Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Staff doesn’t speak English. Specially in the security check, where it would be important to understand their instructions. Turkish is not my strongest language. The passport control line was too long. At 29.10.2023 the line twirled around the check in area. This automatically lead people to cut the line, so the people waiting on the line needed to wait a long time until they reached the passport control checks. The signs that direct people to international transfers and domestic transfers are misleading. Every travels, (we have had two), the airport staff direct us to different way to the passport control or outside with the exit directions. How about changing those misleading signs at the sealing? Overall the Sabiha Göhcen airport is always full of people, so at times it is hard to find a seat. I would hope that the airport would be more customer friendly.

✅ Trip Verified | Dreadful airport. Travelling 4 months pregnant and the queues were so bad I had to pay for fast track both to get out of the airport and to get back through for departures. We have spent 100 euros as a couple on this - the fast track on arrival was worth it as it was actually fast, however departures the fast track still took an hour. Staff were rude, very little awareness of physicality of pregnancy, I think they keep the queues long in order to make money from fast track. Worth travelling to another airport or going somewhere else rather than going through this airport! Food overpriced (6.5 euros for a soda),

✅ Trip Verified | This is categorically the worst airport I have ever been in. I am unsure as to why there are still signs saying best airport. They were awarded that four years ago. This is absolutely not the best airport anymore. It is far too busy - busier than the space and staff can handle. Waiting times are uncomfortably long The passport control is ridiculous. Disgusting in fact. I have never in 35 years of my life seen queues as bad as the queues at the passport control in this airport. They never ever have enough staff on passport control. People get agitated because they are waiting for nearly two hours. And these are people with babies/children/self transfers etc. I think this airport needs to adopt a similar approach to Dalman at passport control. The restaurants are packed and people are sat on the floor all over the place because there is no room. There is never any room in the lounge. Luggage is often lost because flights don’t take off on time. It really is the worst airport I have ever been to and I will be avoiding at all costs in the future.

Not Verified | The worst airport I have ever been in, very bad customer service with nasty people that don’t have manners at all. I think they should do some training for the staff.

Not Verified | Problems with this airport started a few years ago when they allowed 10x more flights that they can handle passengers-wise. The airport is always swarming with people, and the inefficiency of the passport control is appalling! Not only are the staff rude, but they also delay you as much as possible out of pure spite. Luckily, I am an EU citizen and once I mention I will call my embassy, they immediately change their attitude. Still, the treatment should be professional and kind for all the passengers! I paid 5 eur for two small bottles of water, and I didn’t even dare to check food prices. The staff at the lounge are rude as well-they never smile and make sure to tell you sharply “you will pay even though you have the platinum visa”. I mean - we all understand we have to pay for services we buy, but come on-what kind of a tone is that? All in all, this airport has become an utter disaster and I will avoid it as much as possible - even if it means I pay more elsewhere.

Not Verified | Despite the incredible time I had in Turkey, my visit to the airport turned out to be an absolutely dreadful experience. The customs officer at the tax-free area surpassed all levels of rudeness and lacked basic manners, making them the most unpleasant official I have ever encountered at an international airport. They treated me with such disdain. Adding to my frustration, the majority of the airport staff, being an international airport, were incapable of conversing in English, let alone providing any guidance or assistance. Instead, they continuously passed me off to different individuals without making a sincere effort to help. It felt as though I had stepped into a chaotic horse carriage arena rather than a modern airport. The entire ordeal was truly pathetic and utterly disorganized and shambolic.

✅ Trip Verified | The logistics of airport are poorly organized. Upon arrival, the passport counter is positioned before the visa counter, so myself and others stood in the passport line because we didn't even see signs for the visa. Which means we had to stand in the long passport line twice. And the agents and were not friendly or polite. Poor signage - something as simple as having a sign for currency exchange would be helpful. Also having the flight boards under the correct heading is beneficial. The domestic flights should not be under the international flights board and vice versa. How difficult is it to get that correct? The airport waiting areas were filthy. The only thing worst was the men's restrooms. My goodness - disgusting. So many broken components. I even had to find someone to restock the toilet paper. But the absolute worst was the lack of customer service throughout the airport. It felt as if the workers were angry with management and was taking it out on the customers. The biggest show of disrespect happened at the gate (202A) just before boarding. The gate agent told a woman that her carry-on was too large. She explained that she checked on at the check-in counter and those agents did not state there was an issue with the bag. The gate agent took the woman's boarding pass and told her it belongs to the airline. A big scene unfolded, and towards the end of the incident, the gate agent told the paying customer to "shut up" three times. Other people and myself watched the entire incident and agreed with the woman. The gate agent was nasty to her and extremely rude for telling her to "shut up."

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.