Seoul Incheon Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Check in counters open at 12:12, I arrived the airport at 12:00, and finished check in at about 12:45. Then the terrible experience begins, the queue was very long, it took us about 45 mins to go through the boarding pass and passport check, and the security check queue was very long too, we finished all security and Immigration at 14:05, the boarding time was 14:15. Many passenger on this plane had to rush to the gate, I couldnt believe this happens in such modern international airport

Not Verified | I am surprised that ICN was voted one of the best airports in the world. In my experience it's one of the worst. There was a long passport queue to check boarding pass and boarding pass prior to security check. I was in the queue for more than 40 minutes. The staff was very indifferent and couldn't care less (in actual fact there was nothing they could do about the queue). After passing this long queue there was another long queue for security. There were in total 15 counters and only around 5-6 were opened. The whole departure process took almost one hour. There was no priority lane for business class passengers. Despite a fairly new airport, I found it dirty. I used the toilet near gate 42 in Terminal 1 and it was so dated and not clean.

Not Verified | Arrivals work pretty well at this airport. It is at the departure screening that this airport falls quite short. This is one of the few airports that does not have priority security lines for Business / First Class which distinctly makes the experience inferior as compared to peer airports in region. Terminal 1 is a bit long in the tooth and not as sharp as before.

Not Verified |   Spacious, aesthetically pleasing (all things considered) and well designed airport. Generally good experience, but not quite at the level of Changi. As a frequent visitor can confirm several consistent, albeit minor, problems. First, the airport is in the middle of nowhere. Unless you live or stay in Incheon you're looking at a minimum 1hr transit (1.5hrs for me today). Second, security check is very slow and understaffed. This comes with a uniquely sneaky move of a pre-immigration passport check that is designed simply to restrict passengers joining the security check queue. On the day of my recent departure, only 2 of the 6 scanners were running despite the long queues. Finally, the airport itself is just too big. You'll definitely get your 10,000 steps in when visiting Incheon.

Not Verified | Very unhelpful staff. I had quite a lot of carry-on, but some were small so I placed some together, not knowing that one bag had to be allocated to one tray only, hence I was struggling because the queue there had no system, lacking number of trays, people behind me were starting to snatch trays when I haven't even gotten mine. Worst part was when i was arranging my carry-ons, she shoved my additional bag aside and didn't even explained it well, speaking in Korean which i didn't understand. Overall, staff is just unhelpful, queue line becomes quite messy resulting everyone to feel rushed. Unpleasant experience.

Not Verified | Most awful and horrible experience right from the check in person who didn’t know about eligibility criteria for transiting through HK, serpentine queues, poor signage, poor crowd control, unable to understand need for priority boarding, and then race to board, I ran almost non stop through the process despite being there at the airport two hours in advance and having checked in online before. Not pleasant at all. Seoul airport gets a thumbs down from me for sure!

✅ Trip Verified |   Crazy long lines without system. The security will cut off the lines and not explaining and not arranging the lines properly. Staff are not friendly at all, some don’t know English. Crews at the counters are not helpful too. Check in counters open late given the long lines in security. Very awful experience

Not Verified |   Waiting for over 1 hour to go through security check for transit through Incheon is unacceptable. Incheon needs to improve their process or train your staff appropriately so that the process moves more quickly. This security check is slower than the USA. And it is a transfer security check, with some passengers with short layover times.

Not Verified |   Terminal 1 security queue unable to cope, poorly staffed by disinterested and overwhelmed staff. Once through security, all shops and food outlets closing at 9 pm although flights leaving till 1 am. Very poor

✅ Trip Verified | Incheon is a very large but efficient airport. The first time we arrived it was quite empty and we were out in 20 minutes from landing which we thought was amazing. The second time was much busier and there were long snaking immigration queues but they moved quickly and efficiently. The departure process was extremely pleasant and efficient with security and immigration taking no more than 15 minutes to complete. Everything was well signposted and clear. The airport was very clean, toilets spotless and a good variety of shops. Definitely a good experience.