Incheon Airport

Immigration wait at Incheon airport was 2 hours - a joke. The immigration process in modern age is a joke as all passport details available before arrival. Is Korea innovative? No. The immigration here is old fashioned, boring and inefficient - hopeless

I've been to many different airports but there is no airport like Incheon. It's more than just an airport experience. Even just a step outside of the airport, there are plenty of public transit options to choose from. I hate having to rent a car and drive around when I travel, so I love that I do not need to rent a car here. The airport is clean and well maintained. They have a sauna (Spa) on the ground level so I always go to the airport early and relax before departure. Just a very pleasant experience.

I use Incheon airport several times per year but my last experience was just terrible. It took about 1 hour to pass passport control. The queues were just unacceptable and staff did not care about it at all. Also it was so hot inside. The airport is clean as always, but it really needs some improvements with queuing.

I have spent the past four years using Incheon Airport and the immigration queues on my past three trips have been appalling. Consistent waiting times of more than an hour to enter the country. Given that everything else about this airport is world class, this recent development is out of character. Unless I have a pressing need I will be avoiding Incheon from now on, as I cannot schedule my time efficiently.

Normally Incheon is what a great airport experience should be. Great facilities, friendly staff and quick in and out. Recently massive lines at security screening and immigration make the experience quite unpleasant. Ability to use in town check in Seoul is a great feature that speeds up departures. Check out the sauna in the basement on departure. Great wifi and facilities like free showers, museum and shopping are sadly overshadowed by huge lines on departure and arrival.

With departures, Incheon airport is one of the better airports in the world. Plenty of shops, restaurants, and activities to keep yourself busy while you are waiting for a flight. However with arrivals, the experience has consistently been very tiring and a poor experience. Since it is a fairly high traffic airport, one would expect Incheon to be prepared to handle the large influx of people coming through, but every time I have been here, whether in the early morning, midday or late at night, I have always had to wait 1+ hour to get past immigration. This has been getting worse and worse. I am currently 40 minutes in the line and I'm almost halfway through the line.

The service at Incheon Airport is not modern or near the best in Asia. I waited for about 1.5 hrs for customs on arrival. For departure, the procedure for tax refund is complicated and again, I waited for 1.5 hrs for customs. At 6:30 pm this appears to be a peak time and I don't know why there are only 6 counters open serve so many people. I do the tax refund after the custom again - very inconvenient . In the end I have no time to have dinner or do some shopping. The air conditioning is poor inside customs.

I use Incheon airport about 6 times a year and they never seem to properly greet their guests upon arrival. I spent 2 hours at immigration with about 300 other people. If I didn't live here I would never want to come back. They give a poor impression of hospitality immediately upon arrival. I do not understand why their Korean national lines remain empty they do not open them up to relieve congestion for the foreigners. I am now sitting on the floor because I have been standing for so long.

I have used ICN for transit and international arrivals and departures, and I am puzzled by its high regards. It is no cleaner or more modern than many other Asian airports. Food selection is okay but most restaurants close at 9 PM. Foreign ATM's are hard to come by, and the airport railroad takes cash only. International arrivals are the worst. Immigration took 90 minutes on my last visit, and the line had swelled to 2+ hours by the time I made it through. Having just 6 kiosks open is unacceptable, and the lack of Wi-Fi in that part of the airport made it that much more painful. To add insult to injury, baggage is pulled off the carousel and left unattended because it takes so long. Do yourself a favor and use BKK or SIN instead.

Incheon used to be a great airport. Now the arrival queue for foreign immigration is well over 1.5 hours consistently, if not 2 hours. The problem is they have greatly increased the air traffic (primarily China) without increasing the support on the ground. The locals get a 10 min queue while foreigners suffer. I have had to fly here for 4 years and it was not like this 4 years ago.