Heraklion Airport

I'm pretty sure I just went through the 7 circles of hell of Dante's inferno here at Heraklion airport. I've been into a lot of airports, from big ones such as Munich and Singapore, to smaller ones in Laos and Thailand and this was pure chaos. There was no such thing as a queue. People were simply fighting for a place in something which not even with a lot of imagination could resemble a queue. Check-in was a pure disaster. There was no separation between people who had already checked in or not. We had to queue for check-in and then queue again to drop off our luggage. In terms of service - I'm not 100% sure if they were simply making fun of me, or if some of the people working there were simply rude. For security - I can't describe it. Some people were doing their job, but most of them were not. In terms of cleanliness - I find it hard to even use that word when describing this airport. I've traveled around the world, which means that I've seen several types and interpretations of what clean means. But this airport, oh my, this was different. I felt like burning my clothes after being there. The toilets - I know this is part of the cleanliness but they deserve a special section here - they were simply disgusting. For boarding, they made us enter a sweaty, warm, excruciating bus which drove 20 meters to the airplane. I loved Crete, but to be honest I really do hope I will never have to enter that airport again. It was quite traumatising.

Checked in online, then queued for bag drop twice. One huge queue to have labels put on hold luggage, no conveyor belt at the back. Had to then join another huge queue to get hold luggage put through x-ray. Do yourselves a favour, Heraklion Airport, pay for a conveyor belt at the bag drop which goes through x-ray. What an absolute farce.

I first came to this airport in 1979 and unfortunately it hasn't changed much. It's the same old building, still no air conditioning and not enough seating. It is very behind the times and very hot if you have a long wait. The car park is chaotic when the flights which all seem scheduled to arrive late at night at the same time. With all the traffic through this airport it badly needs modernising.

My mobile shows 2016, but our experience at Heraklion airport says 1960's. On arrival, bussed from the plane to the building and the luggage arrived in dribs and drabs as it was shuttled in batches. Directed to a bus in a car park full of buses at night. The number was given, but it was down to us to weave in and out with luggage to find the bus..On departure (hot early evening), we queued with luggage outside, then this queue entered a non-airconned building. Having queued once to have your luggage weighed, then you have to take your luggage back again and join another queue for x-ray. No signs at all. Then another queue for passport, and then the insane departure lounge - nowhere enough seats. Once gate announced, queue again, then down stairs to bus-across tarmac. Know how those baked beans feel in the microwave. Only technology that seems to have reached here are the electric handdryers in the loos. With all the money coming thru Crete this is a joke and reviews from 2005 all say the same. Loved the holiday - hated the 'welcome' and 'goodbye' - they will last as long as the good bits.

Heraklion airport is amongst the worst I have been too - could not sit down, get a drink or anything to eat. Duty free was absolutely packed, it was so hot the sweat was dripping off everyone. Given the wrong boarding gate information at check in. It was just overall a very unpleasant experience. Crete was fantastic, but will never go again because of this.

I was not impressed with this airport and wouldn't want to come back to it anytime soon. My flight from Athens to London Gatwick had a 1hr 15 min change over here. Despite it being such a small airport I found it harder to get to my second flight than if I were at Gatwick or Athens as the signage wasn't very clear/well positioned. In the end I had to ask a member of staff how to get to my next flight. He implied that I have to go all the way out and then through departures again - there's no "transfer corridor". I didn't have a problem with a lack of transfer flight corridor as I had a feeling that this airport is not really a transfer kind of place but even putting aside my difficulty getting to my next flight, my general feeling of the airport was that everything was very unprofessional and untidy. The airport seems to be haphazardly run and it's not so much a want of money but rather the management in my opinion, that creates this sloppy impression. Crete looked like a beautiful island from the plane, but the airport was a let down.

This airport is just about as bad as it gets. Love Crete, but arrival, and especially departure, is chaotic. Add the fact that my wife is disabled and needs wheelchair assistance - which is virtually non-existent here - you get an impossible situation. Queue ages for check in, then queue again with your cases for security scanning. Then a long walk to departure queue at the opposite end of the airport. When disabled passengers board, they are left until last, holding everyone up. The place needs a rebuild, a clean up, and selling to an operator who knows how to handle plane loads of passengers.

Absolutely dire and disgusting. Unfriendly check in staff. Poor air con very warm throughout. Not enough seating for all the flights departing. Filthy toilets. Only two outlets for food which didnt serve anything they had on the menu, only hot dogs, chips and warmed up burgers. Very poor service, would like to have seen some fresh food. No airport staff around cleaning up the filthy tables strewn with rubbish. No one on hand to speak to or complain too. Flight didnt leave on time and staff didn't seem to care or know what they were doing.

By far the worst airport I've visited. Arrival was relatively painless with quick baggage reclaim and clear transfer information. However, on departing we had to queue outside the terminal building in temperatures over forty degrees. On entering we stood in a queue that barely moved before having to stand in another queue to actually put suitcases through X-Ray - despite having checked in online. Not a single table wasn't covered in rubbish, food and spilt drink. Dogs were running around the terminal and the toilets were grim. Then, the TV screen kept changing the flight time to an earlier departure which was entirely inaccurate. Lights constantly flickering. Would not return to Crete for this reason.

I passed through on my way back to Athens. The airport reminded me of Greece in the eighties. Over flowing rubbish bins, filthy toilets and extremely rude staff who just presume that no foreigner could ever possibly understand Greek and feel free to say what they want about costumer. I only hope that all negative reviews are taken in consideration and management learn to chose staff wisely in order to represent this beautiful country in a deserving manner.