Business Insider published an article a few days ago on the worst airports in the world and the Kuwait International Airport topped the list again. The data is compiled by the website AirHelp who score airports based on on-time performance, quality of service and passenger sentiment. The best airport in the world on the other hand was Qatar’s Hamad International Airport.
With the new Jazeera Terminal just opening and the new Kuwait Airways terminal opening up soon, this might be the last year Kuwait’s Airport comes out the worst.
Check out the AirHelp scores [Here]
Check out the Business Insider article [Here]
Thanks Musaed
41 replies on “Kuwait Airport Ranked Worst in the World Again”
Really?? I can understand the custom officers are the worst but as a airport I’m sure there is worse
You have no idea…after you check in that’s the last you see of your airline until you board the plane. Picture some random guy walking up to you saying just 40 more minutes for SIX HOURS. There’s noone to complain to and everyone who works there aren’t the ones getting your business so they don’t care. A nice British man described it as “this is what hell is like”
No doubts when it comes to Kuwait Airport position, however their top 3 is quite strange and makes me wonder about the way they collected and analyzed the data. Athens airport ranked in second position? Best one in Europe? That`s a joke right? In terms of comparing airports in the Western-central Europe, Athens Int`l Airport is to Europe what Kuwait Airport is to GCC.
Not a big fan of KWI but I’ve been in far Worst airports!!! in Asia, Africa, South America and even Europe!
The airport does not belong to Kuwait Airways, it belongs to DGCA. Kuwait Airways and DGCA are two separate entities.
Who said the airport belongs to Kuwait Airways?
I hope with the new terminals they do something about the Porters that harass travellers for money at the Kuwait airport. The Porters demand for 1 KD more than the normal charge mentioned on the carts saying that that money goes to the company and not to them. The last time I travelled with my family, we used two carts, which meant that 2 Porters stood beside me and my mom and just refused to leave till we paid up the extra 2 KD. I am totally fine with paying for a service and have no problem with tipping when needed, but when it becomes a very stern demand – it just gets scary.
i usually go get my kart put my stuff in it and leave i tell them to piss off and carry on to where i need to be
When is Terminal 4 going to open? I thought it was going to be in June but I haven’t heard any news recently
August 8
Kuwait airport is pretty bad, but not even close to being worst in the world. Not even in the worst 50. Seriously.
i have seen much worst airport than Kuwait Airport.
Nothing can compare with Zanzibar Airport!
im really wondering based on which criteria Athens airport is best on Europe?that should be something wrong..
I think it has to do with expectations maybe? When you go to a fine dining restaurant your expectations from the waiters are different from your expectations at McDonald’s. Because it’s Kuwait, people have higher expectations compared to an airport in a poor African country.
Will their media report on anything good about Kuwait?
Actually there has been lots. I read wallpaper which is a design magazine as well as it’s nice which is another art magazine, they both constantly praise Kuwait more than any country in the Middle East. The last report two weeks ago was called “Cool Kuwait” and talked about the fourseasons in Kuwait bring their favourite fourseasons and as well as praising Kuwaitis who go beyond the normal expectations of society such as a Kuwaiti transsexual model/artist, female d.j in Manhattan and Kuwaiti drag queen. The problem is the only thing people only publicise the negative rather than the positive.
I agree that news in general tends to focus more on the negative. However, what you pointed out are magazine features..I mean international news that make it to news headlines like bbc and CNN and promoted worldwide.
That’s because Kuwait doesn’t pay for advertisement like Qatar, uaei or Saudi, if we get any good news it’s “organic” rather than the other countries I mentioned who pay for good reviews and advertising.
Here you go:
https://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2018/06/Global-Peace-Index-2018-2.pdf
Kuwait is the most peaceful Middle Eastern Country.
Maybe Kuwait has a modern airport compared to the ones in Nepal or any other country. But,it has the worst management ever. From being harassed bylong lines at Check in counters,to rude officials, to another long hassle while boarding the plane. I am a frequent flyer, and many travellers with layover at Kuwait airports have hated the experience.
Wait Amman is in the top 10?!? That is bullshit right there.
I started IGNORING comments posted by you “Sulaiman-COOKIEEE” 🙂
Cool, am I supposed to care? Writing word in capital letters is so mature, my 10 year old cousin does the samething… what a coincidence.
Dude, your hypocrisy is astounding – your name is in capital letters – “COOKIEEE”.
A very good point. Oddly enough my cousin picked it out and I went with it so I wouldn’t hurt her and cause she’s soo adorable. Unlike what people think COOKIEEE isn’t the actual biscuit, it’s her favourite cartoon character from a show I can’t remeber (no not the Cookie Monster). Tbh if it was up to me I wouldn’t be having my name in the commentary but eh c’est la vie.
Mate, I’ll give you a cookie to stay quiet.
It’s definitely not the worst of the worst. Depends with what you compare it to. It just needs fine-tuning and a face-lift . To be more polished up and updated as well as more organized and disciplined
It’s not that bad as it says. In fact I like the airport and it’s small. You don’t have to walk a lot other than big airports like dubai and Qatar. Yeah you can say the management is poor. And also there and no good facilities for transit passengers other than a small waiting area. But I’m sure there are even worse airports than this. Surely
I don’t mind the size of the airport. I mind to things: it’s not clean and the police is not only not friendly they are not helpful.
As for the cleaness: the floors are ok since some poor guys always keep them from getting trashed. But what is with the boxes at the security checks? Small and dirty as it gets. Also the restrooms cannot be used they are so dirty. And I‘m sorry to say that, other airports may be dirty at times but Kuwait airport restrooms are dirty on a regular.
With all this and not enough space to sit and wait you‘d expect the police to be friendly but no.
Even worse in the immigration. They once kept us waiting for 8 (!) hours saying they‘re working on a visa but instead they were sitting their watching videos. As soon as the shift changed early in the morning at around 7 the women got our work done within not even 5 minutes. That was a torture.
If Kuwait has a not-that-good- airport at least have officers that are friendly and helpful. And people who keep the restrooms clean.
(Also which airport has two full security check ins but that’s another story I guess)
Obviously charles de gaulle airport is not in the list
it is in both links, it came 14th worst
have been in worst airports before. KWI is old and not like other international airports, but its okay for what it is at the moment. excited to see the new terminals!
Well Duh
Let us look at some ground realities for Kuwait Airport from an expat’s perspective.
1. The porter service is very bad. They want more money and they do not wait till your luggage is checked-in. They drop you of with the trolley at the queue and then you are left for yourself to push the trolley till the check-in and not to say about the extra money they ask for.
2. At the Kuwait Airways check-in counters you will hardly see more than 3 staff doing the check-in during the peak time on weekends. Once it was 3 staff doing the check-in for Hajj flight and 1 staff for all the remaining flights. It was absolute chaos. This is not the fault of the airport but the airline. But then who cares about reputation.
3. Most of the time the conveyor belt fails.
4. At NAS check-in I personally know one person who had problem with excess baggage. They said he has 7 Kilos extra. When he checked on the adjacent counter it showed less than the permitted limit so the weighing scale is not calibrated well and besides all this fuss the passenger was issued boarding pass for Baghdad when the passenger was flying to Abu Dhabi.
5. All the staff whether its the airline staff, airport staff, police or the porters are very rude with the passengers. Even some of the travel agents sitting there are trying to fleece poor passengers of their hard earned money by over-charging for tickets.
6. Try to get visa on arrival in Kuwait. It is rare to get it in 15 minutes. Normally takes 2 hours.
7. There is absolute chaos on weekends whether its inside the airport or outside at the parking.
8. From the quality of all services within the airport it seems it is a free for all and everyone has the right to do or behave as they feel fit. an Airport is the face of a country where expats first interacts with the locals. If it is not pleasing then what impression are we leaving to the world about us.
One good thing is Jazeera and Kuwait Airways starting their own check-in services at their head quarters. Which is quite convenient for the passengers.
(a) Among the Worst in terms of infrastructure
(b) Definitely the WORST in terms of services
(c) A nightmare for business travel
Its probably the only airport left on earth where passport control doesn’t accept online check-ins /boarding print outs – i.e, you can’t check in online and go straight to passport control. You actually have to still get in line with other passengers (although you’re checked in w/no luggage and a print-out of your boarding pass) so that the airline counter can print you a boarding pass!!
You can have new buildings and new terminals but if it’s the same management and same type of ignorant employees then there wont be much change.
Why Am I not surprised… It’s without a doubt the most disgusting airport in the Middle East the toilets are simply a joke and I’d rather pee my pants than uses them. The duty free and the cafes if they are open are a joke with thousands of people passing through everyday they have seating for 50 ish
The airport is the first impression of the country and Kuwait has a long way to go. Then you go outside and it’s like a zoo with no parking and no landscaping and the trees that survive look like they are dying and the roads surrounding the airport well best not go there…
Security is a joke the airport is a national disgrace and for a country of such wealth one has to wonder where has all the money gone…
This airport really sucks! everytime I arrive another bad experience. Last Time I arrived it took and hour to get my luggage. It was so crowded I could not get close to the the luggage conveyor belt.
once I had a inspector checking my carry on an out going trip want to confiscate 3 souvenir coffee mugs because that said Kuwait on them.
Try and get one of the small carts on the duty free side I think they have 3 in total.
God help you if you have to use the transit desk. It always looks like a herd of passengers all pushing to the front.
As for the porters even if you don’t use them when you arrive they follow you to your car and touch your luggage and demand a tip. I understand they receive starvation wages this if they get paid. All the services you receive from non kuwaitis are based on how bad they are treated. The services received from Kuwaitis is crap because they are lazy and cant be fired.
The customer will always loose out WELCOME to KUWAIT!!!
Alright alright enough with the cries and complaints.
Here’s some good news (hopefully) from today’s newspapers summarized into bullet points:
The civil aviation and the guys responsible for the airport has made some changes and new measures for the upcoming fuckfest during the Eid holidays. Some of them seem internal behind the scenes measures and some of them are for passengers:
– Automated luggage check
– New hall for Transit passengers
– New hall for VISA issuing
– New service – Luggage home delivery (on my last trip my luggage didn’t arrive and it was so convenient to just go home with no wait or line and they just brought them home the next day, and i thought this should be a payable service)
– New Equipment for luggage inspection
– Reduction of additional flights
– Increase of plane sizes
– 15% less passengers due to the opening of Jazeera terminal
– Move some of the budget airlines to sheikh saad terminal
– T4 will open July 24th.
– Additional support work force for the airport
– Early luggage retrieval outside the airport for Kuwait Airways and Jazeera.
– Self check-in devices
– shaded walk ways with sprinkles
– additional seating in the airport
– Increase A/C performance in the airport
– Additional signage
– 10 new prayer rooms
Source : Today’s Al-Qabas newspaper
Thanks! Do you have a link to the article?
I’ve read it in the PDF version of the newspaper, but I think this should be the same article:
https://alqabas.com/548086/
thanks!