Istanbul Airport

I was pleasantly surprised when I landed at Ataturk. The visa line was fast and then right over to passport control also very quick. Baggage took awhile to arrive and trying to get a cart is a bit of a trial. The ride into Istanbul is about thirty minutes and plenty of cabs and vans to take. The airport is clean and easy to maneuver..

Only used it for International Transfer between Europe and East Asia. Everything is ok CIP Lounge offers a great variety of foods and beverages much better than in any Lounge visited before. The airport terminal is clean and fancy. These are the goods. Now the bad. The Security check before boarding especially going from IST to Europe is a disaster very slow seldom impolite attitude of security personnel no special lines for Business Class/First Class. The prices all over the place are unbelievable even compared with EU airports. There is not a single place for smoking. Nothing against banning smoking from public areas but some smoking rooms should exist.

A mitigated impression. On arrival there was a long queue at passport control with many flights arriving. On departure the queue at X-ray et the entrance was too long very disorganised and unacceptable. But check-in was efficient and there was not too much queue at passport control. Prices at duty free shops and cafés are unacceptable (figures are the same as outside the airport but they charge in euro instead of Turkish lira!!). Cold drinks are not cold: why do fridges not work? But information on changed gates is always correct the airport is clean and flights are on time.

It is clean immigration much better and quicker than before. In my last arrival from landing to leaving airport to city by bus took only 30 minutes.

Firstly - make sure that you have spent all of your Turkish Lira and had something to eat and drink before you come to this airport - prices are a rip-off. Apart from that the airport is nice and clean. Make sure that you allow about 40 minutes to get from the front door to your check in desk because they X-ray your bags and you have to walk through a metal detector as soon as you get in the front door. The queue was long when we went through and the security people were pretty particular also. The lines for passport control were not that long but the people in the passport desks were pretty slow (All they needed to do really was put their blue stamp on the passports.) Once through all of that avoid the "duty free" and find a nice place to sit and look out. This airport is cool once you get past passport control and there are loads of spaces to sit. As you go to the gate you have another X-Ray queue to stand in but not as bad as the first. Once you are through this you can sit in the gate / lounge and wait for your aircraft to board or in our situation head straight onto the aircraft. There were no departure delays - actually our aircraft (BA) pushed back 5 mins early so they must be doing something right at this airport. I gave this airport a 3 star because of the extortionate prices they allow shops to charge.

Flew into Istanbul on a very busy Friday afternoon (01 August) and it was total chaos trying to get through immigration. No problems with the visa payments but it took nearly 45 minutes to get through passport control. I had to really search all of the luggage carrousels for my baggage as there appeared to be no signs anywhere? Quite a long walk through the airport to the Metro but what a joy to have to only pay 2.80 New Turkish Lira in total to get from the airport to the tourist part of the city. Coming back- Very slow moving lines at the Turkish Airlines check in desks and even slower ones going through the final security checks at the gates. I believe some people were close to missing their flights because of this. Agree with other comments about the prices of food and drinks in the airport - extortionate!

Arrived on an international flight at Istanbul Ataturk Airport around 1215pm today. Queues for Passport Control so long they went out into the passageway beyond the zig-zag lines of railings. 45 minutes later arrived in front of an Immigration officer and was processed promptly and courteously. The queue seems to be divided into three chunks; one for Turkish nationals and two for others. My section fed eight inspection desks. Only two were manned although the section for Turks had many more officers and small queues. I have found this to be a frequent experience and not a pleasant one. Avoid Istanbul Ataturk airport unless you are prepared for long waits in an area which can be hot; has low ceilings and no evidence of air-conditioning operating. It is a shame.

Tip for passport control - if you go to gate H the passport desks there are less used than those closer to the gates A etc. so if you are in a hurry walk a further 100m on and you should be through passport control very quickly. As security control is at the gates not straight after passport control do not leave shopping until the last minute or you will get caught up in a queue for boarding which might cause some delays.

I was pleasantly surprised by Ataturk airport. It was well organised with quick immigration processing by friendly immigration officers in an adequately staffed immigration area (American airports could learn a thing or two here from the Turks). The separate visa queue also went quickly and efficiently (though travellers from the UK should remember that they only take USD or Euros). I dashed off to use the (clean and modern) toilet facilities at baggage retrieval and my wife already had our suitcase by the time I made it back. Leaving was equally simple with the slight quirk that security is before check-in so you go straight from check-in to passport control without having to go through security again (though there is a second security area once you reach your specific gate). Airside is neatly and sensibly laid out with plenty of shopping without the sense of being in a busy glorified shopping mall you get from most UK airports - though as noted in several other comments food and drink are pricey. There was some slight chaos at boarding but this seems to have been the airline's fault rather than a flaw with the airport

International terminal. Large queues to purchase tourist visa on arrival but processed quickly. Likewise passport control. Bag waiting on carousel once through. Taxi ranks outside well controlled. Upon departure quick clearance through first security point; BA check-in very quick. Agree with cost of goods airside though English language books in the main bookstore very reasonably priced. I liked the café bars at various departure gates. Good experience all round.