Istanbul Airport

It's nothing an overpriced piece of concrete. There is no free WiFi, you have to register and it seems only a Turkish mobile number will work as no code is sent to a foreign number (I made several attempts). Two Turkish coffee and a sandwich for €12? And why sell duty free items in Euros if you insist on charging in Turkish Lire (at the airport exchange rate) if you pay by credit card? The guy at the shop tried to instill the blame on my credit card company. Why would a Euro credit card insist on the transaction being in Turkish Lire? I will be avoiding this airport from now on.

Turkish Airlines should be really pushing hard to get the new airport completed. I'd say that this place makes Heathrow look deserted! In spite of it all we had no problem here. We were supposed to have a 3:15 layover on the outbound but it turned out to only be about an hour--maybe that was good. There was decent seating at the gate and we boarded the bus transfer before all seats were filled. On our return we had only 1:15 layover. Of course the plane landed at one end of the L-shaped airport/terminal and we taxied to the exact opposite one to park. At least with the bus transfers they use both the front and rear exits. They bussed us to one end of the domestic terminal and we had to walk to the opposite end to get our bus to the plane. It was marked a 15 minute walk but that would be waking rather quickly. Our boarding pass was marked “Group B.” I guess the “B” stands for “bus”! Still no problem as our cabin (rearmost of an A330-300) was a bit less than half full and no shoving or pushing! I was on the wrong side of the plane to see the terminal when we taxied, but I think it is more likely than not that your plane will not park at a jetway. If you know you will be bussed and are flying on a widebody in coach, it is probably better to sit near the back exit of the plane. It is good to have more than 1:15 layover but if your flight is at the last one/only one of the day on that route, I have a hunch that they will hold your connecting departure for 15 minutes for you. I will likely transit this airport at least twice in the next 12 months because Turkish Airlines provides good service and much better food and amenities than other airlines, especially for the price. I’m sure what has been said about the workers at this airport is true. I didn’t have a need or really the time to find out. At least both of our bags made the transfer when the connecting time was about an hour. So it seems that at least works reasonably well. From the other reviews I don’t seem to hear about displaced luggage.

Horrible experience. Snow in Istanbul in December, nothing exceptional but the airport completely collapsed. Ground staff have no information. We have even waited 3 hours after landing in the aircraft because they were not able to park. When the pilot mentioned some issues with stairs we saw airport workers playing on the snow nearby and ignoring us for about half an hour.

I have been transitting in IST for 5 years and the quality, cleanliness and overall experience is just getting worse and worse. In the last 2 weeks I was twice in the TK Business Class Lounge which used to be my favorite but now it is just frustrating to go there. If you want to take a shower you have to wait at least 2 hours - I get it between 6:00 am - 8:00 am but at 2:00 pm? It is just a joke. The food variety in the lounge hasn't changed for the past 2 years. There are birds flying around in the lounge and nobody seems to feel responsible to remove them and clean the mess. The airport is getting bigger and bigger but seems the service can't cope with. Too bad.

Airport staff at Istanbul Ataturk were very uncooperative, we were wheelchair bound but getting a wheelchair was not easy. Wheelchair operators kept demanding money from us and we had to walk to find an operator. The staff were very disrespectful, and could not communicate in English.

This was the worst experience I've had in an airport. It is completely disorganized. You see people running from place to place. Not enough seating, dirty, no internet services, very poor-to-no English, and people sleeping and sitting all over the floors. But the worst part of all: they have so many flights with a limited number of gates so they do not know until about 30 min before departure time which gate they will assign your flight. Because some fit at the gate directly and others you have to walk out of the gate to take a bus. With all this myself along with many other travelers missed our flights because they do not assign and publish the gate numbers on time on their screens. Nor is there anyone that helps you or knows what gate would it be. A terrible experience.

I am a frequent flyer (Elite Plus Turkish Airlines) and I pass through Ataturk airport between 6 to 10 times a year. It is over-crowded and currently one of the worst large airports in the world. But Turkey and the kind hospitality of Turkish people should not be judged by the poor management and unwelcoming behaviour of a minority group of its customs / security officers.

If you are looking for an airport that has barely any seats in the main terminal, Istanbul Ataturk Airport for you. This is the first airport I have been to that has minimal seating in the main terminal where all the duty free, clothing shops, cafe, and fast food is located. If you are waiting for your gate number and don't know where to go you will not find any where to sit aside from the boarding gates. I have never ever seen so many people laying on the floor. People were sleeping on the floor, feeding their kids on the floor, absolutly ridiculous. People were laying down right in the middle of the terminal area, in front of shops, under escalators. Me and my wife had a 4 hour layover that turned into an 8 hour layover and we walked for several hours waiting to grab a seat or a table at a cafe, which we did find and sat at for the next 3 hours since if we moved we would not get a seat again. This airport is also known for delay after delay, I have never seen soo many delays and cancellations. We were flying to Pakistan and our flight was delayed but the flight to Islamabad flew on time, how does that work when two flights departing at about the same time to the same country has one that is delayed and one that does not and they state that the current weather outside is the reason - not sure how that works. Turkish airlines offered us a food voucher to Burger King, and when I went there to redeem it they informed me that the free burgers are finished and have no more to offer. Also there is limited free wifi depending on what you can find there. Also be prepare to be rude, since the majority of the people working there will walk right over you or completely ignore you. I saw one gentleman ask three different people for help, the first lady just walked by him, the second guy just said something in Turkish and continued to walk away, and the third person could barely speak english and gave him wrong instruction. This brings me to another problem, English is a major issue here, as most employees of the airline, airport staff and store employees have very minimal to no english skill set, making it very hard to have questions answered. Also be ready to push and shove and stare people down if you have to, as there is very little concept of lines, at the information desk it was just like being in a herding pen and you will have to fight your way to the front, people will try to get infront of you and interupt you, so be ready to stand up for yourself. I had one very nice Turkish lady who was coming from the UK that helped translate for me, even tell me that I have to be rude to get stuff done. In the end I don't recommend this place and going forward I will try my best to avoid having to transit here.

If your purpose of travel is to shop, eat and sleep at airports for 18 hours then go back home then this is your airport. To get around the world, look elsewhere. Our plan was to travel to Toronto from Kuwait. We arrived from Kuwait an hour late because our Turkish Airlines flight was late, then we had to stay onboard the airplane for 3 hours because there wasn't a bus available to take us to the arrival gate. Once we were in the airport, realizing we had missed our connecting flight to Toronto there was no one to ask for directions or help. The airport was small, poorly ventilated and overcrowded. Imagine the situation now with a 4 and a 6 year old with you. Eventually found the Turkish Airlines desk and qued for 3 hours only to be told by the front desk that I was in the wrong queue. Another two hours later and we were booked on a flight to Montreal. We booked a hotel from our own expenses because by that time we needed to rest. The airport has vast spaces reserved for high end retailers and only corridors for passengers not mentioning safety and comfort issues. The staff were overwhelmed by confused passangers and they were themselves confused not knowing where to direct strangled poor passengers.

We had one of our worst, if not the worst airport experiences on January 1, in Ataturk Airport where we spent 14 hours. The airport seemed like a refugee camp with thosands of people wandering around as more than 200 flights had been cancelled. You had to jump over people sleeping or simply sitting on the floor as there was little space to be. The worst thing was that there was nobody to talk to, no information provided and we had to make our way asking other passengers what to do. Amazing that there were no authorised personnel to deliver information. Also terrible that there is no WIFI. The few persons we encountered were mostly security guards that had little or no idea about the flights and spoke almost no english. I found it incredible that a country that is the gate between Europe and Asia, and one of the most touristic in the world has such a deficient airport service regarding comunications and attention. We were lucky to find a turkish girl, a passenger, who saw us and offered to help by calling Turkish Airlines with her cellphone and was able to find us place for the next flight to Madrid that same night. It is was not for her, we would be still queuing to be assigned on another flight.