RB
Established Member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2004
- Posts
- 4,461
Tirana Airport and Ryan Air
A very distinctive looking airport from the exterior and it’s still having the artistic finishing touches added. There are plenty of walkable (but very isolated) hotels around and the terminal is actually well signed.
We had priority status but this was not operating when we booked in early, but we only waited for 1 customer. We went upstairs for security which was an excellent operation with people spaced by the many zig-zags in the walking lanes & the modern scanners that didn’t require laptops to be out - they seemed to be trying to support passengers.
Immigration was super easy & then of course the compulsory walk through duty free. Gate seating was a bit of a failure so we sat in a cafe. We used the designated priority boarding line that basically got us 1st go at a holding pen seat where we were then joined by everyone else on a full flight. 3 packed buses carried us to the plane - no priority but being in the exit row we did have plenty of overhead space. Our seat mate was non conversant but perfect company for the 2 hr flight. We left half an hour late, consistent with the tracked delays I had read about. Lots of announcements selling duty free or raffle tickets in-flight - a bit annoying but that’s Ryan Air. Happy that we had paid for an exit row. There was another bus ride from the tarmac on arrival but we were quickly off the bus and were going well until we stuffed up in lining up for passport check (originally unknowingly in a Euro line) & ended up in a slow manual check line - bags were on the carousel when we arrived.
There are a few options to get to Warsaw city but we found the signage pretty woeful & no noticeable assistance to help. We ended up using a metered taxi who turned out to be slightly cheaper than the Uber & Bolt prices we were seeing - no worries being able to pay with card & no surcharge. The train & bus options would have needed a taxi at the city end of the journey anyway.
Some time killing options airside
A very distinctive looking airport from the exterior and it’s still having the artistic finishing touches added. There are plenty of walkable (but very isolated) hotels around and the terminal is actually well signed.
We had priority status but this was not operating when we booked in early, but we only waited for 1 customer. We went upstairs for security which was an excellent operation with people spaced by the many zig-zags in the walking lanes & the modern scanners that didn’t require laptops to be out - they seemed to be trying to support passengers.
Immigration was super easy & then of course the compulsory walk through duty free. Gate seating was a bit of a failure so we sat in a cafe. We used the designated priority boarding line that basically got us 1st go at a holding pen seat where we were then joined by everyone else on a full flight. 3 packed buses carried us to the plane - no priority but being in the exit row we did have plenty of overhead space. Our seat mate was non conversant but perfect company for the 2 hr flight. We left half an hour late, consistent with the tracked delays I had read about. Lots of announcements selling duty free or raffle tickets in-flight - a bit annoying but that’s Ryan Air. Happy that we had paid for an exit row. There was another bus ride from the tarmac on arrival but we were quickly off the bus and were going well until we stuffed up in lining up for passport check (originally unknowingly in a Euro line) & ended up in a slow manual check line - bags were on the carousel when we arrived.
There are a few options to get to Warsaw city but we found the signage pretty woeful & no noticeable assistance to help. We ended up using a metered taxi who turned out to be slightly cheaper than the Uber & Bolt prices we were seeing - no worries being able to pay with card & no surcharge. The train & bus options would have needed a taxi at the city end of the journey anyway.
Some time killing options airside
