Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport

Overcrowded. Had to wait 1hours and 40 minutes before the flight + 15 minutes before landing because of the air traffic. This airport has only 1 landing field and it is currently under maintenance (during summer). Majority of the staff do not speak English. Long passport queues, only 5 of the available 10 counters were opened. No subway connection to the airport, you must either take the bus or use your own car. Carpark is expensive (approx. 5 euros/hour). My luggage was in the luggage band when I passed through the passport control, so I didn't have to wait.

Expansion in numbers of flights not yet matched by expansion of passenger processing facilities. Slightly chaotic, not always clearly signed internally, allow plenty of time. We travelled through SAW 3 times in the last week. First departure was via the domestic terminal - actually the same as the international one - into the domestic departure entrance and then walked to the opposite end of the terminal for our domestic bag drop. Shorter/no queues in domestic security. This was an easy process, not much airside but you can get a drink and the gate waiting area is clean and comfortable. Our later domestic arrival was also straightforward. Prior to our second departure we stayed at the Airport Hotel for an early flight, got to the airport 2 hours early having seen the international side of things in action previously and it took 1.25hrs to bag drop (well organised by Pegasus), clear passport control and security - pretty standard as the organisation leaves a lot to be desired. Queueing snake is now in place - in the past it was a free for all - but leads to delay. 2 sets of passport control booths 1 for Turkish citizens and 1 for all others. 2 queues for these but not clearly signed. Result is lots of wrong people in wrong queues. SAW will sell you a fast track route though - nice earner. Once airside decent shopping opportunities if you want them and food/drink available at the usual premium prices. Gate areas large and comfortable. Allow plenty of time and go with the flow to avoid stress, and remember it can take up to 2 hours to get to the airport from Istanbul - our 3 trips were 45 minutes, 1 hour and 1 hour 45 minutes.

Change of flight from Dalaman to London LGW via SAW. Flight arrived late and had 40 mins to catch the next. You need to leave the airport and re-enter via security, two people working so 2 hour wait so had to push to the front (thank you strangers) and run. Do not use as unless you have at least a 2-3 hour layover at least.

2 hour queue at passport control upon arrival. When departing had a 90 minute queue at check-in desk (Pegasus Airline - hopelessly under-staffed check-in desks = do not use them if you can avoid it) followed by 2 hour queue at passport control which meant that I missed my flight. This is supposed to be an international airport but they had 1 person working at passport control which is a joke.

An airport which is still being developed. No railway connection to the airport. You must either take the bus or go with a car to arrive. Parking is very expensive. (11.5TRY/1 hour) I recommend you to park your car at the near parking spots. Majority of security staff doesn't speak English, they use hand gestures to communicate with non-Turkish speakers. No free wi-fi No power outlets/charging spots. As the traffic is not as heavy as the IST airport, delays are not often seen.

This airport was brutal. After disembarking I needed a visa to enter Turkey. Foolishly, I had converted my money to Turkish Lira before arriving in Istanbul. Foolishly I say because you cannot pay in Turkish Lira!. The dumbest thing I have ever seen in an international airport. They have a sign (which was printed up in the back office - no official airport look/feel to it) which they will point to and just shake their heads if you try to illustrate just how insane this is. There are two ATMS around the corner, neither of which worked and no place to exchange money until you have passed through passport control - for which you need a visa. Insane. I had to give the woman behind the counter my lira; she then had to go and change it for me and then I could pay for the visa. The stupidest arrangement I could imagine. This is I think, a scam to collect on the difference of the exchange rates. No free airport wifi - not even the poorest kind that will boot you every five minutes. You have to pay for WiFi. The departures sign had plenty of delays of over 30 minutes posted and the PA was extremely active with gate changes. This was a light night, past peak hours and on a crystal clear day. No reason for the delays other than disorganization. You probably already knew this but Sabiha is on the Asian side out near the shipyards. There is nothing here, so unless you're transiting as I was, you will be sorely disappointed with your 2 hour trip into Istanbul across the straits just to get into town. My flight ended up being delayed 40 minutes officially, but in reality, because we sat on the runway for twenty minutes after boarding so, an hour - no reason given in any language.

This is the worst airport if you need to change flights in Istanbul. After arrival you follow the transit signs only to find a fully functional and running escalator back to the transfer lounge guarded by 2 officials sending everybody back to arrivals. Even if you have only a short time you have to exit through the customs avoid all the people waiting in arrival lounge make your way to the departure security again and find your gate.

Transited via SAW on my way to and from TLV 3 hrs and 1 hr transit times respectively. Both connections were easy and the terminal is really impressive. Plenty of facilities and pretty friendly staff. A nice surprise as I had low expectations.

Arrived from the UK 14/03/2014 for a connecting flight to Gazipasa Alanya. I had 65 minutes. There were huge queues for passport control and no system for filtering persons connecting with internal flights from all the other arriving passengers. In a word it was chaotic and very stressful. I did make my connection but only by asking fellow passengers if I could go before them and luckily the flight was 20 minutes late departing. Why oh why can't they have dedicated passport booths for passengers connecting with internal flights. It doesn't take that much imagination. International transfers were catered for.

My advise is to avoid this airport at all costs. My daughter and I were travelling to Barcelona this was to be our second flight of the morning. We landed on time (from first flight) had 1 hr 10 minutes to make the second flight. The gate for international transit passengers to proceed from domestic flights to the international terminal was locked. Told to go through the baggage control area exit into the arrivals hall then make our way to the international terminal! When we got to the departure gate area of the international terminal we were greeted with the most chaotic sight I have witnessed in an airport. There were 400 people queuing (if you could call it that). 4 passport control desks were operational. After 40 minutes in the queue I knew we would miss our flight! When our flight was called for final boarding I started to move forward asking people in front of us for permission to pass. I became very irate as my flight had been announced 'ready for departure' but still no call for us by name to come forward for boarding. We eventually cleared passport control where a very rude/ignorant official stamped our passports. We were running to the gate when an airport official asked us if we were on the Barcelona flight? He got on his walkie talkie and said 'don't take the bags off I have the passengers with me' then reopened the departure gate to let us through. We got on the flight. I will never travel through this airport again.