“prices of food are extremely high”
Mascha Geuze (Netherlands)
Not Verified | The airport looks big, clean and good safety control. The prices of the food are extremely high. Eight euro for a simple cookie. 13 euro for a sandwich - Crazy.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | November 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"extremely high priced"
K Rahim (United States)
Not Verified | I was staying here for a 6 hour layover, my father is paralyzed on his right side so once we arrived to the airport there had been a request for a wheelchair when I booked our tickets. The guy came with a wheelchair and was extremely impatient, he seemed like he had something more important to do. He requested the boarding pass which was in my backpack, I told him to give me a second and I’ll get it for him which then he got extremely aggressive with me, if it were someone else in my shoes and were not as patient as me the situation would’ve escalated very quickly. There was an issue getting him to the handicap area since they’d rather take more than 1 people at once with a car thing. Every one of those handicap transporter were extremely rude and condescending. The airport was extremely messy, there weren’t enough seats either. The pricing was extremely high priced, I understand that most airports are like this but this airport was much more expensive than any other airport. The airport is huge but not in a good way. It felt huge but it was empty at the same time, whoever did the designs for the airport did a great job to make people feel uncomfortable, you will also have to walk for miles just to get to your gate.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | October 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"give this the Worst airport ever"
Sajjad Abd Ali (Belgium)
Not Verified | I give this the Worst airport ever. Duty free more expensive then Champs Elysees Paris, the food 3 times expensive then any airport in Europe! Workers behaving so poorly and rude, no free internet after 1 hour, no free trolley.
Experience At Airport | Transit |
Date Visit | November 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"Extremely expensive food"
Klaus Møllgaard (Denmark)
✅ Trip Verified | Unacceptable long waiting time to get through passport control and security check it took almost an hour. Extremely expensive food of a mediocre quality
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | October 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"the worst and least friendly airport"
Graham Guise (United Kingdom)
Not Verified | Istanbul Airport is without doubt the worst and least friendly airport I have ever transited. My wife and I were Business Class back to Heathrow. On check in we were given no directions to the fast track lane and there was no signage, to the point it can't exist. It took us a full 90 minutes to transit passport and security (my wife struggles when standing for long periods) Having passed security (very curt) we walked some distance to the BA allocated Business Lounge, only to find queues to get in and no room to site down when we did. There was little time left as the gate was called open, so grabbing two bottles of water we walked the full distance to our gate, to find two staff and no plane. We found somewhere to sit until the board changed to boarding (although entitled to the business class lounge, the distance and packed lounge did not engender either of us with the desire or energy to return). As an International Airport which suggests it is the largest in Europe (this can only be by area, because there are certainly nowhere near the flight numbers to compete with the largest airports in Europe) it is very poor. If I was a Turkish Tax payer I would be asking serious questions as to why this white elephant is so large and they wan't it to be the largest in the World (Why). I will never transit this airport again.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | September 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"extremely unpleasant experience"
S Macetti (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | One of the worst transfer experiences I’ve ever had. On landing, taxiing time was almost 1 hour. We had to walk for miles to reach first the transit controls, and then our gate. At transit controls our duty free purchases from the departure airport were challenged, and had to argue to keep them. The duty free was a total rip off, 8 pieces of fresh baklavas came at €35! Staff were unfriendly as extremely slow. Finally, the boarding process required our passport and boarding pass to be checked three times by three different agents, standing in a queue for another thirty minutes. Overall a surreal and extremely unpleasant experience.
Experience At Airport | Transit |
Date Visit | September 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"Ground staff lacking respect"
Assunta Rizzo (Australia)
✅ Trip Verified | Ground staff lacking respect, ignored when approach them for help, arrogant and very disorganised in dealing with transit passengers and passengers with assistance. I was a business class passenger who required wheel chair assistance and my husband was my carer but travelled in economy. It was noted that he needed assistance for travelling distance but was never given. I was put on the mobile buggy to reach connecting flight but the driver said my husband could not come with me and nor would he be picked up at all. I objected and he and I had verbal altercation and I was ordered off the buggy or he would not go anywhere with me and I would miss the flight. I was forced to get off and was kindly picked up by a wheelchair. I am 76 and use walking stick. My husband had to carry the walk on baggage fir me and himself. The driver wanted to plonk the carry on baggage on my lap. I cannot carry weight on my legs due to many spinal surgeries. Also I had tried to approach a staff member to ask a question and she totally ignored me and kept walking away from me. In another transit flight we taken off plane and were told to wait for train buggy to pick all the special assistance passengers. No one showed up and so we all ended up having to make our way to other end of airport to boarding gate as the plane was boarding. One official I asked on the way replied that he could not speak English. Eventually I approached an empty mover and he told us to hop on and took us to the gate just in time.
Experience At Airport | Transit |
Date Visit | September 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
“looks like a jurassic service”
Michele Caforio (Italy)
✅ Trip Verified | First time in the new big Istanbul airport so I was curious to see how it was. On the positive side everything looks nice and clean, and there are lots of shops. On the negative side, distances between gates may be really long and tiring. On the main body of the terminal there are no tapis roulant so you have to walk a lot. Beyond that, WiFi is only available after a complex registration process and limited to 1 hour! I could hardly believe this, since I've been into very small airports in Asia or Europe were Wi Fi is fully open and with no time limits. This looks like a jurassic service.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | August 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
“very bad customer service”
A Eshonov (Uzbekistan)
✅ Trip Verified | To return tax, I had to get to another desk and only one employee was serving to approximately 40 passengers. For Turkish airlines passengers there is no need to go to another desk, this is only for non-Turkish airlines passengers, which is a discrimination against passenger profile. I could not get my tax because I could not wait until my turn comes (I waited for more than an hour), otherwise I would have missed my flight. This is very bad customer service I had ever seen.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | September 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"you have to pay for internet"
Milad Momen (Canada)
Not Verified | Worst customer service, very rude and charge you even if you don't have to pay the amount. The only airport that I have ever seen you have to pay for internet, ridiculous, and disappointing. I'll never ever use IST as the hub.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | September 2024 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |