Lisbon Airport

Yesterday was my first time at Lisbon T2 returning to Liverpool with Easyjet. What a letdown! Seriously overcrowded with people sitting all over the floor. Long queue at the tiny snack bar and absolutely nothing to do while waiting to board. Wifi expensive. All flights were on time yesterday but any delays and it would be literally sardines and potentially dangerous. Easyjet boading procedure a joke. Speedy boarders called first (OK) then the rest of us. Both lots held in a crowded "cattle pen" for at least 30 minutes before being allowed to board - the incoming flight had not even arrived when we were put in the pen. Lisbon T1 isn't great but please move back there Easyjet or its TAP in future for me.

Arriving on TAP from Manchester. Terminal 1. Bussed to the terminal so no long walks. Baggage arrived reasonably promptly. No queue for the taxi to the city centre €9 inc luggage. Return car hire is a short walking distance from terminal. Departure also on TAP. A brief security check before you get to the check in area but no problems - You need to show your itinerary to prove you are travelling it seems. One long snaking queue for TAP but maybe 20+ check in gates. I printed my boarding cards on the self service machines and went straight to bag drop desks 60-66. Each one had 2-3 people - This was much quicker than the normal check in queue. Breezed through security. Nice food court with reasonable prices. Beer at the bar was €4/pint. Good for an airport. Overall check in could be a bit better but airside was fine.

One of the worst major European City Airports. Ground services must urgently be improved. Queuing time at check-in is long and the process chaotic and painful a lot of boardings are made by bus no free WI-FI and unfriendly staff. A lot of work to get this airport functional and comfortable.

We traveled through this airport twice on 18 July 2012 / 13 August 2012 as a stop over between Amsterdam and Newark USA. This is by far the worst airport that we encountered during the last 20 years or regular flying. Long distances have to be traveled by foot between arrival and departure gates. The long line-up before security and time consuming security check due to too few and partly incompetent staff assures the gate to gate travel on foot to become a marathon race for those who still want to catch their flight. We experienced that 2 times out of 2. Another thing is that after arrival from USA (so still in the safe zone) a security check still has to be made where (in our case) a simple and small fishing rod of one of our kids which we were allowed to take as cabin luggage from USA to Lisbon was considered to be dangerous! Checking it in as cargo for Euro 55 - was the only option. At looking for help and asking for directions (directions are very poorly signed out) we did meet some TAP officials but they all had a very passive attitude. Customer service is virtually non existent at Lisbon.

I found the airport to be a bit disorganized so I'd give yourself at least two hours when leaving from Lisbon (at least on the transcontinental portion as there were no mazes to navigate when going from Lisbon to Madrid). Also a tip is to print your boarding pass in advance as the check-in line for TAP in Lisbon was incredibly long. As I had checked in online and printed online I was able to go to the baggage drop off station which had maybe one or two people in line ahead of us. In sum I would fly TAP again but the spectre of strikes in the aviation sector (ATC airport workers pilots etc.) did make for some stressful days before and during the vacation.

It's a mess - Terminal 2 is one shed with too few seats - long queues to board with a stupid last minute passport check before you reach Easyjet's desk. Planes are parked up in odd corners and wait a long time for a bus to a terminal gate. Baggage return is absurd - 45minutes delay seems to be built into their system. There are obvious problems of industrial relations. The only good point is the airport bus into the city.

I was 'lucky' to have to transfer through Lisbon a day when there was a strike. Arrival was 3 hours late I could just see 'Last Call' for my connecting flight but when arriving at the gate at 12 pm it was closed already. So I went to the customer's service centre. It took until 3 am until I got my replacement flight by Air Maroc my luggage and the voucher for taxi and hotel. The next day looking for the check-in counter for Maroc it was written 'Check-in Closed' although 2 hours before departure. So I lined again into the queue before the service desk. After half an hour I got the answer to go to the check-in of TAP. There I got told that I am too late (although 90 minutes until departure). Calling around the message got through that for Maroc a service company was doing the check-in at a specific counter. Still the screen showed 'Check-in Maroc closed'! On the return flight things were running much smoother also because there was no strike. The passenger area at terminal 1 makes rather the impression of a distributed cafeteria with Art Nouveau gallery. I have never seen an aesthetically more pleasing airport. Information screens are visible from every point this in contrast to most other airports where one has to walk a while to see a screen. My conclusion: avoid Lisbon in possibility of strike else it may give some pleasure.

Terminal 1 is ok for shopping or wandering around: Terminal 2 is just a big warehouse with seats doors and some small shops. The biggest problem with this airport and it makes the overall experience poor is their huge reliance on buses. Almost always transit to and from the plane is on a packed overcrowded bus. Transit often takes place only after the last passenger has arrived so you can be standing in the bus for 30 mins or more. They always use the minimum number of buses and if they could pack the contents of a jumbo on a single bus they would. They use buses even when the plane is parked right in front of terminal 2. They use two kinds old fashioned normal buses and the airport buses where the driver is in a completely separate compartment. The reason I highlight this apart from the fact that I hate the experience myself is that I witnessed an obviously claustrophobic lady being rudely treated by staff when she baulked at boarding one of the latter buses which was patently overcrowded. Not good.

Arrived from EWR in March. It was a fairly long walk - although not unbearable - to passport control where the line was about 2 minutes. By the time we got to the baggage carousel the bags were already there. We were at the taxi queue within 20 minutes of landing - perhaps my fastest arrival in Europe ever. We took a regular cab to our hotel at the north end of Barrio Alto for 14 Euros - this was significantly cheaper than the pre-pay option and we had no problems with the cab. This included luggage surcharges and tips - you may want to skip the pre-pay option. Delighted by arrival in Lisbon.

Improving all the time. New Duty free area. Pier Nord of Terminal 1 finally allows passengers to embark and disembark via jetways. This makes Lisbon a surprisingly good transfer airport as it is not too big. All TAP flights are now in Terminal 1.