Istanbul 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.

I agree about the cost of foods in Istanbul Airport! Even the worst food Burger King combo meal worked out to be around $12US. It is a nice clean airport and lots of shops and places to hang out in - as long as you aren't hungry!!

Flew into and out of Istanbul over Easter. Was no trouble at all - very large and spacious. Turkish Airlines check-in was appalling and had an extremely slow queue but the rest of the airport was good with a fair choise of shops. The only gripe is that the drinks and food were horrifically expensive - considerably more than at British airports.

Inbound to IST very quick to purchase visa clear immigration customs and exit airport. Using the Hafif Metro to Zeytaburnum then the tram to the city's Sultanahmet district took less than one hour and cost just 2.6 YTL (£1.30). Departing the airport is very spacious in most areas quick and polite check in staff for Swiss again security and passport control very quick and all efficiently organised. A large range of shops but food outlets are very expensive!! (two soft drinks and a toasted sandwich YTL 23 - (around £11 GBP)

Flew into this airport in mid October. No more than 5 minute wait at (separate) visa and immigration queues and only a short wait for bags. I was on the train within 30 minutes of getting off the plane. Airport looked clean and spacious.

Late evening arrival from STN. Visa queue 10 mins. Passport control quick though and no other delays but long walk to domestic terminal if you are connecting inside Turkey - some moving walkways but otherwise up ramps and round quite a maze of passages to get to gates. All signed and not difficult though. Return journey passport control quite efficient and no untoward delays. Shopping choice good but duty free prices are high. Couldn't notice any extremes of smoking though around the terminal or at gates so as a non-smoker quite happy with that and new facilities being added to improve shopping. Used CIP lounge as short time to wait for connections - good service nice choice of refreshments and varied seating areas including some very plush rooms and good business desks too but intrusive noise from adjoining areas plus 4 tvs on different channels were competing as well. Security not an issue - prompt no extra delays or problems. Whole airport appeared nice and clean and was a good experience.

Queue for visa a little slow on inbound but moved at a reasonable pace considering a lot of flights arrived at the same time. Bags arrived quickly. Domestic terminal very busy in morning peak but lines moved at a good pace and wait times were not to long. Receiving bags off domestic flight was very quick so off the plane to outside the domestic terminal. Outbound international terminal: check in was quick passport control was a little slow Good selection of shoping and restaurants and generally easy to move around. Overall an easy to use and efficient airport.

Ataturk is a modern friendly and well organised airport came from london on 18th August immigration was bit slow but if not travelling within EU you have to be a bit more patient baggage arrived quickly departure 4 days later: painless no queues at check-ins even though it was 1h before departure good duty-free shops some queues to security but not as bad as in london very nice and easy to use airport: the only disadvantage is that smoking is permitted in many areas but in turkey for some reason you can smoke absolutely everywhere - hope that will change when they are eventually allowed into the EC.

Have been using IST for many times and this time arriving from Rome FCO. terminal was clean Immigration was not so fast and depending on arrival time it could take 1 hour or less. Luggage was ready after immigration finished. Havas shuttle buses to city are very good while taxi fee to city is sometimes USD 35-40. on outbond trip: Security at entrance was so fast surprisingly Check in was not so bad and depends on airline but no arrangement from airport staff to manage the passenger queues. Immigration was fast and security at gate was efficient.

Check in here is awful not organised particularly well not enough desks open when we last travelled which had a knock on effect on then getting through security. We were surprised that everyone managed to make their flights as it took so long . And then there is the palaver at the gate itself - more security and little organisation. Have to say though that the Airport Hotel was marvellous great rooms superb staff and lovely breakfast looking out over the apron. We are used to many different airports and to be honest they all have their faults - at least at Ataturk Airport you can pass the time by people watching.