Shanghai Pudong Airport

Landed first time at Pudong Terminal 1. Transferring was a nightmare - you have to plan at least 3 hours for transit - there are only 2 transfer counters. After getting the boarding pass for onward flight you have to pass the incoming immigration with unfriendly officers onward to the arrival hall pass the customs with your handbags and go to the public area of departure hall through the check-in counters re-enter through the outgoing immigration and security to the passenger area of departure hall and finally to get your connecting flights gate. Information signs are very rare and it is very difficult to get help because staff speak poor English. Luckily I had 5 hrs of time for my connection. Gate changed at last minute and there was no information from staff. T2 is as bad as T1 - Compared with Mega City Shanghai this airport must be improved in all points.

Massive airport with huge terminal buildings. Transferring from international to domestic involves lots of walking and a fair bit of waiting at busy times at immigration and domestic security checks so don't think 2 hours gives you plenty of time. Transferring domestic to international was much easier and very quick - 10 minutes from the transfer desk to being in the international terminal but long walks still! For such an important airport the shopping and eating facilities are very average. Everything is well signed though. Domestic check in can be a lengthy process.

What I can say is that it is very big. Going through immigration on a weekday morning was a breeze for Homeland Return Permit holders. (The queues for passport holders also seemed to be short.) It's also convenient that Line 2 of the Shanghai Metro terminates at Pudong even if the trip out to the city takes over an hour and involves a transfer on the same line at Guanglan Rd. Station. But for RMB7 I'm not complaining.

Modern airport but extremely poor eating options in the Terminal 2 Departure Lounge. The 2 restaurants that I saw resembled the type of catering facilities you would see in a bus station. This was short of what I would expect to find at an international airport. Signage was also not up to standard.

Used to transfer to Hong Kong and both times had problems. We almost missed our flight because our gate changed and the intercom is very echoey and English incomprehensible. Few screens providing information. When our flight was delayed there was only one representative who only spoke Mandarin people were trying to explain the situation while others were translating to fellow strangers. There is a severe lack of communication with patrons at this airport. I expected much better for an Airport in a budding city.

In transit here on the way from Vancouver to Bangkok. Avoid this airport if you possibly can! It is a nightmare. Transit passengers have to exit run the gauntlet of unsmiling immigration officials who speak very little English then re-enter the airport and go through security again before finally finding their departure gates. Signage is sparse and confusing and it is very difficult to get any help. Thankfully I had plenty of time for my connection. I entirely endorse H. Berry's review of 20 Dec 2010.

Airport was fairly impressive with good ambience and fast check-in. Staff helpful; they helped us book an earlier flight. Not really bilingual but still good. Dining options fair can't recall any shopping areas (there must be some) and baggage claim was very good. Very clean and gives a good first impression. A good airport.

Transiting thru PuDong from Kuala Lumpur enroute to the USA (Chicago) on 18 Dec. Prior to departing Malaysia Malaysian Airlines informed me that I had to clear customs retrieve my luggage re-check in with my connecting airline clear customs and clear security (would have been nice to have been notified of this in advance as I would not have used Shanghai as a gateway to US had I known this). Luckily I had a 2.5 hours scheduled stopover though even with this significant amount of time I just made my connection. Waited approx 50 minutes to get to the front of the Customs queue. I then learned that Chinese Customs was not prepared for business travelers who do not travel with paper tickets (who does travel with paper tickets today ?). As a result my passport along with that of many other travelers in apparently a similar situation (traveling on e-tickets) was taken by a Chinese Customs official and a group of approximately 20 of us were told to follow the official to a crowd of approximately 80 others (who were already amassed) and we were then told to wait. No queue no explanation and a Customs official disappears in to the crowd with my passport. Not a comfortable situation even for an international road warrior business traveler. Thought I had seen it all - apparently not. After 15 minutes passengers names were called out in apparent random order and we are instructed to reclaim our passports. Along the way it was obvious that most of the Chinese officials I encountered throughout the airport had no working knowledge of English. Signage was poor. Lounges were also very dated and overcrowded. Overall a very disappointing experience. I for one will not use Shanghai as a gateway again. I strongly suggest anybody daring enough to transit thru Shanghai as a gateway allocate at least 3.5 hours for the change of planes customs clearing luggage retrieval and recheck.

Terminal was clean food airside is very expensive. If you arrive around midnight it may be difficult to find taxi at terminal 2 exit but terminal one is okay for taxi. It took 10 minutes walking from aircraft to passport control. Passport control and security was fast and efficient. Airport is so big transport between 2 terminals is possible by bus which run every ten minutes.

Superb first impression apart from being bussed from aircraft (which only took a few minutes). No waiting for Immigration baggage or Customs . Took the Maglev to Longyang Rd - signs are actually logical so long as you do not go outside the terminal at Pudong! It is in Level 2 and is quite a walk but there are travelators. Also in response to an earlier comment there are escalators at Longyang Rd but they are easy to miss. Changing back from the Metro was much easier. Departure was just as easy once I found the correct row of counters for my flight check-in. Again no delay at Immigration and Security was also a breeze. A couple of small negative points - there is a lack of big clocks in logical places and I couldn't find any cold water drinking fountains - there are plenty of outlets for water but they all appear to be warm or hot water only. Food overpriced but no more than elsewhere. If you are connecting to the free WiFi (as I am at the moment) make sure you select the network SPIA-guest as the CMCC network appears to be local only.