Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport

Not Verified |  The worst airport I have been. Dirty, bad service in restaurants and overpriced. With the coffee price (even in mcDonalds) same as in Switzerland Geneva top spots (€6-7 for the cup of filter coffee). Signed up for Red by Dufry to receive a 20% on a duty free shopping. The receipt was indicating 20% discount on the final price but been charged the full price (found out from the bank statement when came back home). So don’t let yourself to be scammed. Pay only cash!

✅ Trip Verified |  I was at the airport over eight hours. I needed to go to the restroom. Sadly I couldn't use the restroom because it was So Dirty and it smells very bad. On my way to the airplane I twisted my ankle and I fell on the floor. The bone on my ankle was very swollen. I will never use this airport again. Most of the staff don't speak English. Some of the are not very nice. I was very disappointed.

✅ Trip Verified | This is a perfectly survivable airport. It is not a bad airport in itself, the issue is that there is too much traffic compared to the size of the airport. Since it is a very small airport, it will be difficult for you to get lost. The signs are in Turkish with English translations. The layout is pretty intuitive. Overall the airport is clean. The staff will answer questions and help you with what you need. They will not go out of their way to be polite, but they will do their job, which I think is perfectly acceptable. When landing at Sabiha, you will have very few issues. The reviews of the toilets make it seem like you will slip in feces when you enter. This is not true, but the toilets are dirty and not well maintained. The bathrooms are like that of a busy bar: remember there are very many people here and it is a small airport. There are many ATMs to use, and some of them are in English. Transport is right on the other side of the exit and the Hava buses are very comfortable and cheap. Taking off from Sabiha however is a bit messier. You will experience that it is incredibly crowded to a shocking degree. Checking in your luggage is fast and intuitive, you can use machines to do it yourself and just pass it to the employees. Passport control will take a long time. But all of this is within the first room past the entrance, so once you've got that over with, you can head straight to your gate. It is much more straightforward than many other airports I've been to. There are also way more cafes than you would expect in such a small airport, and every café will have so many people in it that you are surprised to see more people are still going in. When you can't even see the floor of a café due to the number of people there, I just cannot imagine someone going "I will go in there and drink a coffee", but people do. I have seen reviews mentioning people sleeping on the floor. I thought this was an exaggeration - it is not. People are sleeping on the floor and on the chairs at the gates. This is normal for people who have connecting flights in Turkey, so nothing to be surprised about. It is, however, pretty annoying when you want to sit down, and there are six people who are taking up three seats each to get their little nappy nap. Everyone is tired at airports, so I totally understand wanting to rest, but it seems a little ridiculous. Overall, the airport is not a positive experience, but it is an experience for sure. I would recommend you choose another airport, but it will be okay if you choose this one. I can imagine many people have had issues when arriving with little time to spare. But just get there two hours before check-in and you will be fine. All the essentials of an airport are there, except wifi, but you just need to stay there for a little bit. Nothing dangerous will happen, and you will get to your flight.

✅ Trip Verified | This is the worst airport ever. The staff are rude and impolite to me. Long queue at passport control that lasts more than an hour. Turkish people are nicer than this whenever you are outside the airport and as soon as you step-in, an entire different personality appears.

Not Verified | Very few lounges for an international airport. Lounges do not accept Mastercard's or visa cards. We had to spend whole night without any service from lounges, even while I had Mastercard elite world and visa infinite cards.

Not Verified | This is the worst airport I have ever been in. Toilets were scarce, food was horrible and there were no seats. On top, the airport was extremely crowded which added to my displeasure with the previous mentioned points. Do not depart from this airport.

✅ Trip Verified | Very crowded and dirty. Requires more frequent cleaning. People sleeping on the floor. The A/C doesn't seem to be working that well. In some places it is leaking. Very stuffy and difficult to breath. The airport needs expansion.

Not Verified | I traveled through this airport few times. Almost always very crowded airport. Multiple security and bag screening points. Unfriendly staff . Too long lines. Poor organization.

✅ Trip Verified | I was having a flight 4th June with Pegasus but I missed it so when ask the information service for a solution of my case they told me that they have nothing to do for me (with a very unrespectable behavior). I searched by myself for the Pegasus office and the problem was solved after 30 minutes of waiting. They give a free wifi just for 10 minutes, and if you want it there is just one expensive restaurant that require to pay no less than 200 lira to get the Wifi. And if you are looking for a specific place or something in this airport you need to search by yourself cause no one give you a time .

✅ Trip Verified | I have been in many Airports in the world. This one was by far the worst I have ever seen! The staff are incompetent, unkind and totally unprofessional. Unwilling to help. The airport is over crowded and unclean. I asked help at the security, all the answer I got was "No". Not even trying to understand or have sympathy. I have been totally mislead twice in a very antipathy way. A shame! Their free Wifi is only for 10 minutes and very hard to connect! Do not buy their Wifi service, it does not work! My advice: If you have to travel via Istanbul, better pay a little more and choose the other Airport. That one is a total disaster!