Palma de Majorca Airport

Pretty good airport. A little bit crowded and maybe too big for an island but very easy to navigate. Lots of useful information for passengers wonderful selection of shops/cafeteria. The air conditioning system doesn't always work well.

Found the airport fairly easy to navigate. We hired a car that was picked up and left back at the airport and was done with ease. Signage was generally good and helpful and the range of shops was pretty good with a fair mix in the price range. Only hiccup was on arrival when the sign showed our baggage was to arrive on carousel 3 and it wasn't until a passenger from another flight came down to inform us that our luggage was in fact coming out on 7. No staff noticed or addressed the issue. 20 mins later when our assisted travel companions arrived the helpers brought them to carrousel 3 as even after that time no staff had noticed the error. Apart from this and the lack of a few air conditioners about the terminal not a bad airport.

My wife and I recently returned from a holiday in Majorca and of course had to use Palma de Majorca airport . Our experience in doing so left us feeling ripped off. We were on a Thomas Cook package so the queues to check-in were long and slow moving. When after about 45 mins we got to the check-in desk we were informed by the girl that our luggage was one kilo overweight. Other observations. We bought a sandwich-two rounds of wet bread described as cheese and chicken and filled as we discovered later with some kind of revolting paste. We threw it in the bin at Manchester airport. The cost of this gem? 5.56 euros!! The toilets we used in Palma airport were filthy. Our experience has convinced us that we never want to use Palma airport again. This is a pity since Majorca is such a lovely island.

Clean and pleasant airport - at least during low season. Bus line 1 connects the airport to downtown Palma every 15 mins - reliable service at EUR2.00 one-way travel time to central "Plaza Espanya" around 20 mins. Upon departure check-in was hassle-free - however had to go to the counter as Air Europa does not offer self-service check-in. Short queue at security but very surly staff. Boarding areas provide ample seating and spotlessly clean lavatories. On the downside it is a very long walk from the main building to the boarding piers. Prices for food and drinks are a total rip-off: EUR3.30 for a 50cl Fanta bottle!

It's ironic that my last posting on PMI should have referred to wheelchair passengers because on this latest transit my wife had temporarily joined their ranks. The PMI pages on the AENA website were a useful guide to what type of assistance we could expect but when we actually landed at Palma my wife needed to stretch her legs after 2 hours of sitting and so we walked slowly from the gate instead of waiting for one of the 7 wheelchairs which would have been needed for our particular flight. For our return journey we did use the PRM facilities which didn't work quite as smoothly as those at LPL. None of the special call points around the airport seemed to be operative so we had to report to the information desk in the centre of the check-in area for assistance to be summoned. We then had a wait of perhaps 15 minutes before assistance arrived a form was filled in (with copy attached to the wheelchair) and we were then taken to the special security area for PRM passengers. There appeared to be a relay system after security but we were allowed to make our own way to the gate rather than wait for the next available "pusher". And yes we did have the gate number long before it appeared on the screens for everyone else. A delay to our flight resulted in a Belfast flight being allocated to our gate and more wheelchair handlers arrived ready to assist PRM passengers onto that flight so we quickly had to explain that we weren't going to Belfast! One of the handlers was good enough to ring through to ask for the new gate for the LPL flight and even to wheel my wife to it. When eventually our flight was called PRM passengers were the first to board with more handlers to wheel them along the airbridge to the door of the plane. Unfortunately my wife's "pusher" talked loudly on his mobile phone most of the time leaving only one hand free to steer the chair and failing to avoid the bumps! The only time when he came off his mobile phone was when he saw an associate some 20 yards away down the airbridge and had a shouted conversation with him. My wife was glad to board the plane! So though PMI has a clearly defined system for PRM passengers its operation was not as smooth or efficient as we had hoped though no one was actually unhelpful. We didn't see any of the motorised buggies which used to transport PRM passengers so efficiently in the past but perhaps they are reserved for passengers being taken to the more distant gates as on this occasion we flew into and out of area A. As for PMI itself it was less busy than we've seen it on some occasions and there were few queues....but then we bypassed the main security area.

I know my name already appears several times for comments on PMI but a January transit provided a completely different experience from any of our previous visits. It was pretty quiet when we arrived on a Saturday morning after a long taxi round to area D though there was a queue at passport control as 2 flights ex-UK arrived almost simultaneously. Departing on a Tuesday morning though was positively eerie: the place was almost deserted and at security there were just 4 staff and 2 of us! I've never seen an airport so quiet. Yet even with only 3 flights departing during our 2 hours there we still had to wait a while before our gate number appeared on the screens. I can't understand the reluctance of airports to announce the designated gate well in advance because the staff who take wheelchair passengers to their departure points always seem to know which gate long before the number is displayed on the screens. Despite checking in online I even had to go to an easyJet desk (also deserted apart from the staff) simply to find out which area (D again) to head for after security. Is it to keep passengers on their toes that information is only released bit by bit?

Surprised to find how busy Palma was midweek halfway through October (not even UK half term week). Both inward and outward flights involved bus transfers from/to remotish stands and through area A which was fairly crowded. We were told on our return flight that one runway was closed so perhaps all flights were concentrated to just part of the airport. The result was shorter walks but busier concourses. Perfunctory passport control on arrival long queues at security on departure though the queues did move reasonably quickly. Even so some people had to queue-jump presumably to avoid missing their flights. Also there were lots of flight calls for named passengers who had failed to board on time. PMI is a very big and busy airport and you need to allow for this if you want to reach your gate on schedule.

Surprisingly efficient by Spanish standards or perhaps not so surprising considering that the main user appears to be Air Berlin and the majority of passengers German. A long security queue was cleared quickly the airport is spacious and pedestrian traffic seems to flow well throughout. Overall a good experience.

Back at PMI again but as this was early April it was noticeably quieter than on our previous transits. Easyjet flights seem to be using area C again after being in area A for a while so it meant we were back to the extra long cross-airport hikes. No delays at passports in either direction and quite swiftly through security on the return journey. We didn't have to take our watches off this time but there were notices advising that certain types of footwear would have to be removed e.g. ladies full length boots. The only minor hiccup was that our return flight to Liverpool seemed to be omitted from some of the screens which could have been difficult for passengers who had checked in online. Quite a few of the food outlets were not yet open but otherwise the airport seemed to be functioning efficiently. PMI seems to be one of the more congenial holiday destination airports so long as you are prepared for the long walks!

Good airport surprisingly efficient. It can suffer like most charter airports from peak time crowding but it seems to cope ok.