Istanbul Airport

Landed from Kuala Lumpur early morning the immigration area was extremely busy. However almost all counters were manned. The luggage handling was efficient. Upon check-in for my next flight on the same morning I was surprised with the huge crowd of people at both island A and B. I was in the line for more than an hour. After clearing immigration and security check point I was bussed to the aircraft. It was at gate 308. Overall I was pleased with those airport's staff I have encountered. They were friendly and helpful.

The airport itself seems fine - clean if not very well air conditioned. On arrival a very slow queue to get visas. I could not understand why it takes so long to take money and put a stamp in your passport. Then the even longer and slower queue at passport control. One reason they are slow at this point is that the available cubicles are never fully manned. Onto luggage claim - at the opposite end of the airport to the aircraft. You need a 1 Lira coin for a trolley. If you do not know this or do not have one you are stuck. I learnt the hard way during a previous trip. On exit you have to get all your bags scanned before check-in. Check in and join the ridiculously slow passport control queues. The food prices are extortionate - £14 for two burgers meals. If they could reduce the delays this would be a very nice airport.

On arrival we were faced with a huge queue for passport control. Our passports were taken away without any explanation and when asked they were very rude. They were returned some 25mins later without a word and a visa stamped in it. Departure was even worse. Horrendous queues for passport control meant a 45 min wait with only 4 booths manned and the rest empty and when we asked one of the so-called 'staff' if we could pass through the check first since our flight was about to leave he simply shrugged and said 'I don't care'. Flight left 20 mins late because we and others were caught in that line. Very poor image of the country. Horrible expensive airport with surly staff.

I like Istanbul Airport a lot but I have never understood why they needed 5 staff behind one desk i.e. the Transit desk downstairs or the desk in front of Business lounge. There seems to be a constant chaos. Another thing is drinking and dining is horribly expensive. The airport due to increased traffic on the last few years and seems to be exhausted. It is always very crowded.

I was in transit at Istanbul airport (from Europe going to Abu Dhabi and onto Melbourne). The airport itself is modern and clean and the transfer counter was clearly marked. After lining up to obtain my boarding passes my passport and baggage ticket was photocopied and I was told to take a seat and wait approximately 10 mins for my boarding pass which I thought was odd. After 30 mins of waiting I lined up again to ask where my pass was and I was rudely told to sit back down and that my pass was at the gate and that they would arrive shortly. A number of passengers were taking the same journey and we were all quite nervous about boarding our connecting flight on time. A further 30 mins later someone came out of the gates with our boarding passes and handed them out. How on earth is this normal practice in an international airport? What made the poor organisation worse was the temper of the people behind the counter and the three females sitting behind him literally filing their nails while 50 people were waiting for passes. Avoid transferring at this airport at all costs if you need to get boarding passes here!

Istanbul Ataruk Airport is beautiful but one of the most disorganized airports I have ever been. Luckily I arrived with Turkish Airlines from Tel Aviv on Business Class so I got to use the Immigration Fast Track line. However getting a trolley for my bags was very tough and waited over 1hr for my bags. I departed on Lufthansa Business Class and I am Star Gold. It is very odd that Turkish Airlines (a star alliance member) and a few other airlines have Fast Track privileges. Lines were long and the security staff refused to even accept my Star Alliance Gold Card. Most airports it is Fast Track for First/Business and Elite members. Throughout the airport most of the staff were very rude.

We travelled business class through the airport. The worst part was that the A/C was none existent. We spend most of our 4 hours there trying to find a cool spot. The Turkish Airlines business class lounge was a joke and a health concern. The food (including cheese and dairy items) was not refrigerated the water and juice were warm. I am hoping to avoid using this airport in the future. The only good parts were they staff were really nice to our 1 year-old girl and one of the guys selling Turkish ice cream was awesome.

The terminal building itself is modern clean and well maintained. However the terminal is very crowded at times though immigration and check in are quite quick. I really like this airport because its close to downtown (20 minutes by bus with no traffic 45 minutes with heavy traffic).

Very long lines at the immigration at arrival and at departure - three booths were open while hundreds of passengers wait. This is very strange. This is from a country that spends so much money promoting itself to be a tourist destination.

The hardware of the airport is modern and sleek. Unfortunately the services level is just appalling. I could not find a trolley. Even I found a trolley I didn't have the 1Tl to take out the cart. After immigration there was no small trolley. When I tried to ask around no one could offer help or speak in English. The Turkish lounge was liked a run-down cafe.