures and Departure gates (past Frontier police). There are only toilets in Departures. That means you have to walk to the main terminal on arrival or before going into Departures. Once you have passed the frontier police there are no toilets until the plane. If there are two jets leaving close to the same time then the departures area is absolutely swamped. The queues go through the middle of the restaurant and down through the (duty) free store. However the main parts of the airport i.e. Terminals A and B are absolutely wonderful. This new terminal is an ugly stain on the whole show. They should really be listed as separate airports so that to good part does not suffer from the negative reviews of Terminal Billi.

Flew in and out of the new Billi terminal with Ryanair this September with our children. I would agree with all the other posters that this is the worst terminal I have ever passed through (and I have been through a lot in far flung places). Its not obvious that budget airlines go from this terminal. We had to ask after wandering around the main terminal trying to translate what Billi means in French. With three flights checking in people were queuing out of the door and luckily it was not raining and with only 20 seats plenty of old people and kids were having to stand. No toilets. Then a long wait to get through security and then after that a departure lounge with enough seats for about third of the passengers waiting. The final insult was queuing for boarding where again there was 3 seats and not even enough space for everyone to fit in. Funnily enough by the time our kids got on the plane they were pretty grumpy and so was I. Worst terminal par excellence.

I've been flying in and out of Bordeaux airport for 12 years (and I've lived here for 5 years now) and it was always a pleasant experience until the opening of the new Billi terminal. There are no toilets where you check-in and no toilets after having gone through immigration (where you usually have to wait 40mins - 1 hr before being put on the plane). Very little seating once you're through security you have to weigh your bags and then take them to be put through the scanning machine. The shops are ridiculously expensive. The main issue is what happens once you're through customs there are usually 4 seats (for a plane load of people) and no toilets or any other amenities for some reason you're checked through customs about 1 hr before departure so you have to wait a long time standing up (why can't we go through customs when we're actually ready to board the plane? Lastly arrivals is also a joke no toilets when you're waiting for your luggage to arrive. There are also no toilets for those in arrivals waiting for family/friends. Billi terminal will deter people from flying to Bordeaux the only reason I use it is because I don't have a choice as I live here.