Airports can make or break a holiday

[NoOneKnowsWhoYouAre]

I've just got back from Marrakesh. Had a lovely few days, but the peace and serenity of the entire holiday was totally ruined by the shit show that is Marrakesh Airport. It felt like it was designed to suck the life out of you piece by piece. Or queue by godammed queue.

The queues started to get into the drop off zone. It took 20 mins to get to the drop off area from the entry to it.

Then you queue to get through the doors of the airport. That took 10 minutes as they xrayed everyone's bags.

Then you queue to check in, another 15 mins. You can't check in online, we'll you can but then it has to be printed and validated at the airport

The you queue for security, that only took 10 mins, where they xray your bag again.

The you queued for passport control. This took forever. Almost an hour. It was genuinely horrendous, made worse by the fact I had an upset stomach and thought I might vomit.

Then as you leave passport control, they checked your passport again!! So bloody weird.

The they charge you nearly £4 for a bottle of coke in the shops. And if you need the toilet you get to queue again.

The you queue again at the gate, where they check your passport and boarding pass then send you outside where, they check your passport again(!!) whilst you yet again queue.

I travel all the time, I go to Morocco regularly, but I will never set foot in Marrakesh airport again as long as I live. It was horrendous. It felt designed to break you.

A shit airport can absolutely ruin a holiday, am I right??

Has anyone else had a worse experience at an airport?

Last time we went through Manchester airport there was a group of staff standing next to us in the security queue on the other side of the barrier.
They spent the whole time we were stuck there complaining loudly about how they hated their jobs, managers and one colleague in particular in quite colourful language.
If that group is representitive of the staff in general I am not surprised things don't run smoothly

I hate flying from Manchester, give me Leeds or Liverpool every time!

But the worst was Heraklion in Crete. Hot, small, overcrowded… and the only time I’ve ever known a flight take off 45 minutes EARLY which I suppose got us out of the hell hole but denied us the chance to eat, drink, wee, or buy anything at duty free. Absolute chaos.

Corfu. I wouldn't go back unless they rebuilt it.
Queues outside in the blazing sun, queues inside. No space to stand let alone sit.
In the UK Stansted was the worst. Staff literally yelling at us. So rude.
I'll only fly from East Midlands or Leeds nowadays.

I remember flying from Croatia in the 1980s when it was Yugoslavia. They used a military airport and it was swarming with armed men. You see guns at airports now but it was rare before the first Iraq war. The baggage was unloaded onto the runway and you had to pick out your suitcase.

You should have flown to Dublin or Shannon and done pre clearance there.

Agadir airport wasn’t great when it came to passport control for British passport holders. I was with a relative who was in a wheelchair and there was no orderlay queue, just a mass of people pushing and shoving. Officials called for those with Irish passports to come forward, which caused more shoving and pushing and a few raised voices, mine included, it was just awful.

We’ve also recently used Leeds airport for the first time and we were very quickly through check in, passport control and security and on our return, waited no more than 10 minutes for our baggage, there were free trolleys and was a breeze through passport control.

The bar in departures was an absolute rip off; £18 for a medium glass of wine and a pint, we only had the one.

Yeah Kingston airport is a nightmare too. I fly into Mo Bay and get a 3 hours taco journey to avoid it 😂😂

Didn't find Sharm El Shiek airport that bad. However it was very off peak. (Evening of Christmas Eve) I was queuing though thinking this would be awful when it's hot and peak season

Wasn't impressed with Phuket airport. 8pm flight nothing was open for tea and you had to go through security twice, which wasn't obvious and no one was sure if liquids were allowed through the second time.

Useful info thanks! Will definitely swerve Marrakesh

No, everyone was in the same queues. Moroccan, British, American, European. It was hell.

We went to Marrakech for the 2nd time a few weeks ago. I think I must have blocked out the first time as we won’t be going again. Queuing for hours in 35-40 degree heat with no water or air con. No vegetarian food at all once finally through.

Oh god yes Heraklion airport is hell! Also Miami is a dog hole, hours and hours at security, and last time we went my bag was opened by someone and some of my stuff was stolen, nobody seemed to give a shit either, seriously ruins your holiday.

I can't remeber Marrakech being anything other than a completely unremarkable airport when I was there last year? Our departing flight was delayed due to the plane being delayed on the incoming flight iyswim, but the airport was really clean and quiet and I can't remember any queues. In fact I'd say it was quite a pleasant experience.

Manchester airport is awful, drab, crowded and grubby with annoying staff who had a go over nothing.

I like Delhi aiport international departures, calm and airy and quiet with hilariously hideous carpets.

You must have gone at a quiet time. Genuinely, it was awful. I go to Agadir every year and it is lovely.

Singapore Airport is the nicest

Marseille was hell on earth in June. Mid renovation so maybe better now. They had temporary check in desks with no conveyor belts. Everyone then had to funnel from the desks through a narrow opening for a single bag drop belt. It was a complete crush, people missing flights, people jumping barriers and security pushing them back. A woman behind us with a small baby was sobbing. When we finally got to the front they wouldn’t take the travel cot 🤦🏼‍♀️ (that we had flown out with out no problem) I ended up crying. Car hire return a shambles too. Never again!!

Not a terrible experience exactly, but somewhat unnerving to find ourselves at Reus airport, and having the staff count people up the escalator ten at a time then enforce a gap until the people had moved on 'so the floor didn't collapse'.

They may well have been overstating the issue (hopefully) but it wasn't something I wanted to hear at the time.

If the airport makes or breaks your holiday, your holiday must be a bit crap.

And I've been to some grim airports

Cannot remember worst airport but can honestly say that Vancouver Airport was fabulous and efficient at arrivals and departure Also a lovely interior.

I find having a longhaul flight via the US stressful because you nearly always have to take your luggage off, queue to go through security and if the airport is really busy, there's the worry that you might miss the 2nd flight.

Tashkent was my worst airport because the toilets were so awful.

Generally, I find airports a bit tedious but I just make sure I have a book and plenty of podcasts on my phone. It's the least enjoyable part of a holiday but to say that a bad airport experience can make or break a holiday seems a bit overdramatic.

Bristol airport is right up there with shit show airports, aggressive place from beginning to end and totally ruins any anticipation of a great holiday about to start.
It’s owned by Canadian Teachers Pension and all I can think is what a great pension they’ll be getting because the cost to get there, park, drop off etc is unbelievable!
It’s so bad I now boycott it and I’m prepared to travel to any other airport to travel than go through that god awful place.

I'll never fly to, from or via Miami again as long as I live. If I needed to be in Miami I'd rather fly to just about anywhere else in the eastern USA and drive.

Can I add Catania airport in Sicily? It was like a madhouse enacted in a sauna at top volume. Never seen the likes of it before, will DEFINITELY never use it again. Could have cried with relief when we finally boarded our plane out!

Miami Dade.
Utter shithole. Departures okay once you got there but we changed planes there and it was complete, utter, total, unmitigated chaos.

Never, Ever, EVER again.

ETA Posted and then saw that @CheeseWisely thinks the same. Not just us then.

Yep @EdithStourton. Same, wasn't even trying to enter the bloody US, we were in transit from Central America to Europe. I started to wonder if I might get deported faster than the queue if I kicked off, but worried I might get shot. A long while later and still in the queue (all the while being yelled at by TSA agents on power trips) getting shot started to seem like a better option.