Riyadh Airport

✅ Verified Review | Faced with large queues upon reaching passport control and once through it took about 45 minutes for the bags to arrive on the carousel. Clearly a badly managed airport which is still stuck in the 1980s and desperately in need of an extension and a facelift. Building is depressing and dull with no fast track for arriving Business Class travellers. One annoying thing about the airport is the taxi drivers (licenced and unlicensed) repeating "Taxi, Taxi" as soon as you reach the arrivals area past customs they always want to try to rip you off by charging a lot of money. The best and safe option is to use UBER or Careem or use the London style taxis which have a stand outside the terminal, who operate a fixed price and payment upfront policy with a receipt.

✅ Verified Review | Worst airport in the Gulf. When travelling during peak seasons, such as Eid, always be at the airport at least 5 hours before departure, as you will be waiting at least 2 hours in the check-in queues and further 30 minutes at passport control. Had to wait 2 hours 30 minutes to check-in; as the airport was utter chaos with baggage belts in check-in counters malfunctioning and staff unorganised. This is the same case every Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha and you would think that the airport management would take a lesson from past experiences but it seems they are incompetent. The terminals for international departures (Skyteam and International Foreign Airlines Terminal) are too small to be able to handle anything especially for the amount of air and passenger traffic for a capital city. They should learn from Dubai.

❎ Unverified | Used Riyadh International Terminal last week and, after reading past reviews, I was not looking forward to it. How wrong could I be. Immigration officers were much friendlier and more efficent than at Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi. Took me only 20min from the plane to a taxi. Agree that official taxis should be better signed, and all other unofficial ones better policed far and away from the airport, so better watch out. Excellent expressways allowing for fast transits from the airport to all suburbs of Riyadh. Departure also very smooth, friendly customs and passport control, good shopping opportunities, enjoyable terminal design with nice local touches, very nice & airy steel and glass business lounge "up in the sky of the terminal" with very high speed wifi, short walks to departure gates. A very good experience!

✅ Verified Review | Riyadh International Terminal is one of the worst airports I've ever seen. There is nothing like customer service. The moment you step in the airport departure, you'll feel like you step into the fish market and airport staff behaves like prisoner guard and you are the prisoner. The light is not sufficient, cleanliness is poor, trolley boys always try to find a way to loot you in terms of a tip. Airport staff don't understand English and don't give respect passengers. Physical space is very limited for an international boarding lounge.

❎ Unverified | The major problem with this airport was the waiting time to receive my boarding pass. The lines at the Etihad ticket counters were long, and there was no organization. There were no roped stanchions. Some travelers cut in front. It was very frustrating and unpleasant. A secondary problem with the airport is the numerous taxi drivers waiting to bring returning travelers into Riyadh. Many of them are rogue and do not have permission to work as drivers: they should not be permitted in the airport area. Also, the official taxi stands should be better marked. The inside of the airport has adequate shopping, cafes, and other amenities. The problem is with arriving/departing.

✅ Verified Review | Used the new Terminal 5 for domestic flights, and was impressed by the new design and spaciousness of the new terminal. Had a good selection of eateries and coffee shops of famous international brands. The free wifi was strong and reliable. If only the international terminals were as good as terminal 5 then Riyadh Airport would be a competitor of other Gulf airports such as Dubai and Doha.

✅ Verified Review | Landed at about 3 am from an Abu Dhabi flight. Although the airport has gone through a lot of improvements in the past 3 years many issues still exist in terms of long queues at passport control. The time taken to bags to arrive on the reclaim belt is ridiculous and in our case we were waiting 45 minutes. Departing is much easier than arriving. The airport authorities must do something to stop taxi touts, they are everywhere and most of them are not even taxi drivers and those that are charge a lot. Better option is to use the London style taxis where you pay up front or better still use UBER or Careem.

✅ Verified Review | Whether one has an adequate experience at Riyadh airport is largely down to the timing - peak times are simply awful. Crowded check-in, long queues for security and immigration and limited seating in departures. Off-peak times are more efficient and offer a bearable experience. Facilities at any time aren't great, food and beverage outlets are expensive, shopping is currently limited and seating areas (even if not crowded) offer only basic comfort. Washrooms floors and counters are consistently soaked with water and only offer basic cleanliness. Some staff are pleasant but security staff are consistently poor. WiFi is free but is a pain to connect to and the signal is inconsistent. Overall, the international terminals have a long way to go before matching other major airports in Middle East - arrival and departure is bearable as are very short transits, but would not like to wait here for longer than a couple of hours between flights.

✅ Verified Review | It was a huge airport. Modern enough, beautiful water-fountain inside and a prayer place for Muslims in public and in a private 'musalla'. There is some chaos of sorts but I would attribute that to last-minute changes with gates. Overall it was a good experience for someone staying in transit for more than 5 hours.

✅ Verified Review | Fastest and smoothest transit I have ever had! It took me less than two minutes to get from the arrival gate to the airlines business class lounge and back to the next flight's gate. Dining and shopping options might seem very limited but all I needed was a quick and hassle-free transit. Would use this airport again.