Lima Airport

This airport looks like any other modern airport but not up to standard. I was told my bags would be checked through from Lima-Miami-New York-Dublin (all the same carrier). When I landed in Miami I saw my bag by chance on the carousel and luckily took it through myself otherwise it would have been left behind. There are only ever 2 toilets each time you go to the bathroom (most airport bathrooms have about 16). We bought 2 expensive bottles of water after security to bring on our long 7 hour flight only to have them removed before we boarded the plane (to Miami). "No liquids" is what they told us even though these were bought in airport departure lounge? They didn't warn us of this before hand at check in or through the first security. That was a waste of time and money.

It's not a good terminal domestic and Int'l counters are mixed facilities are quite fair toilets so so don't have free internet access don't offer drink water spots (have to buy it at around 3-4 dollars/bottle).

The airport has become a nightmare is just too small for the amount of traffic it gets all day long facilities are clean however way too crowded the food court is too small not enough places to sit down to have your meal. The security check points are the worse so far in South America the security people are rude and exaggerate the rules. Passport control is very small very long lines all day upon return the customs people not only check but they don't respect the law because during flight flight attendants provide you with a list of things that you may bring with you and they take that away with no explanation. Unfortunately I have to come back to Lima for business many times per month.

I am a regular visitor to Lima and only have praise for the airport. Inside the airport facilities shops and restaurants have high service and hygiene standards. Check in security check and immigration control are swift and friendly. All in all a recommendable experience!

With 6 hours to change planes when travelling from Cuzco (TACA flight) to Geneva via Lima and Amsterdam I thought there would be plenty of time even though TACA would not book my hold luggage through. At first there were no personnel at check-in I looked for a KLM office to get some information but couldn't find one. My flight was at 21.30. I returned to the check-in desks at 16.15 only to find that there were queues filling the zig-zags and spreading out through the airport. My enquiry revealed that these people were waiting for a flight at 19.00 so I went off again. At 17.45 I returned to find that the queues had doubled. After a while an official came along to say that the queue I was in was for Air France (the desks were all marked with both companies). I finally got through to the gate at 20.50 but plenty of other people were still queuing. The plane finally took off an hour late giving the explanation that there was a lack of personnel at the check-in desks. Furthermore I had hoped to upgrade to business class on check-in. When I asked at the desk I was told there were no seats left. This was patently untrue as when I asked again on entering the plane I was given a choice of about 8 seats. The cost of the upgrade was about the same as I had paid for my whole return ticket but by this time I was so exhausted and dehydrated that I accepted it. All this hassle could have been significantly reduced if the airport had provided some written information about what time which desks opened for which flights.

Saturday morning leaving Lima to Buenos Aires we had to endure huge queues: 30 minutes for check-in at TACA counters (despite having already done the web check-in) 30 minutes for the security check 30 minutes for the immigration check. At least there is a decent queue control but several counters at all stages were unoccupied therefore it is simply a matter of having enough staff and officers. So having to wait for a total of 2 hours is absolutely shameful and the frustration is increased by looking at all those signs proclaiming that Lima has been awarded the title of best airport for LatAm for several consecutive years.

The terminal itself isn't overall the most modern that you would expect for a capital city however it has a charm of it's own that means that it is not an un-enjoyable experience. The check-in area is different than most I have ever seen with a lot of people standing around behind the check-in operative handling the baggage. Not sure if there is more manual work done here than in most airports or if it would just usually happen behind the scenes somewhere that said it wasn't slow by any means. The security staff as per the standard of so many airports could do with smiling a little more but are on the whole were friendly and not discourteous at all but could be faster. There is a good enough range of shops and eating places not perhaps as big a selection as you might think from the airport size but certainly they are of good quality throughout.

A real nightmare if you are in international transit through Lima. You still have to go through a security check that can take one hour because of the long lines of people arriving from international flights and just changing planes in Lima. Why is that they have to add this security check if you are only changing planes in the international area? This is totally ridiculous and bothers passengers. There is no logic in adding a security check if you have not entered the country.

We flew through this airport twice on our way to/from Cusco. The airport was clean and pretty efficient. The signage was not the best but there were very helpful employees to guide us. We may have been there at off times (6 am Saturday 9 am Sunday) but lines moved very well. If anyone has a long layover consider the Airport Ramada. It is right across the street - you can walk. This puts many US airports to shame.

As part of a recent trip through South America I used Jorge Chavez airport a number of times both for arriving and leaving Lima and transiting through. Never having been to South America before I had low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Lima is a modern clean and well run airport. Arriving departing and connecting is a breeze and free wifi is certainly a bonus!