Vienna Airport

Arrival OK bussed to the gate butthat's pretty normal with low-cost carriers here. Once inside met by airport employees giving out tourist booklets. Some waiting for luggage but nothing too bad. Out through customs slightly cramped and signage could be better. Signs to the train steers you towards the airport train which is the same as S-Bahn but costs much more: make sure you go for the S-Bahn it is very easy to miss. Departure: if you arrive by train (whether S-Bahn or CAT) you have to go through the arrivals area and a narrow corridor to find an elevator to departures: suboptimal. But the worst part was that our flight to Oslo was not on the screens! It turned out that low-cost carriers have a separate check-in building across the road from the main terminal. Though HG flights which also have to be checked in in that building are on the screens. There is basically no information on that: very bad. Once we found the check-in desk and dropped the luggage (which went reasonably fast) the rest was OK. Security is at the gate so you go first to a very decent selection of shops and cafes. The ground-floor boarding area (the bus-gates) is shambolic though lots of flights with probably three security channels and while the security people were doing their best there was some queuing. Once in it's very packed and there is a pretty useless shop wedged in between the gates so there were two chaotic queues trying to get through some very narrow space. Overall: does the job but needs work in many areas. Good shopping though.

As a connecting Austrian Arrows schengen area passenger I experienced very good quick easy and smooth connection there. Just few meters from disembarking area to the next flight gate. Security lines are crowded staff isn't very friendly but quite professional and do their job quite efficiently so no problem! Absolutely no delays there! I recommend this hub for Schengen area connecting flights.

The airport gets more and more crowded and is awaiting the opening of the new terminal which will approximately double its capacity sadly the building site has been stopped due to financial difficulties so it looks like this will be available only in two years or so. In my opinion Vienna airport is outdated and generally very unsightly (tasteless and very much patched together interiors). I think there is a general lack of seating here. Prices at bars and restaurants are outrageous. Considering this is their hub the C lounge facilities offered by Austrian Airlines are unimpressive. The new CAT service (City Airport Train) to/from Vienna is a joke - it has roughly the same frequency and transport time as the suburban train (S-Bahn) but charges three times its fare. The VIAS security staff - responsible for everyone's security scans is rude and speaks very little English - hard to believe such badly trained staff should be responsible for security. Check-in for StarAlliance and AirBerlin/NIKI passengers can be done in the city centre. Terminal check-in has plenty of machines but Y service can be a bit temperamental. Waiting times and walking distances are very short transferring between the most remote gates does not take more than 10-15 minutes. The luggage delivery is great - I never waited for more than 15 minutes after getting off the plane. Transport to and from Vienna is excellent and inexpensive. S-Bahn (3 Euro) or my favourite - the 15 minute bus ride to very central Schwedenplatz for 6 Euro.

Vienna Airport has gone very much downhill. For Star Alliance airlines (Swiss Austrian etc) there is no check-in anymore. You are supposed to use the check-in computers (just look for the rugby rummage and elbow your way to the front). If there is a problem with your booking (the system decided to change mine to make my connecting flight 12 hours before my initial flight) then everything takes longer again. Forget time-saving - the "new improved" system takes forever. If you have a bag which is not standard size you are sent to another queue where you are billed 8 Euros for each piece of luggage to go through the x-ray machine. Once inside the departure area the shops' prices explode! Buy an iced-tea and a small toasted sandwich (optimistically given the name of 'panino') and wave goodbye to another 8 Euros. Take your snack to the table needing the least cleaning (dishes piled up everywhere - dirty tables GROSS). All other shops have crazy prices. I will definitely be avoiding this airport in the future. I flew on a day where not many people flew and everything still took ages.

Delayed arrival to a snowy airport - the aircraft taxied to a finger but we were deposed on the icy and slippery tarmac as we arrived from non Schengen and the finger was Schengen - took a while to get the bus. - Long queues on security during the evening rush-hour within five minutes gate changes were announced twice for one flight.

Fair to good. On arrival a bit chaotic to be mixed with departing passengers and the sea of yellow hoardings is a good stress raiser. Baggage retrieval efficient. Route to CAT and S-Bahn a bit tortuous and you have to be determined to get to the S-Bahn. Absence of ticket office and only two S-Bahn machines a bit painful - though there is another ticket machine at platform level. Don't forget to validate the ticket! Check-in and security calm and efficient on return journey.

Very congested airport both air and land side - it feels like it has outgrown itself - lots of shops (including at least two sex shops - what is that about?) and a confusing layout makes it worse and there is almost nowhere to sit either in the lounge or at the gates (which are beyond security). Every time I have been through here I have been bussed to/from the aircraft but lots of work in evidence so maybe things will change. The CAT train to town is great but dumps you in a building site at the moment with a very convoluted trek to get to the subway train connection.

VIE has quite a hopeless lack of seating except in all the restaurants and after you've passed security control which I'm sure is quite deliberate to encourage people stay in the restaurants and cafes. You won't easily find a way to provide feedback to the airport either if you want to have a whinge / give positive feedback. As others have said there is a security control at each gate so allow plenty of time to wait in the security queue for your flight. Most likely you'll be bussed to the terminal. On the plus side the airport is clean has several nice shops and a couple of good cafes in the non-shengen transit area. But I only transit through this airport for the great wiener schnizel.

I arrived on transit in the Schengen area and needed a farmacy. I was surprised to hear that the pharmacy was outside the security area and that it was already closed at 7.00 pm! My onward flight was at 11.20 pm to BKK so I had to change to Terminal C (Non Schengen). As there were nearly no other flights after 8.00 pm nearly all shops were closed very boaring. I strongly can recommend all passengers to stay in the Schengen area till one hour before their flight from Terminal C. Also the Star Alliance business lounge in the Main Terminal has a lot more to offer than the lounge in C.

It is compact and one doesn't have to walk a long way to get anywhere. Wifi shops and smoking lounge was more than I needed the immigration and customs was a breeze. I took the train for the city just outside the terminal for dirt cheap (I think 1.75 Euro). Departed from Vienna for Toronto - the check in was a breeze. The only drawback is that one has to go through security check to get into the gate departure lounge and there aren't many seats. The modules are a bit small. Otherwise I prefer to fly in and out of Vienna for Eastern Europe and beyond.