Chennai Airport

Back to MAA again after 4 months. Pretty much the same as before. Long lines at the airline counter but no lines at immigration. Security was ok. Immigration staff were pleasant on both directions. One complaint I have is that there are no announcements in Tamil in this airport. None of the airlines bothered in my 2 hours waiting.

Flew into and out of the airport in December a year after my last trip. Arrival pretty much the same as before. Immigration queues are long and slow. Bags took a while to arrive and no issues with customs. Crowd management outside the airport can be better hopefully the new terminal will work better. On departure I did not have a print out of my boarding pass but the security personnel accepted the ticket on my tablet but with a warning. Immigration is long and took an hour to get through security was quick. They have moved the location of security for the better and airside is much more spacious with lots of seats. I've always found immigration personal friendly in Chennai airport and have never encountered a grumpy one. Overall standard Indian airport with not many amenities hope they open the new terminal soon.

Chennai Airport will hopefully be replaced with the new terminal in the near future honestly I found the business class really poor and very over crowded with limited choice and poor options. I did not stay long preferring to walk the terminal than sit in an area that I did not feel welcome. The terminal for departures is not particularly clean but does seem to work most staff are polite but not particularly friendly although I did not find the rude either. They do love rubber stamps though. The arrivals process was quick although immigration did seem to take longer by western standards it is not that bad for the rest of the world. Roll on the new terminal - it must be better than this.

Flew on the night AI flight from SIN to MAA and back. Overall this is an airport that gets you in and out without nothing much to do in between unlike Changi. Having said that I prefer MAA over BOM DEL CCU or BLR simply for the small size closeness to the city and the un-chaotic nature of the airport. Immigration and customs have been pretty decent. Some construction going on and can't wait to travel through the new terminal. Hopefully it will be better! Only gripe is the lateness of baggage arrival especially during nights when most international flights arrive. They need more handlers customs officers and most importantly more conveyor belts!

I recently used Chennai airport's international and domestic terminals for transit to Madurai from Sydney as well for the return trip back to Sydney. The international terminal has some improved facilities with the inline baggage scanning system reducing the time to check-in. The immigration customs and baggage arrival are quite smooth though the customs and immigration officials could be groomed a bit to be passenger- friendly. They let domestic passengers enter the terminal even if the flight is 5 hours away which is a positive. However the biggest gripe is about the toilets. The toilets are smelly unkempt and very poor both in the international as well as in the domestic terminal. The domestic terminal doesn't have enough seats which forces passengers to sit on the floor. They still use the buses to get the passengers to the aircraft on the domestic side of the terminal.

I have flown from Chennai 5 times (all international travel). I saw some expansion works in Dec 2011. Every something is being expanded but at a very slow pace. When I entered the airport the floor was not clean was not able to enter the toilets - everywhere smelt. When I complained airport staffs behaved in a very rude manner. Security checks were impressive and very strict cleared everything in 10 minutes. Immigration at departure and arrival in Chennai is always a nightmare. Immigration officers spend more than 10 minutes on each person. Hope to see improvements in the near future.

2012 and I'm not sure this airport has budged in terms of quality ratings. It's about relativity and considering the time gone by a lot of airports in India have come a long way not just gleaming glass and steel structures also aesthetics amenities cleanliness and just looking like it belongs to the right time period. Chennai airport in 2012 reminded me of Mumbai's in the 90's if you don't see the signs to the toilet your nose can rescue you.

Officials are awful security staff make the traveller uncomfortable and keep scolding passengers. Immigration process takes too long by staff with a long face but luckily they don't scold the passengers. Duty free has good options. Airport floor and washroom are extremely unclean. Not enough signs and flight information boards.

This is a very poor airport. Toilets are disgusting. After check-in it gets even worse. A very dark and old- looking place. No signs or information of any kind. No view of the planes. Only upside is that nobody arrives early so we were quickly through security and check-in. There are no restaurants or shops. Just a very strange bookstore and a small "cart".

I flew in and out of Chennai last week. Traveled to Tuticorin during the week and back to Chennai to catch the international flight. I had 5 hrs before my flight was not allowed into the international area for at least 2 hrs no suggestion of where you could rest. I spoke to the security staff at the visitors viewing gallery and was let in and sat around for 2 hrs unable to use the washroom facilities as I was unable to leave my baggage unsupervised. Once International check-in was completed had to sit in the gate lounge for nearly 2 hrs. Washroom facilities were filthy toilets were filthy awash with water no soap to wash hands. Terrible experience - please clean up your act.