Geneva Airport

DNATA ground staff are absolutely hopeless - all very pleasant but so poorly trained. During the recent bad weather causing disruption queues went on for hours and hours with none of the staff making announcements or communicating. We queued for 2 hours only to be told they couldn't check in our flight yet as they weren't sure how late it was going to be - yet why did the staff patrolling the queue not announce this to anyone? This situation continued over the several hours we eventually spent queuing at check-in over the next 20 hours. No organisation skills at all. Also as might be expected in Switzerland all food and shop prices were astronomically high (and it's not because you're paying for quality - €20 for a cheeseburger meal at Burger King for example!). There's a long trip to the gates from the central shops too with only minimal facilities near the gates.

Travelled from Geneva to Manchester yesterday. For a country whose efficiency is supposed to be famous it's fairly terrible. Got to the airport (already checked in) 90 minutes before flight. In baggage drop queue for over half an hour (easyjet) at which point a special call was made for my flight and there was a stampede to the dedicated desk. No dedicated bag drop line unlike at other easyjet airports which appears to be a sticking point. Then there was a further 40 minute wait at security despite the screens saying it was a maximum wait of 10 minutes. There is then a third queue for passport control - that in itself is quite efficient but why put the queue right at the end of the moving walkway so everyone crashes into each other? I got to the flight 5 minutes before departure. No wonder there is no one in the duty free shops or restaurants no one has any time as they're all in the queues.

Had to travel through Passport Control in Geneva on my way from Barcelona Spain to Washington DC USA. They only had two government workers there for 500+ passengers. It took over 30 minutes to pass through. In addition there was no information while waiting on line if your connecting flight was late or it was going to wait for you if you were late.

Travelled several times during the last months using GVA. Overall the airport is functional and pleasant to use. Major problem is going through security I don't know how they manage it but it always takes ages to clear security even when there are only a few travellers.

LHR-GVA return in Jan. Queues are as awful as 4 years ago and reminiscent of Shanghai's domestic airport (Hongqiao) before its upgrade last year. Convoluted flow system both for arrival and departure and insufficient space for the passenger volumes. Arrived 2 hours before my flight back to LHR and every check-in counter including business class was maxed out with luggage overflowing everywhere as it's ski season. Dining facilities improved but all options are horribly expensive with a Burger King meal going at around SFr15.

Getting worse and worse. Who in their right mind designs one security area for all departures? Who puts customs at the end of a moving escalator so you all fall into each other? Coming into Geneva again faced by two customs offices but most people do not know as they face the opposite sides so have to fight your way through an angry crowd to get to the other side where there are seldom people. Toilet cleanliness is poor. Only good thing is the food choice which is much better. Unless they take notice of feedback this airport is to be avoided if you can.

All I can comment on are the endless queues. After arriving with plenty of time for my flight I spent all of it in queues. The Easyjet check-in was a shambles lots of people forced into one long queue not all kiosks were open so staff unable to handle volume efficiently. You have to check yourself in at machines before joining the queue so everybody were doing was dropping off bags. After that queue security was crazy. You could choose from one of four queues with about one or if you were lucky two security points open. This was for all flights so queues again a nightmare. Easyjet gate was of course the farthest away so by the time I got there we were boarding so joined yet another queue. If Geneva airport wants people to spend money at the airport they should think about making the whole process more efficient so we actually have time to shop.

Restaurant food and drink facilities are very poor what there is is very expensive. In the so called Tax Free shop prices were astronomical. As I go to the Alps the large baggage handling point staff can get really irate if you try to get something through which may be okay coming into the airport but getting out is a major problem for them. The man forcefully insisted I go and buy some Swiss Francs and buy a cardboard carton to put my bike in just so handling staff can put it on a belt and no receipt given either. At Heathrow as long as I've turned bars around and put the saddle down they'll take it as is this saves me having to carry packaging around Europe.

I have been a user of Geneva airport throughout the years and it is becoming a very low cost airport in terms of services facilities and comfort. The only thing that has improved at Geneva is the duty free area it is far too big for such a small airport.

I fly in and out of Geneva every week. All I can say is that the experience is getting worse and worse. The security queues are pathetic considering the whole system has been replaced.