Hamburg Airport

✅ Trip Verified | If you have options - take them rather than fly out of Hamburg airport. Truly shocking customer service at every turn. I’m a business traveller and usually arrive at least 3 hours before departure to cover most modern day airports inability to give a damn about the paying customers. The automated baggage tag machines would not print my tag so I had to wait over 2 hours for the Check-in desk to open. It is supposed to open 2 hours before boarding but the desk still wasn’t open after standing in the queue for an hour. No explanation or apologies provided of course. You would have thought the infrastructure providers would have realised post COVID, levels of service had to change but oh no. To them the almighty dollar knows no equal and they don’t care one bit about the people who keep their businesses operating. Perhaps they need to remember the very recent travel bans and realise if no one is travelling, there won’t be any shareholder bonuses or dividends.

✅ Trip Verified | Generally a good airport. Well sign-posted. Quite compact. Was out relatively quickly in departure and arrival. Security is thorough. Border control was friendly. The WIFI didn't work for me. The bus and S-bahn are minutes walk away.

Not Verified | To say this airport is a hot mess is an understatement. It is chaotic in every way imaginable. Around August of this year I had a trip planned to Ecuador to visit family and for it I had to take a connection in Amsterdam, a flight which started in Hamburg Airport at 6:10 AM. I knew from word of mouth that the airport was completely disorganized, so I went to the airport at 12:00 AM (00:00), six hours before my flight. The check in lines were non-existent, it was a sea of people confused and staff nowhere to be seen or clear signs showing where to go. It took us about half an hour to find the KLM counter and another hour in the check in line. Its 2:30 AM. Now that our bags are checked, I went over to the dreaded security line and on began the waiting and standing… and waiting… and standing…it had been 3 hours in that godforsaken line and it was creeping quite close to my flight’s departure and I was still not through security. As 5:50 got around I started getting desperate and asking for help from staff only to be told to wait in line and that I should have come earlier and that nobody gets priority. As 6:06 came around I was finally at security and wouldn’t you know it, I am being checked very thoroughly. I was starting to break down in tears because my friends had already gotten on the flight (we got separated at security) because I noticed it was 6:12 and they were rubbing those stupid drug towels on my carry on that had my laptop and clothes. Luckily they were done at about 6:15 and in tears I ran to the gate I was supposed to go to. There was nobody there other than the last KLM staff and she asked if I was Ms. Strahm and I said yes, that I got held up at security, and I was finally sat down in tears after the horrible panic of losing the money for a €2k trip because of the complete lack of structure and efficiency in this airport. Just completely bonkers! Around late September I went to Spain and was suffering from a burn in my left thigh that slowed my walking down and due to how fresh the wound was, had to be bandaged. I had the foresight to wear a skirt, something I dont often do at airports, because wouldn’t you know it, I was stopped at security for something showing up on my left leg. I had told the security people about my injury, shown the bandage and was stopped. They wanted to peel off the bandage that I had to pay €30 out of pocket at the doctors office because it is too painful to change by myself and once its unstuck, it rolls off. I refused because it wasn’t even a bulky bandage, about as big as my hand and a smidge thicker than a band aid, but I was not let through until I showed them the report from the hospital about my burns. Just complete hell on earth

✅ Trip Verified | My first use of this airport. Arrival was fault free, although it's a fair walk to Sbahn. For departures, I read the Skytrax reviews noting what was said about security, and was sufficiently troubled to arrive extra early and purchase fast-track. In the event, we were on the last flight of the day and there was absolutely no hassle or delay. In fact I found the staff to be friendly and helpful. My friend had left his walking stick behind on the other side of the gates, and a guard went to get it, with a smile. So full marks. Other than that, there is a severe lack of seating landside, especially for mobility impaired people, so minus points for that. Better than I expected.

✅ Trip Verified | I am 50 year old and a life-long business traveller. The Security at Hamburg is by far the worst I have encountered in Europe. The fact that are unsmiling and generally impolite is fine by me. But I don't like to be shoved and rudely till to "move" when I pick up my bag after security. My wife was treated very poorly for not speaking German, given instructions not to remove shoes and then told off for not removing them by the next rude person. A disgrace for Germany and airports in general. Never thought I could get so upset at security as to write a review like this.

✅ Trip Verified | The security check for departure is the longest i have ever experienced. Even though it takes more than 45 minutes, the individual check stations work slower than in other airports. No sense of urgency with the staff. The strange thing is that i passed there the same time three weeks earlier and then you could pass in less than 10 mins. Very volatile performance.

Not Verified | Absolutely filthy. It is horrific for anyone with disabilities, children etc. There are no places to sit other than the gates area and some very small and also dirty restaurants. Air quality is awful and the entire place smells. Incredibly rude staff. I asked if there is a resting area and got shouted at by a woman telling me that there are many airports in the world without such an area and why am I asking--really, just no. I would give it negative rating if that were possible

Not Verified | Hamburg Airport is the worst experience in 30 years of flying, never again! Flew in one week ago and my suitcase is still in that miserable excuse for an airport. The security check is totally undermanned and the staff totally overwhelmed. On the airport website it shows 4 stars on all other reviews it’s 1 star, is this acceptable in Germany?

✅ Trip Verified | Get your security line under control. If other busy airports can do it, the very least people should expect from Hamburg Airport is a decently quick security experience. Poor management and confusion.

✅ Trip Verified | Enormous queues to get through security. Terrible 3 hour delays due to inadequate staff, inadequate seating at gates, poor acoustics. All in all again a stressful crazy experience.