Incheon Airport

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.

Wait times at immigration have skyrocketed in recent years. It used to be less than 10 minutes, this week I waited over one hour. First, there was a wait time of more than 15min to take the shuttle train from the concourse (where all non-Korean airlines arrive) to the main terminal. Then all the passengers were directed to a single immigration area. There was a queue to enter the are where people usually queue up. Korean immigration still didn't manage to open all immigration counters. Recently they increased the number of auto-gates, but these require pre-registration and are only open to Korean nationals and foreigners holding certain visa categories. Unless they get their act together, Incheon should not be rated best airport for anything. While the airport and it's facilities are nice, the time required is of more concern to many passengers than the number of duty free shops or the amount of plants in the terminal.

Immigration time not acceptable: I land in Incheon several time per year: the waiting time is always a minimum of 45mins to 1 hour. Furthermore, when wanting to get one's luggage, it is not indicated anymore on the board - the luggage had been put on the side of a conveyor belt, not attended and not secured. You have to search for it, hoping it is still there. What is frustrating is that the TV screen keep on promoting the fact that the airport had been rating one of world's best for several years. That I cannot understand - at least not from people arriving here and travelling to other Asian countries, where the experience is often much better. Of course the WIFI does not work at immigration, which could make the experience less painful.

This is about the 15th time I arrive at the airport and unfortunately it is consistently a bad experience. 1 hour waiting at immigration seems the best you can get. Not exactly what you want after a night flight. It is a real Guess for me why ICN is highly rated this does not fit with my frequent visits. Quite standard is a short waiting time for Korean nationals and a huge waiting line for foreign passport holders. No initiative to at lease share the load over all immigration counters.

Horrendous queues coming in this morning. It took almost 2 hours to get through. The number of lines opened for foreigners was at times only 4. There was no clear signage so many people lined up in the Korean national line only to be told after 10+ minutes that they were in the wrong line. People had small babies crying, which was quite distressing as they were not prioritized. Staff was surly. By the time I got through my baggage was no longer listed on the carousel list. None of the "automated sensor" water fountains that I tried worked. I cannot understand the high ratings Incheon gets. BKK, Narita, Haneda, Singapore, HK are all vastly better airports.

Incheon airport is very clean and high tech. Staff are helpful and always smiling, Fast check in and has a lot of great features like the golf course, ice rink and Korean art museum. Has very helpful signs and great shopping and dining experiences.

About 1 hour waiting for customs, lack of normal ATM's at arrival (only overcharge ATM), no good fast connection to the city. Very disappointed. Already traveled to Incheon Airport 5 times this year and waiting lines at customs are consistently bad, around 45 minutes to more than 1 hour. No where near Changi, Singapore where all goes smoothly, consistently. I would rate ICN at the level of Ho Chi Minh Airport, unfortunately.