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“PLEASE don't let the airport put you off!”

written by jbransby2406 on 21/10/2012

We have a house in Crete, which is actually only 30 minutes drive from the island's other airport, Chania; but with flights sometimes being almost DOUBLE the price, it makes so much more sense to fly in to Heraklion and pick up a car (usually clean and well maintained Hyundai i20) from our usual supplier, ANE car hire Crete. I URGE you to check their website: www.carhirecrete.net for the absolute best prices (trust me I've spent a long time researching!) and superb customer service. Always waiting there faithfully for us, despite many delayed flights! Anyway, back to Heraklion airport. I'm pretty sure you don't need me to say this, but it is AWFUL. When you fly out from England and it's highly efficient airports; it is a shock to experience such a bad airport! We have flown with easyJet before, and being a family of 3, elected to pay for speedy boarding. This just did not happen in Heraklion! And this time (July 29th to August 12th with Thomson flying from Birmingham) was the first time in a long time we have not had online check-in for a flight, and had to suffer the perils of Swissport's Heraklion check-in service. Utterly confused about which check-in desk we were supposed to be stood in, and took a random guess! Having been the first passengers in the queue to check-in, we were fortunate not to have to stand in a long queue to check-in - carrying hand baggage also so didn't have to suffer as much as the people stood next to us! Then there is security. In such a poorly-lit and ventilated airport; this was hurrendous. What kind of modern day building, especially in Crete where every building has air-con, does not have any air-conditioning! This made for a very un-pleasant experience. It was a very long experience, too. Anyway, feeling very hot & bothered we tried to find a place to sit. We found one, right by the gate we were supposedly boarding from. Here, there was one Greek man who seemed very flustered and angry, pacing. He also spent the whole hour we spent sat there shouting (in Greek) to the lady on the gate opposite. I am not joking; the whole hour. As I was about to go to the loo, (30 mins before scheduled boarding time) I noticed on the board our flight was ready to board, at a gate right the way at the opposite side of the airport! Thankfully, we were right at the front of that queue (I'm guessing this is because the other passengers were un-aware of the early there boarding because there was no announcement! So, now out into the blistering heat (which I love, to be fair!) to wait for the bus. We waited here for 15 mins with no information, as buses continuously drove past to the other gates. We could see our aircraft, waiting ready in the distance but with no bus! Eventually, the bus obviously arrived (or I wouldn't be writing this now!) and here was the nicest employee of the airport who kindly apologized for the delay and helped us (the first lot) onto the bus. We then boarded our Thomson Boeing 757-200, for the return flight home. Here we sat for another 10 mins until the next bus-load of passengers. Whether it was just because it was a Sunday or what, they were running exceptionally slowly. So, to summarise, yes the Heraklion experience is not fluent. And if I'd had a bad holiday, I'd be annoyed. But I never am, not in the slightest. Yes, I highly encourage any thought about a new airport, but for now; so what?! It's there. It does it's job. Why complain? We took off on time, with a 30 min early arrival into Birmingham. If you have that extra money, I encourage you to fly into Chania as the experience is a lot better. You also don't have to suffer that hard-landing as your great big plane touches down on this tiny runway! But, for people that go out for 2 holidays a year; it is never a problem. At the end of the day, it's Crete. What more could you want!