Bratislava Airport

✅ Verified Review | I was truly impressed. Nice, very modern airport. Clean, neat, all services effective, efficient and with human touch. Swift security check. Within just a few minutes you are at your gate. Small though very nice business lounge offering a very nice selection. One of the best I have ever seen. Impressive. Overall great experience.

Airport was updated and expanded in June 2010 and is now up to the task. Used it in Dec. 2010 - no problems. On arrival go to information and ask for a "one hour" public transport ticket costs EURO 0.70 valid on the 61 bus from the airport (runs every 20 mins) into the city centre terminating at the main rail station. Journey time: 25 mins.

Quite an embarrassing airport for a capital city of a booming country! I realise that VIE is quite near and the Slovaks completly lost interest in having a viable international airport of their own but the current state is less than satisfactory. The airport is stuck in a time warp passenger numbers are rising however there are no real facilities for the passenger and none for a business traveller. Shopping is a joke and nothing really to talk about. Check in in summer charter increase is assisted by a tent - staff surly and unable to assist. Spare yourself the hassle and fly to Vienna and they offer bus shuttles to Bratislava city as well - a far more civilised manner to fly.

As an employee at Bratislava Airport I have a few objections to L.Suciaghi's comments. First of all announcements about departures are made in both Slovak and English with the exception of Slovak charter flights which are often (but not always) announced only in Slovak as the passengers are Slovak and perhaps Czech nationals. On the other hand arrival announcements are only in Slovak as there are quite a few monitors/screens which are directly linked to the system here at OPC and hence automatically display current information. The arrival announcements are made in Slovak as they are not aimed at the passengers (they have the monitors) but at different workers at the airport i.e. mechanics catering bus drivers as we bus passengers to/from the A/C with some minor exceptions baggage handlers etc). Announcements in the gate are made if the airline wants them and these are made at least in Slovak and English. I would also like to state that often we make announcements also in other languages ie. for the twice weekly SU flight to SVO also in Russian and sometimes in Hungarian Italian German French but that only if unnecessary and very seldom. We also have three announcements plus special "name" announcements - quite a few more than at many other airports.

Efficient small airport still has that east block feel to it still. Check in was fast and efficent but the agent looked like she was about to lose the plot with the face she had on her. Security fast and duty free was bang on for what you wanted small but did the job. The gates are small and the I dont know why they put people on to buses to move them 30 yards to a plane

BTS Airport is small for an international airport but it is easy in and easy out. Seating is limited but because it is small you don't have to be there for hours on end (unless your flight gets delayed). Luggage trolleys require a coin (US$0.25 5SK or 2 Euro) but you get the coin back when you return the trolley. Parking is expensive for this small airport (550SK) but in the "off-airport" parking lot it is half the price. There are plenty of places to get a snack in the airport and the duty-free shopping is adequate. The airport would do well to have a shop that carried some Slovak souveniers as none are really available there now. There is regular bus service from the airport to Vienna which takes about 75 minutes. All in all a decent but small international airport.

I do not think BTS is up to international standards. Arrivals are probably adequate as most passengers want to get away quickly. The departure check in area is small and there are only 6 or 8 seats available for waiting passengers who do not want to pay to sit in a small cafe or the restaurant. The latter is upstairs no lift or escalator is apparent. Those with luggage with children or with physical limitations are disadvantaged. The B departure gate lounges are ludicrously small and 3/4 of passengers on a major flight will have to stand for up to 3/4 hour before boarding. on 21st April 2007 a situation arose in which it was very fortunate that no accident or panic occurred at the bottom of the escalator to the shuttle bus for a late flight.

Last time I used BTS check-in took less than a minute and most of the staff are nice and helpful. However be careful if you fly with CSA or Lufthansa from BTS and have connections at PRG or MUC: If you want to buy Slovak liquor note that not all duty-free shops provide the sealable plastic bags needed to get the bottles through security at PRG or MUC. I had to leave my bottles go to one of the other shops and ask them for a sealable bag take it to the liquor shop myself and ask the staff there to pack my bottles in that bag. Unacceptable. Otherwise BTS is a nice airport.

Very clean and accesible by the excellent bus service. Howeverit is somewhat restricted in terms of open space. The check-in area is quite small and was quite crowded due to the Ryanair flights to Stansted and Dublin all being processed simultaneously. Overcrowding appears again once you have gone through security. The boarding gate the Dublin flight was leaving from had a sliding door separating it from the main hall- area and as there was a flight to Tunisia using this gate all the Dublin passengers were forced to crowd outside the door (where there was a lack of seating).Nice airport overall but could do with an expansion.

I flew out of this airport on Sky Europe this morning and was favourably impressed with the cleanliness speed and efficiency of check in and departure also with the friendly attitude of the check in agent and the restaurant staff. A very pleasant airport indeed and a refreshing change. I will certainly consider using this route for any future trips to Vienna despite the 60kms which distance it from that town. The taxi fare to/from the city centre should be less than SKK 300 (GBP 6) and the ride is about 20 minutes. Unfortunately not all taxi drivers are honest the scumbag who took us from the railway station into town (5 minutes) on arrival charged SKK 400 by somehow fiddling the meter. On the negative side the duty free prices (EU) are high but I suppose that is beyond their control as now that Slovakia has joined the EU it no longer has the right to decide on such matters as tax rates.