Istanbul Airport

I have used Ataturk for the past 4 years and the wait times at immigration in and out have got worse and worse. In the past month I have been through the airport 4 times. The shortest wait at immigration was 20 minutes the longest 1.5 hours. Even at 1 am you can wait an hour. On all occasions less than half the immigration desks were occupied and several staff were standing around talking laughing and generally doing anything but their job. One night section two was completely closed and the line at section one stretched out of the waiting area and more than 50 m down the arrival corridor. That night I sat next to an American lady who had to buy new tickets because she missed her plane after waiting more than an hour in immigration. The line for Turkish passport holders is fast. But International passports wait up to 10 times longer. Again poor organisation. Turkish Airlines are good but I suggest they transfer a couple of Managers over to the Immigration Department and teach them how to run an efficient operation. Im sorry but I have a choice of airports to transfer out of Europe and Istanbul has gone to the bottom of my list. Turkish Airlines - if you want this customer back fix your home airport. (PS I have flown with you at least 25 times in the past three years - business and pleasure but last weekend was the last time unless I have no other choice) .

Travelled through several times on Turkish Airlines but this airport is now so terrible I may stop flying with Turkish. Queues at immigration are so slow the staff here are rude and portray a very poor image of Turkey. Once you finally get to the departure lounge area it is overcrowded so badly you may not find a seat and restaurants are nearly always full. The airport ground staff are generally not well trained the word "smile" does not exist in their minds. Terrible and to be avoided if you can.

Arrived 29 April from UK only 2 passport control people working although possible 16 stations available. Staff not interested in relieving the problem or apologetic. Took 1hr to get through the queues of people. Welcome to Istanbul!

We had read all the horror stories so left plenty of time before travelling from Istanbul to Venice on 15 April but we experienced no delays whatsoever. We were through security passport control and check-in/bag drop with Turkish Airlines all in under 15 minutes. We then found a near empty departure lounge (no more than 6 others and approx 120 seats) near to our own and read quietly until boarding on time and departing early. Overall a seamless experience.

Terrible unguided queuing just after entrance and not enough security checking points. Several queuing points: security check baggage drop passport check another security check. Several hundreds of people were unguided in entrance hall queues. 2.5 hrs is not enough to get on plane in time.

On Monday 28 April we arrived at Istanbul Ataturk to fly to London Heathrow. We entered at 6.55 am. The security check was 14 minutes. The passport check was 34 minutes. We counted 982 people in the passport queue. Of the 14 passport points only 5 were in use. We spoke to the passport supervisor who simply shrugged his shoulders. This is very poor service.

We just spent almost 2 hours going through passport control at IST today. That's 2 hours! The line was horrendous and airport personnel did nothing to ease the situation for hundreds of people. More and more flights kept arriving and the line was barely moving. They seriously need more agents checking passports and visas. Only half the booths had agents. Certainly they know how many flights are arriving. Turkish Airlines runs a great operation in the air however the Istanbul Airport creates the worst airport experience ever.

As a seasoned traveller this was the first time I have travelled via Istanbul and will probably be the last. Chaos is the only way I can describe the International transfers. After standing in a queue for nearly 40 minutes I was then told I had to join a different queue as I was travelling on a British Passport and had to go through two security checks. Despite the fact that flights were being called and final boarding was being called there was no system in place to get people through quickly to make connecting flights. I had a 2½ hour stay over in Istanbul and after clearing security on an International Transfer my flight was being called. The ground staff were unhelpful.

On the way into the country the queues were massive. On the way out everything was fast - the immigration queue took 3 mins and security check 2 mins. Some people complained about joining the wrong queue. Well the desks are clearly sign-posted in English - Turkish Nationals and Other Nationalities. You just have to read. In regards to overpriced food. Well sandwiches start at 10TL (about £3) and coffee starts at 5TL (about £1.50). It's normal price for an airport. Some people on here also complained about limited seating availability. Again I experienced plenty of free seats. Overall my experience was ok but looking at other reviews it could've been just a good day - Tuesday early afternoon.

Why in the world is there a security checkpoint for transfer passengers on the "sterile passenger" side. It is seriously inefficient and serves no logical purpose. I almost missed my connection back to KIAH from LLBG via LTBA. Other airports in the region like Doha and Dubai do not do this! Turkish Airlines need to have agents to at least meet transfer passengers and guide them through fast especially for those passenger who have mere minutes to transfer. Turkish Airlines is a wonderful airline but has a terrible airport to call home. If you can use Dubai as your transfer.