Verona Airport

Have the misfortune to have to use Verona airport to get from Newcastle UK to Lake Garda. It must be the worst airport I have ever visited. Been through 3 times this year and each time was awful. It is dirty filthy toilets and smelly. Eating outlets are poor with the most sullen staff even when you are friendly to them and speak Italian. The coffee tasted disgusting. They must be very unhappy in their work. Wait times for luggage to come through are unbelievable even when it is quiet it can take an hour for the first cases to appear. This airport has no sense of pride. Queues at check in are very long they just can't cope with more than two flights! Worst of all are the cattle buses - they call you to the gate then squeeze you into the shuttle leaving a packed bus in sweltering heat for 15 or more minutes before one of the many drivers just standing about deigns to drive it. We reckon its a game they play and laugh at the tourists. This is where you pick up all those holiday bugs you take home. Wake up Verona airport - in this day and age this is wholly unacceptable!

Though Verona is my home town I rarely use this airport. The mission of this airport seems to live in the age of state-run airports and flagship carriers. Sadly that age has mysteriously disappeared a long time ago. Thus the airport is not friendly for weekend commuters and budget travellers while trying to suit the needs of business travellers and charter flights. The check-in area is spacious and rationally planned. The choice of shops before security is sufficient. I'm travelling on a Sunday morning and the flow of passengers is scarce. Security looks very professionals and friendly enough though procedures are strict. After security there is virtually nothing in the non Schengen area. Gates areas looks minimal but there's enough seating and two vending machines a coffee shop a toilet and TV screens with no audio. Area doesn't look to be cleaned on a regular basis and looks small. Two 190 pax flight leaving at the same time may bring to chaos apparently. Finally this seems to be one of those airports where you are supposed to board a bus even if your plane is at twenty steps distance from the gate.

The space airside is very limited and prone to crowding. Modest shops and catering only. Rather more facilities groundside including a small viewing terrace. There is a frequent bus to the city railway station but buying a ticket for it is not easy. Try the car park payment office in the arrival hall. In Verona you must get your bus ticket before boarding. Check-in was prompt and as I travelled hand baggage. Security was rather slow. This airport seems to have a great deal of airlines but many flying limited schedules and not always daily services.

Verona airport is a nightmare we had to wait 2 hours for our luggage on arrival and when the hard top cases eventually turned up they were smashed and we had to spend our week trying to get more cases to go home with. We took out insurance only to discover that after £50.00 excess on our insurance we probably will not get our money back.

Apart from the marked overcrowding in the check-in and departure areas noted by other reviewers Verona airport is also noted for very slow delivery of luggage from incoming planes to the baggage reclaim areas. On a very recent trip they also failed miserably to get all the luggage onto our outgoing flight in time for its scheduled departure. In consequence we lost the departure slot and were delayed for a further hour and a quarter all cooped up on the plane before the flight was re- routed and able to get away. The return trip check-in contributed to this because only two desks were initially available for the passengers on our A300 and the queues extended outside the terminal building. This experience has certainly put us off flying via Verona again.

I was surprise do not see any comment on this airport. Due to business reason I often fly from Munich to Verona. The Verona airport is basically a business airport and used on winter by many charter airlines that bring many north Italians to the warm islands of Maldives and to the Caribbean. The terminal is modern and clean with a good organization and nice shops and restaurants. The connections to the city are also very good.