Bucharest Otopeni Airport

I've travelled through Bucharest airport many times and generally very dissatisfied. The airport layout is bad and if you don't know it by heart you won't find your way. The renovation has improved the building but the best of all is the Billa supermarket which offers food and everything you need in very low price.

The access to the security checks is extremely slow in the old departure hall. 1 minute walk to the right is another access to security checks in the new departure hall which is invariably empty due to an obvious reason - lack of signals and directional information in the old departures hall. The airport is generally painfully crowded seeming a shopping mall in busy Christmas periods, the halls being designed to cope 1970s traffic at best. In the departure halls before check-in counters there is an acute lack of seats. But the most annoying thing is yet to come - baggage claim. In OTP I have experienced the longest waiting times for baggage claim, which is in no way justified looking at the size of the airport, the aircraft being generally very close to the terminal. As a final note - runaways need serious surface smoothing works and not just fill cracks with tar and some cosmetic works around the runaways and taxiways would be good - it is not good for a tourist first glimpse through the aircraft porthole at Romania to be wild grass grown free, rusted fences and vintage aircraft left to decay around.

✅ Verified Review | Bucharest Airport is increasingly crowded. At the time of departure (early morning) stayed in line 20 min approx. for security process in an unventilated atmosphere. Returned, late night, I spent some time waiting for our luggage, the belt assigned listed three flights that had landed. Otherwise, all was ok. The staff were efficient considering the number of passengers, clean toilets, poor offer of food/drinks). For me the bonus is that Bucharest Otopeni is still a smokers friendly airport.

I purchased from UK Duty Free some facial cleanser which is a liquid and they put this in a sealed security bag with the words "Do Not Open". At security in Bucharest the staff would not listen to my explanation that the items were security controlled and proceeded to tear my bag open, and did nothing to the bottle except put it into a plastic tray - obviously not familiar with these sealed security bags. This is the second time I have had this problem here. I have travelled all over the world and this is the only airport that does not recognize a security controlled bag? It would be great if someone could train the airport staff to understand UK safety procedures regarding liquids bought in Duty Free shops.

Truly dreadful airport, the queue for the passport check was ludicrously slow given the level of traffic and the staff are unhelpful. It is a disorganised airport with inefficient processes so expect delays. Make sure you arrive 3 hours before your departure time or you might miss your flight.

✅ Verified Review | Otopeni is a chaotic airport. At 5.15 am on a Monday morning it was hot, humid and packed full of people. The queuing is crazy. Queue No.1 Despite having pre-printed boarding passes, my colleague had a non-EU passport so had to queue at check-in to have it stamped. Waited 15 minutes to get to the front, they then contradicted the instruction on the boarding pass and told him they didn't need to stamp it. Fifteen minutes wasted. Queue No.2 There are two large entrances to the boarding gates. There was 150m queue in front of each. Took 30 minutes to get through. Queue No.3 You clear security and have to immediately queue again for passport control. Luckily only 5-6 minutes. It took 50 minutes from arrival at the terminal to gate No.4, one of the first. All in all a stressful airport experience.

Arrival at Bucharest Otopeni was fine and fairly quick. Departure on the other hand was awful. There is virtually no place to sit before check in except in one small restauarnt where they charge 4 times the city price. The airport is stuffy and very hot, check in took 40 minutes. I have never ever seen a check in that slow. Then comes the worst part - security. 2 x-ray machines only with 15-20 people in each queue. With people trying to handcarry forbidden items such as large sharving cream, bottles of water etc they take the time to argue for minutes with those passengers instead of just sending them back. In 2016 people should know how to travel.

The airport is getting more disorganised and crowded. Prepare to get very frustrated as each queue is in fact a pile of people shoving to get in front. The airport management seems to be unable to cope with increased traffic. Unfortunately, waiting 30 mins to an hour to get through security is not the exception anymore. They don't bother with general maintenance and cleanliness either - e.g. floor coverings coming apart and smelly toilets.

Being a regular visitor to Bucharest airport, I have to say it's going from bad to worse. The airport now ban LPG taxis (which is most taxis in Bucharest) and have increased the fee to drivers. Waiting time up to 1 hour as the taxi ticket machines are usually very busy.

The inside temperature in the airport was far to hot and not comfortable. Having this temperature is not healthy when we are carrying bags and coats. Security took far too long as not enough desks were open. I am afraid it was not a good experience.