A Small Airport but Very Efficient (Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" (HER))

Member Name: freeandsingle

Product:	Heraklion International Airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" (HER)
Date:	03/07/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its the gateway to a sunshine holiday

Disadvantages: No paper shop after passport control

Heraklion airport Crete.

***Introduction***

I have just come back from a holiday in Crete, it is the first time that I have visited this Greek Island and Heraklion airport was the nearest for my resort.

I had read quite a few reviews mostly about the delays and dirty toilets etc. But I was pleasantly surprised at arrivals and departures; it was no where near as bad as I had been led to believe.

Delays to aircraft can be for many reasons, late arriving from elsewhere seemed to be the main reason from what I saw so hardly the airport itself at fault for that.

Dirty toilets? Not that I saw, in fact they were very clean both in the departure side and arrivals, but I must add here that the departure side was forever being swept and cleaned due to ignorant and lazy travellers just dropping empty coffee cups and paper wrappers instead of walking a few feet to one of many bins provided.

I felt quite embarrassed when I saw a group of young English people just throwing food about and then laughing at the cleaners clearing it up after them. Of course an airport can get a bad name but it seemed to me that it was the travellers themselves abusing the facilities in this case, there was certainly enough cleaners milling about.

***The Airport***

It is a small airport on the North side of the Island and about three miles from Heraklion one of the main cities.

Apparently it caters for over five million passengers a year, so it gets extremely busy during high season.
There is one terminal split into departures and arrivals.
A car park is just a few yards away from the terminal entrance and there are numerous car hire companies available.

Taxis are in abundance just outside the terminal but it is advisable to agree a price before actually setting off; I have heard so many stories of tourists getting stung for exorbitant fares but that is normal procedure anywhere abroad.

Local buses run to all resorts on a regular basis until late at night not an option that I would take personally because your hotel could be quite a walk from the main bus route so I much prefer to book a bus transfer when booking the actual holiday.

There is one Information desk in the departure area and open twenty four hours a day, I found the staff most helpful when I enquired about paying for extra leg room for my return journey, the amount of people that they have to deal with in a day must be such hard work but they were cheerful and efficient.

***Arriving***

The plane landed and came to a halt quite quickly, the runway is not that long and in no time we were on a bus and being taken to the arrivals door. This took less than a minute thankfully because the sun was blazing and they did pack us in tight, but once inside it was lovely and cool with the air conditioning.

I found a toilet before I went through, it was nice and clean but the hand driers were totally useless, but to be fair they did provide paper towels.

Passport control was a quick walk through and onto the luggage collection area. There were screens displaying the flight numbers for the carousels and every thing was so easy to find.
My case came trundling around the carousel within ten minutes, record time for me that one.

I passed through a glass door and that was it a step out side and I found the transfer firm easily to get my bus to the hotel.

I was impressed with the whole speed of things arriving at this airport, they certainly have things organised to get you in and on your way as quickly as possible.

***Departing***

The bus dropped me right outside the departure door and I noticed quite a lot of people queuing under a canvas area, this was groups of travellers with a holiday firm, obviously the reps were trying to control the amount of people entering the hall due to the small size of the airport.

Not being a part of this I just entered the hall and found my gate number by looking at the large screen showing all departures, it was very busy but every thing was signed clearly and I soon found my check in desk. I was quite lucky because I was near the front of the queue so I only had to wait about fifteen minutes.

I asked about extra leg room at the check in and they allocated me a seat then directed me to the information desk to pay for it before issuing me with my boarding card, I didn't have to queue again to get this they just handed me it straight away after the payment slip was issued. My luggage was weighed and then I put it through the x ray machine.

Looking back at the departure screen I noticed a delay of one hour for my flight, it was delayed at Manchester coming out to Crete so I decided to venture back outside for an hour and enjoy the sunshine for a bit longer.
There are quite a few benches to sit and relax and I soon passed an hour just watching people arriving and departing.

It was amusing to see the airport police patrolling the roadside, if anyone left their car for more than a minute they jumped on them as quick as lightning pointing with frantic arms to the long stay car park just a few yards away.

After spending seven days in Crete the one thing that was made clear to me was a local driver on this island does not park a car in a car park they just stop their vehicle in the middle of the road and leave it there while they chat to their friend or go into a shop.

They have some funny rules these Cretan motorists because if a car with a car hire sticker on even stalls their car let alone double parks they start tooting their horn impatiently!!!!!!!!!

I wandered back into the departure door to make my way to passport control; I did notice a stationery shop and a cafe but decided to wait until I got to the other side.
I went through quickly after being frisked and my handbag searched, I always set the alarm off don't know why but I was not complaining security is very strict at this airport so quite happy about that.

The departure lounge was heaving with people due to another flight as well as mine being delayed but there was two cafe areas to grab a coffee and I soon found a seat. The coffee cost me 3.50 Euros and it was lousy so I only had a few sips before finding a bin. Upstairs had a very large duty free shop but I didn't find any bargains everything was a bit expensive but nice to browse around.

The one thing that did surprise me was a smoking area right outside the duty free shop it was also the viewing gallery to watch planes landing and taking off. Travellers having their final puff before boarding was filling the air with thick smoke, not the best spot to put it but I believe that has now stopped due to the smoking ban in public places coming into force on the 1st of July 09.

A quick walk around to find a paper and magazine for my journey was fruitless there is nothing after passport control except the two coffee bars and the duty free shop. A bit unusual so I will make sure that I buy before passport control on my next visit.

My flight came up for boarding and once again I was on a bus and taken to the plane within a minute, my holiday finally over.

***Conclusion***

A small airport having to deal with a vast amount of people, it was very overcrowded in the departure lounge, and cleaning was being done all the time but as I said previously some travellers have no manners what so ever, maybe a few of the airport police walking around in the lounge might deter people from acting this way, but on the whole I thought this airport was run very efficiently, and I look forward to my next holiday in Crete.

Summary: For the size of this airport and the amont of people passing through,not a bad airport