Lyon Airport

I fly from LYS many times a year usually on flights towards large HUBS and intercontinental flights. This rather small airport is very convenient for arrival and departures never long gangways finding your ways is obvious. Ground transportation is remarkable (lots of busses going everywhere in the region from 5am to 11pm). A a local mid-size airport it is highly to be recommended.

I fly weekly through LYS on Air France. All AF arrivals to this hub seem to be timed to get in at the same time and depart 30-45 minutes later - great in theory. However the ridiculous security procedures would drive you crazy. All inbound transit passengers must queue again in order go though security/Xray once more before going back down to the gate again. As everybody is on a short connect everyone seems to be irritated and close to panic in case they will miss their flights. The only ones not in stress are the security guards. So my question that nobody at MRS can ever answer is; if I have cleared security at a French airport (MRS) why do to I have to clear security again 10 mins after landing ? Either they don´t trust the other French airports (in my case Marseille or CDG) or this is just a way of creating another few unnecessary civil service jobs. Otherwise airport is clean and modern and staff at the gates are usually friendly.

Fly into here 2 or 3 times a year for family visits. One recent improvement is an airside bar near the small duty free shop. This sells sandwiches soft drinks etc and is probably a better alternative to the dirty landside coffee bar. On latest visit queues were small check in and security well organised and it was very hassle free but at busier times it quickly grinds to a halt both in and outbound.

An interesting "feature" I encountered is that while the airport has check-in kiosks there are no bag-drop facilities! I had to wait until the counters opened for normal check-in to give them my bags. What's the point of having kiosks available if you can't use them? And why do they only open check-in 1.5 hours before the flight?

Was surprised that the new terminal for inland flights has been finished now. Compared to previous procedures - bus from and to the plane - the new airport is very convenient and allows short layover times. No more busses. Just walk from the plane into the terminal (still not nice when it rains but ok) and vice versa. Still do not understand why you have to pass security again when you just transit from one plane to the other but even that worked fairly fast. Good airport after all.

Lyon airport has an interesting feature: taxis drop off passengers on the arrival floor and pick up passengers one floor higher in front of the departure hall. And if you have luggage there are (best case if none are broken) two microscopic elevators. When I asked the information counter why this was so the answer was "for security reasons".

Lyon St Exupery is great when flying Air France (T2) but a very different story when on another airline and passing through T1 (Lufthansa SN Brussels). The Air France terminal is modern clean and airy with many shops and restaurants past security check. However when disembarking at the other terminal one feels like arriving in a Third World country. Bad signing where-is-the-exit-search no taxis until you get the feeling that there might another floor with more activity... When departing from Lyon T1 be aware that there is not a single shop after security: a cramped area where one can only sit down and wait. had to beg security to be let through to the main hall again in order to buy a newspaper and a snack.

Possibly the most disorganised airport in the world? Have just returned from a snowboarding holiday in the Alps flying in and out of Lyon. On arrival at the start of the week we found that luggage from four different planes was all pushed out on the same belt which then subsequently broke and caused a two hour delay for all those on our transfer whilst we waited for a few people's bags to come through! On departure at the end of the week although arriving more than two hours before the flight we queued for an hour and a half to check in (with no discernable attempt at keeping order - passengers for half-a-dozen planes all stuffed in to one big cattle shed!) then queued for another twenty minutes to go through security & passport control and finally got bustled on to the plane with no time to take advantage of the airside conveniences - not that a duty free the size of your local corner shop and a snack machine really count as conveniences!!! I'd like to think that this was a one off but having encountered much the same service last year too I fear not! Will definitely be flying to Geneva next year!

Lyon airport is very disorganized and I have not yet found out why arriving passengers cross in the corridors with other passengers boarding aircraft via the aircraft bridges causing congestion and sometimes also chaos. Signage is poor and finding your check-in desk upon departure is quite an adventure. The TGV station may be a landmark to see but the rest of the airport can be avoided by transferring somewhere else (but please not in CDG).

Flew into Lyon for a skiing holiday a couple of months back. Discovered they'd moved the rental car off site meaning we needed to get a bus there. Trouble is the one bus only arrived every fifteen minutes or so which was absolutely hopeless in the skiing season with so many passengers all with a lot of bulky luggage. Same problem on the return - we reached the rental car depot an hour and a half before the flight but nearly missed it because of the time spent waiting for the bus to take us to the terminal. So if you have to return a car at Lyon allow LOTS of time.