Lisbon Airport

I travelled there by local line TAP. Arrival: small area easy to pass. EU members no pass control easy access to underground station. Pleasant Staff in underground. Cheap taxi. Departure: quite complicated first self check in (not many places to do that - I recommend to do that in the hotel by web access very helpful Staff) then baggage drop - short queue friendly Staff then long queue to the safety control. Small number of security slots. Friday morning whole entrance to the airport took about 1hr I think that in busier times it could take 2-3hrs!

First the good. Lisbon airport is closer to downtown than nearly every other major city. It also has nice shopping outlets. Now for the bad. Customs inspection process for VAT refund almost seems designed to defeat those seeking refunds. Still we managed. But immigration in Terminal 1 was inexcusable. We arrived at Immigration to find a long queue and were surprised to discover a single immigration officer serving all non-EU citizens. It seems that we arrived while officers were out to lunch. The wait took longer than we expected and we missed our flight. The following day we returned to the airport for our second attempt at departure. This time the non-EU citizen queue was empty with again one counter open. Once we walked up to the officer he informed us that he was not in service and proceeded to raise his voice in disgust when we told him that waiting hall signs were still directing non-EU citizens to his counter. After our stand-up scolding we followed his directions to the EU citizen line just in time to be chided by the new officer for coming to the wrong line. She demanded to know why we would all come to her counter when there was another officer on duty. We had unknowingly wandered into a battleline of friendly fire. Needless to say Lisbon airport's immigration could do for some improved scheduling internal communication and "customer" service training.

Convenient and accessible the airport is also fairly clean and located in the center of the city. Adequate signage everywhere and there also Wi-Fi spots which you can connect on to. Long bus rides to and from planes to terminals as there still aren't enough airport gates. Tourist centers are also conveniently located to advise on transport and sightseeing options. As reviews have mentioned before security staff can be quite rude. In my experience staff at terminal two tend to be politer. At terminal one it's gruff characters who are probably some of the rudest security staff I've ever had the "pleasure" of encountering. Constant boarding pass checks get a little incessant as well.

We had to spend 75 hours in this airport (planned). It was not a nice experience because the resting area was a joke. It is situated between gate 19 and 20 in a very cold spot of the airport. The smell of fuel was horrible and it was also a very noisy and cold place. There were no convenient chairs. We had hoped to sleep for some hours as we had had a night flight we started from Cape Verde one o'clock in the night. The choice in the food court was pizza sandwiches and hamburgers.

Watching Lisbon Airport over and over again I need to state that this airport is doing better every time you are there (T1 terminal). Recently opened new Security Check area improved again the queuing time. Metro station now available and location very close to town center. Food court with Restaurants for every taste and money. As Frequent traveller all over Europe: An above average airport.

Immigration process was very easy. We were the only flight clearing immigration. Customs was a walk through. The rental car counters were a disaster. You must be part of a rental car Club membership with direct access to a vehicle pickup service. The lines for walk up service were in the hours of delay.

Was in transfer for 4-5 hours. The airport seems a little crammed and old-fashioned but it is easy to find your way around and there is a good food court area with not too high prizes. The Harrods Cafe offered space for watching soccer matches on TV which was great for some hours relaxation.

Use this airport frequently (T1) for work and holiday. Overall I found the departure experience much better than arrival. Check in desks of TAP Portugal are always available and the agents very friendly. Queue for security check is bearable and the choice of shopping is reasonable - although the Port wines are much more expensive than what you pay in town. The Harrods cafe along with other dining options are good. They are also expanding the airport by adding more shops and space. Immigration (to non Schegen) was efficient. The gates for non Schegen area also have plenty of seats and are very airy and bright. Arrival is another story. The wait for luggage always takes more than a good 30 minutes if not more. When the airport is slightly busy it is crowded in the luggage claim area and the arrival hall. This time it was a long queue to get a taxi which was a nightmare.

As a frequent user I find this airport very stressful and complicated. A lot of times you have to take the bus from plane to main terminal 1 as there are not enough air bridges and terminal 2 for budget airlines rarely uses bus so that usually implies you have to walk from terminal to plane as there are no air bridges. One thing very negative is the state of most bathrooms which are degraded and nobody seems to care also it smells and aren't cleaned properly. There have been some improvements but still there are a lot of room for improvement.

Terminal 2 security check 25 minutes wait not at all international standard rules (3 minutes max in CDG). Staff are not polite at all very aggressive and not accepting customer complaints. Staff just said they have a problem with their organisation but no one is responsible of the situation.