Geneva Airport

Having read previous reviews I was very concerned that I would only be arriving 90 minutes before flight departure. However the security queues were 10 mins maximum and the whole affair seemed to run smoothly and efficiently.

The airport is reasonable apart from the unacceptable length of time it takes to get through security screening. Last week the queue stretched out into the main walkway with a wait of around 35 minutes. People who were going to miss flights were given no assistance by the one young girl sent out to field the many complaints and appeals for help. Just not good enough for a country that prides itself on efficiency and organisation!

Efficient pleasant good shopping. Cannot fault it to be honest a very nice modern airport.

30 minute queue just to get into the airport. Drop-off point closed to all traffic. Drop-off point empty. Why? No directions for traffic. Had to vacate moving vehicle retrieve bag and walk across empty drop-off point to get into airport building. No instructions from staff. Queues as usual in the airport. Anyone using this airport needs to get there at least three hours before flight check-in otherwise you are in danger of missing your plane.

Changed planes coming from Athens and continuing to Helsinki. The arriving plane was delayed because of other traffic and indeed the airport was very crowded especially the tax free shop where the entrance from the connecting flights/tranfer led us. It was really annoying. Then the departure to Helsinki was in the Schengen terminal D (no border control) which was far away from the arrival. The satellite terminal D has very limited services: a combined bar/shop which was horrendously expensive. I will use other airports for my transfer in the future.

They had to close the airport due to snow on Saturday 19 January 2013. It was snowing quite heavily but you would imagine that it does this quite a lot at Geneva and they would be able to cope. Unfortunately they still could not get their act together. Umpteen flights cancelled no information nobody knew what was happening 4 hours to return the luggage had to sleep on the floor. Absolutely no assistance from airport management in the way of refreshments or blankets and then biblical queues again in the morning to get on the rescheduled flights which I am sure meant that people missed their flights. There was me believing all the hype that Switzerland is an efficient country!

Arrived at the airport 55 min before gate closing time for an intra-Schengen flight. I had already checked in before. It took me 50 minutes to get through baggage drop-off and security. Especially the latter is horribly inefficient. Waiting time at the security was well over 30 minutes with only half of the security gates staffed and a priority row eating away half of the remaining capacity. That's a disgrace. I ended up having only five minutes to get from security to a D-gate. The D-terminal is basically a hut on the apron (with a very bad PA system for boarding announcements) to be reached through a tunnel. By running the whole end I barely made it in time. I'd advise anyone considering to travel from this airport to allow plenty of time.

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.