Delhi Airport

The best airport in India I have been to there is no bus transfer from domestic to international like BOM still has. Security checks are plenty the cabin luggage screening is a huge mess with shoving and pushing from all sides it is not clear how efficient these checks are and what the purpose of funny paper tags with a stamp on every bag is. If they are so important why are only 2 of our 4 bags actually checked at the time of boarding. Immigration is equally confusing. You are supposed to fill a form nobody tells you that you have to fill it and the form is not available anywhere. Same thing happens when you try to leave the country - you have to plea to a number of staff to actually find out the secret of which other staff member is hiding the forms. The form to leave the country again needs the same information as you gave for the visa application. The Immigration officer then told me it was the duty of the airline to hand out these forms. International to domestic luggage is not checked through even though this was confirmed to me at the time of check-in in BKK by Air India staff. Leaving India it was checked through as well as for international to international transfer. To recheck you bags you have to pick them up and walk them all across the building to some dedicated transfer counters. While walking in the terminal make sure not to stumble over the large gaps in the floor. I was also surprised to find large amounts of staff in washrooms that are labelled "not for staff" they are mostly passing time and chatting away. For wifi you can actually select you country to get the password sent to you cell phone but it only worked on 2 out of my 3 times there. Still if you have a choice as to which airport in India you are going to Delhi is probably a good choice.

Was surprised by the "random security" check at this airport. 5 of us after visiting Delhi flew together to Hong Kong using Jet Airways. We spent a long time at the International security check-in counters due to the long queue and only 1 out of 3 counters allowed for ladies it then took over 15 minutes to walk to the appropriate gates. About 30 minutes before the boarding time 3 of us were advised that we were selected by the Custom for random check we were accompanied by Jet Airway staff and walked us all the way back to the security check-in counter with our baggage queue up and checked again as per normal travelers then run back to the boarding gate to catch our plane - luckily just before the door closed. It seems New Delhi Airport is the only one with such special arrangement. Maybe this is one of the various reasons it can only be the second best airport.

Strict security so much so that our passport photos were checked three times by the same person at different stages of our passage through. Also as it is not allowed to take Rupees out of the country it would help if Thomas Cook staff would change ones money for you. They seemed most reluctant to change money into sterling trying instead to give Euros or Dollars. Eventually we managed to get Scottish notes as long as we had a minimum of £40 so we had to club together with another traveller. Airside we could only use sterling notes but change would be given in Rupees. How daft is that! The airport itself is a modern building with good facilities but let down by its staff.

First of all I must mention that T3 is an enormous improvement on the old terminal. It is well laid out and very spacious. I'm not sure about the brownish carpet throughout though! With a few improvements mainly in attitudes it might one day achieve the status of some of the better airports like Singapore although I'm not holding my breath. First of all immigration and security staff need to learn manners. Security staff in particular are incompetent and surly. Secondly toilet attendants need to attend to their cleaning duties instead of hovering about trying to extract tips. Thirdly WiFi needs to be free. There is supposed to be free WiFi for 30 minutes. However the PIN code was not fully sent to my mobile phone and as a result I was not able to log on either at the time of my first visit or upon my return visit a fortnight later. Finally FX facilities need to be provided in the departure area after immigration so people have the possibility of converting unused Rupees into an alternative currency since it is not possible to exchange those in one's home country and it would appear taking Rupees out of India is actually illegal!

Very good airport. Very nice interiors. Immigration officials not very friendly. One of the best in Asia.

I had to use Delhi for domestic and international transfers. The Airport has still got smelly carpet which they need to change. The toilets were clean and better than Heathrow. The security queues at international transfer was really long and as well as the queue for lift to domestic transfers. They need to introduce more lifts to domestic transfers as one lift is not sufficient for international passengers. The food court is impressive and caters for world cuisine. Elderly people have a nightmare at this airport due to long walks. This can be overcome by introducing shuttle services to gates from security gates. The security personal were polite and interactive. Overall I am impressed with Delhi.

Another flawless experience at T3. Second trip at this airport this month and overall nothing to complain about. Clean layout functioning clean wash rooms enough to eat and drink - basically whatever one needs from an international airport. Recommended.

Terminal 3. Beautiful big efficient airport that works well except for one fatal flaw: the security arrangement in the transit zone. I strongly encourage anyone thinking of flying a route that involves connecting in Delhi to avoid this airport altogether by finding another route. It is massively inefficient slow incompetent and aggravating. The worst airport security set-up I've experienced except for Heathrow Terminals 3 and 4 in London which come a close second. It is under-staffed poorly designed and the people working there are obviously poorly motivated have poor technical training no common sense and no understanding about how to treat passengers like human beings. Yes India has good reason for lots of security but there are better ways of doing it and this is one place to avoid. The poor ratings below relate to the transit security set-up and its effect on the overall airport experience.

A very busy place. Queuing time very poor almost 2 hrs. Suggest there were more staff to help speed up the process. Bags check and body search very thorough which is good but need to increase staffing.

I have been to this airport on numerous occasions each time my gate is towards the end. The good thing is that there are plenty of travelators all around and getting to the gate gets easy. The complimentary water bottle and newspaper received just before boarding the aircraft is appreciated. Security is tight but I think that is needed plus it gives you a sense of relief when you know that everyone has been checked properly.