Chania Airport

✅ Verified Review | So what has changed since the rebuild and the takeover by Fraport? Nothing! Same check-on procedures, if you booked business with any airline it’s worth nothing! Queues at check-in, queues at security, no lounge. Why would one book business flying to and from CHQ if there’s no benefit attached to it. It might not be the airports fault but there’s no such thing that rectifys airline charging a premium for nothing, but the airport management doesn’t seem to care at all. The shopping prices however are in line with Fraport. High price, no service, as usual. But HER is as bad so if you need to fly to Crete, try to prepare for a bad service.

❎ Unverified | Chania Airport seems to have a lot of passengers traveling but I feel the staff are not well prepared to handle them. Most of the staff say they don't know when you ask basic help. The food counters available in the terminal are very few and do not have enough space for the customer to be seated.

Arrival at Chania was not bad, neither was it good. It is a small airport, didn't experience any problems at arrival. A week later we went to the airport as we were to travel home. We had a bus to the airport (charter), the guide showed us were we should check in. First we should weigh our bags and get our boarding passes and baggage tags. It went quite slow, the staff didn't work very fast. Then we had to take our bags and drop them in another place. Since we had 1.5 hours left until boarding we decided to sit down a bit before going upstairs to the security controls. However, there were no seats so we had to sit on the floor, which wasn't very clean. Visited the toilet, they were awful – worst toilets I've ever visited. After that we decided to go upstairs were we would go through the security controls. Three queues, also here the staff didn't work fast. Only two of the detectors were in use, which created a mess since many passengers had a lot of hand luggage. Anyway, we got through and decided to buy snacks for the flight in the tax-free store. It doesn't have that much variety, but it was good enough. Crete is a wonderful island, too bad the airport is poor.

Arriving to Chania was fine but departing was really stressful. Worst airport I have ever been to. Utter chaos. Had to queue outside in the midday sun as we were not allowed in as the terminal was too small. TUI travel reps had no idea what was happening. Finally allowed in airport with flight due to depart in 45 mins. Then had to queue to check bags in. Was sent to the wrong check-in desk 3 times by travel reps. Once labels are on suitcase you have to take them yourself to be x-rayed - more queueing. Long queues at passport control, and hand luggage control. Flight was delayed due to check-in nightmare. Also only 1 female toilet at departure gate with no toilet paper. Love Crete, hate Chania Airport.

Arrival into Chania went smoothly and as expected for a small airport. Departure, however, was a different matter - utter chaos. Tour groups waiting in queues outside the airport was the first indication of trouble. Check in for BA business class was OK but after check in, we were told to join another queue with everyone else in the airport to drop our cases. Because the airport was so crowded, we could not tell where the queue began and there was no airport staff directing proceedings. There was no priority queue for business class or disabled people. As my husband was using a crutch after an operation, we ended up just pushing in. When we got to the front of the queue, there were just two scanners for the cases. I would say that you would need to allow at least 3 hours to get checked in, drop your baggage and get through security. Some people had clearly been waiting in the queues for a long time as they were telling staff that they were getting close to missing their flights. Security was OK. Airside was chaos again with no information about flights - our flight was delayed for an hour and there were no announcements and the staff did not have a clue what was going on. Seating and facilities were very limited and there is no VIP/business lounge - despite what the airport website says (a fact that BA also did not mention). The airport is currently being extended but they need to work on the passenger experience or we will bot be returning, which is disappointing because Crete is a great holiday destination.

We have been flying into Chania for the past 14 years and have never experienced any major issues with this typical Greek (primarily holiday) airport. OK, so the queues at check in can be a bit chaotic and the baggage reclaim is 'interesting' especially when the Gatwick baggage handlers decided to send my case via Munich for some inexplicable reason. The duty free shopping is well stocked, taxi ranks are well ordered, hire car areas clearly designated, food is available airside, but not inspiring. Departure lounges are basic and occasionally the aircon works which makes for a pleasant wait. Having been flying into Greece now for close on 40 years, compared to some of the 'arrival and departure' areas I have experienced Chania is pretty good.

Horribly crowded. First queue 35' for check-in, then 40' for baggage drop, then another 35' for security check. No cafeteria after security.

The worst airport I have ever experienced. We arrived two hours before our flight which we assumed would be ample time but alarm bells began to ring when we saw massive queues everywhere both outside and inside the terminal. When we found the check in desk although the queue was not that long the check in person took a ridiculous amount of time to deal with each party so it took ages to reach the front of the queue. We then discovered that we had to join another queue to have the bags x- rayed! After that we queued again to get through security and this was a free for all with no system at all and the staff again were really slow and didn't seem to care at all. By the time we finally reached the gate the whole process had taken over one and a half hours! Had we arrived at the airport much later we easily could have missed our flight altogether! The airport clearly neither has the staff nor the capacity to deal with the amount of traffic it receives and is a shambles more akin to airports of the 1960's. This experience means we are very unlikely to ever visit Crete again and this is a shame as the island has much to offer. Since the island is very much tourist dependent the authorities need to get a grip on this problem as it is a disgrace.

Arriving from Amsterdam the baggage arrived quickly. Very long queues even outside waiting to depart interfering with arriving passengers. Departing from Chania: We arrived in good time to avoid this. We appreciated the nice air-conditioning in the departure hall and lounge after a long hot car journey. The toilets are in need of an overhaul broken seats WC roll holders tiles etc. You have to carry you hold luggage from check-in to security. Before security a big bottle of water costs 50 c After security in the bar 1.50 Euro. The monitors with information all worked. The holding bar was adequate. "Tax-free" shop and bar expensive. This airport is better than Heraklion airport when we were there last year.

Nice small airport for winter chaotic during summer. Long waiting for baggage screening. Not many stores expensive bar toilets below standards limited signage far from city without extensive bus routes. Arrival area very dark light bulbs burned out airport information desk clueless. Needs improvements very fast.