Bucharest Otopeni Airport

I connected through OTP from Istanbul to Venice on TAROM. After disembarking all our plane's passengers were made to wait in a hallway unable to enter the main terminal for about half an hour. The guard in charge clearly did not know what to do with anyone. At length someone else showed up and simply opened a door letting everyone enter the terminal not requiring any documents. The gate for our connecting flight to Venice was changed several times -- each time with no notice. The only way passengers knew there had been a change was if they happened to look at the departure board and saw that the gate was different. I found OTP to be decades behind the rest of the world.

Arrival at Bucharest Baneasa awful experience. Building is too small to accommodate all arriving passengers. Departures are even worse shady unorganized looking terminal. Security check takes forever and is an inefficient process. Waiting area at the gates too small too accommodate passengers of one flight let alone if 2 flights leave at about the same time.

Arrived from Paris to Bucharest OTP. The Tarom plane was allowed direct access. Quite a long walk until you get to the passport control that went quick with Police Officers that have improved a lot since the past days. We were waiting at belt 1 for the luggage as shown on the screen when somebody noticed that our flight was no longer on this screen ! It had been moved to an other belt without notice. 2 days later flew from OTP to Cluj (internal flight) - check- in was quick and efficient waiting-room much too small with not enough seats boarding by bus. All in all not HKG or Singapore but better than some other European airports.

I was impressed by the speed of immigration on arrival and received a nice welcome from the officer checking my passport. Customs ignored me and I was out in less than 8 minutes in total. The bus journey into the city centre was -as everyone says- a nightmare. The only way to avoid it is to arrive late in the evening and take a taxi. The departure was different. There does not seem to be room for a queue and if you don't speak Romanian it can be hard to check if you are in the correct queue. Nevertheless it was all fairly friendly and I have seen worse at Heathrow!

Although it's only about 10 miles away from Bucharest traffic to and from the airport is a nightmare: depending on the time of day it takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to get there (also beware of incredible rip-offs with the taxis; best arrange for someone to pick you up/drive you there). The new layout in the Departures terminal means that check-in security screening and passport control move much faster now. There is plenty of space to sit down and stroll in the lounges ok shopping as well as smoking areas. Arrivals is still in some need of improvement: if you deplane via bus (which seems to be the rule rather than the exception) you have to climb two storeys on an incredibly narrow spiral staircase (and it can be quite difficult especially with a heavy carry-on or a stroller; do not count on the elevators working). Luggage arrives quite quickly. But the biggest problems at Otopeni are the state of the lavatories and price gouging. The lavatories are without exception filthy: nobody seems to bother cleaning them very often toilet paper and soap are frequently missing and they also appear to double as smoking areas for the custodial staff. Price gouging is epic: a small water or Coke is over 3 Euros beer and coffee are pushing 5 Euros. Same goes for the dismal snacks. In short it's a terrible place for a long layover but an ok one if you only have one or 2 hours to kill.

Immigration quickly cleared and baggage quickly appeared. Travel into the city is a nightmare - the road network is wholly inadequate for a developing city. Check in for returning flight was quick with no queue but then very long wait at security probably due to heightened measures ahead of the NATO summit. Departure lounge comfortable if slightly basic but all outlets food and non-food very expensive. Range of food on offer very restricted - OK for a snack but not more (even if you could afford it). All outlets will accept EUR but do not seem to have change.

There are separate buildings for arrivals and departures. Arrived on easyjet (although they may be switching to Banesca which is altogether the poorer relation of the two airports serving Bucharest). Bussed to the terminal from the aircraft and immigration was swift as was baggage retrieval. Once outside I recommend you press on through the throng of taxi touts and either take the bus into town or a grab Fly Taxi cab and they will be at the head of the rank where their supervisor will get you organized. The meter only ticks when you are moving which is just as well as traffic can be heavy. There are cheaper and just as honest taxis but they either have to be phoned for or you need to seek them out at arrivals. Departing was a breeze security was pleasant but extremely thorough. Once through the formalities the shops are outrageously expensive compared to down town and whilst prices are displayed in euro local lei are readily accepted in the handful of cafes. Overall Otopeni is a small not very busy and clean facility surrounded by acres of apron and runway.

A surprisingly good airport in terms of efficiency. While check-in is becoming a bit more chaotic and takes longer due to increased traffic it still has one of the quickest check-in times for an airport in Europe. Arrivals are usually a breeze. I think the longest I've had to wait at passport control is 5 minutes and the longest for baggage 15 minutes. The building and services are in need of an upgrade but that's OK with me since it's easy to spend a minimum amount of time at the airport.

Overall a clean airport transfer from domestic to international flights very quick and bus connection very convenient. Airport personnel not smiling customs officers rude and do not speak English still not used to accept EEA/EU ID Cards and mix them up with other non-EU nationalities compared to Sofia Airport customs for example. A big smile is needed even if you are a customs airport officer to leave the country with a good impression.

Modern but quite small airport. Security and baggage efficient and quite quick. Travel between airport and city is horrendously slow - the road just can't handle the weekday traffic volume.