Seoul Incheon Airport

Seoul Incheon is one of the most inefficient airports I have been to in terms of departure and arrival. How can this airport be considered one of the world's best? Maybe most people use it for transit and it is more efficient? We arrived by Cathay Pacific from HK around 12pm. The train runs every 5 min. There were massive lines. We had to wait for 2 trains to be able to get in. After arriving at the main terminal, we spent a good 2 hours waiting for immigration. It was a real torture. On departure, we did our online check in but at the boarding pass checkpoint, the staff refused to accept e-boarding pass and could not communicate in English - we had to go back to the check-in counter to print our paper boarding pass. It turned out there is another entry point for e-boarding pass at another entrance. The security line was another good 20 minutes and immigration about 15 min. Better than arrival but still not consistent. The terminal is huge and filled with duty free shops. However, restaurants are packed in designated areas, rather than spreadout over the terminal and can be very far from the gate. By comparison, I landed in HK at 11:10pm 3 days later, and I was in taxi 20 minutes later.

The airport is easy to navigate, there are enough English signs and talking to locals are extremely easy even with little English. If you are on a long flight and I'm sure you are tired, the queues are extremely long and takes about almost an hour or so to get cleared.

I have heard so many good things about this airport. However, it took me over 30 mins to clear customs on my arrival and over 45 mins to pass through security as well as the immigration on my departure. Along with this were the impolite security staff. The airport needs to improve the rate at which they can handle the queues or add in more counters. It looks like a great and well-maintained airport and I would love to spend more time exploring it. But first things first, cut the time I spent in queues.

Always long queues (longer than 1hr) inbound and outbound at immigration. Trains to / from satellite terminal packed. Amenities are packed. Parking lot often full with a lot of illegal parking - free WiFi is very good.

The wait times at immigration on arrival are out of control and completely unacceptable. Today was probably the worst I've ever seen, well over 2 hours and red faced angry people everywhere. It has been truly and consistently bad since about 4-5 months ago. They've dramatically increased the number of arrivals touting Korea as a tourist destination, particularly from China, but have not done anything to improve the infrastructure. They've also increased the amount of outbound duty free shopping to cater to Chinese tourists - fine but there is discarded packaging everywhere and counters pushed out into hallways creating messy choke points. Parts of it look like a flea market, not a world class airport. Shame on you, Incheon Airport.

Flew with Asiana Airlines via Seoul Incheon I had a 4 hour wait for my connecting flight. My arriving and departing flights both left from the same terminal so I didn't need to get the train this time. The terminal comprises a vast curve with two levels. The gates are spread along this arc. There is ample seating at each gate with bench seats (happily without arm rests so you can lie down and sleep). The airport was quite warm and comfortable in a T-shirt. Toilets are clean. There are water fountains everywhere with purified and cold drinking water. Plenty of cafes and restaurants. I opted for 'Paris Baguette' but the food wasn't very nice. There are free tours for connecting passengers. I couldn't use it this time but will on my next trip in June. There are 8 tours varying in length from 1 hour to 8 hours these can be booked at the info desk. All in all, a spacious, comfortable terminal but the food options need to be improved (at least for Western travellers).

No longer an efficient airport for arrivals. I frequently travel through Incheon and have done so for the past 16 years. It has always been a model airport in terms of efficiency. I don't know what has happened in the past 6 months but immigration seems to be very understaffed. The past few times I have come through lines have been 1-2 hours. This when in the past a super busy day might be a half hour queue. Sort it out Incheon. This is not a good impression of Korean efficiency.

Only one of two immigration areas open and hundreds of passengers arriving. Queues cannot fit into arrival hall. Used to take me 45 min from plane to curb. Used to be one of the better airports. It is shocking that they either plan so poorly for arrivng flights or are just disrepectful towards passangers.

Used to come to Incheon several times a year and always had a good experience (though the train link to satellite terminals is poor). But writing a review as I am stood in a queue for passport control, winding through 14 rows and around 40 people per row. After half an hour I am about a quarter of the way through. Trouble seems to be far too few staff. They used to have two sets of open immigration areas but this seems to have dropped to just one. They have also put automated booths in at the considerable expense of human checks. Has to be said that the management don't seem to be doing anything about it. Real downgrade in service level. Worst I have experienced in Asia in some time.

The wait time for foreign passport holders is ridiculous. I traveled into Incheon 4 times within the last 6 months (arrived 7am 2 times and 4pm the other 2 times) and each time, the wait to clear immigration was over an hour long. Sometimes 2 hours. The airport is also now crowded and only exists to sell duty free goods to tourists. The actual services which should matter to travelers - immigration, transportation, restaurants etc are overcrowded and expensive. Overall a low class operation.