Munich Airport named as best in Europe

In the annual worldwide passenger survey by "Skytrax", Munich airport was named as the "The best in Europe" and the 5th best airport in the World.


It seems to be a rather large survey so the results should be quite accurate. I must say that whenever I use (very infrequently) Munich airport it is superb. I also noticed that there were no British airports in the top 10, no suprise there.

For the full article: http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2...Airport2008.htm

(It even gives you the "Survey Methodology")

Would be a better airport with a transrapid connection and more shopping facilities once you're through security in terminal one. And a tie rack somewhere else apart from in terminal two after security...

Helsinki in the top 10? No way. It's a horrendous place. People are idiots.

Munich airport is good when flying from T2, but T1 is a bit crap.

Once Heathrow T5 gets included in the survey I expect LHR to come a lot higher (and no I'm not joking - thought it'd be crap, but have been mightily impressed each time I've flown through it)

and Lufthansa still uses Frankfurt as its main hub!

I love Helsinki Airport- its so nice and clean, and not far to walk for anything.

How can an airport, where you walk through an air-bridge, down the stairs, and into a bus to be transported to the terminal get a high rating?

Can't object to Singapore, and Zurich however.

All these rankings are probably based on so many factors like air-traffic, space, location, safety,convenience, et al. Munich's and Zurich's rankings are different, although their airports are a bit similar.

Though visually I like the look of the Munich airport (not to mention it must be designed and managed quite well since it's hardly ever crowded), I despise the signs inside the terminals. I've been through the airport loads of times, but nearly always manage to get lost because there are either no signs indicating where to go, or the signs are confusing. And I'm not an idiot, I've successfully navigated my way through airports all over the world.

Zurich???
How can this be?
I mean the tarted-up bits are nice but the dingy bits are dank and the security check is horrifically slow every time I've flown through.
T2 Munich is fabulous.

yeah that's cos it is in the middle of the country so has a larger catchment area than Munich. oh and it also has a far greater capacity. LH wouldn't be able to fly to half the destinations from Munich that they can from Frankfurt.

agree that the signs in T2 aren't the easiest to follow - but if you fly through there a lot then surely you learn the way? I always find it quite amusing to watch people get off the plane and wander off in random directions...means less of a queue at passport control/the baggage carousel

I agree the signs are poor, but generally I rate Munich very highly, never any huge queues through security, clean and easy to get to. Obviously this only applies to people like me who live out in the sticks, but there can't be many airports that you can live 20 minutes away from without being deafened by the planes! I also like the fact that you can park right outside the terminals.

Cape Town?

Why is that one even on the radar? Tiny little place. I thought Oban had a nice landing strip as well.

Agree with you there Allershausen: I've never had to wait for more than five or ten minutes at check-in or security. I give the place five stars for efficiency.

You're right, Lassie, I reckon I should have 'memorised' the way around, but I guess I don't fly quite often enough to have mastered it just yet. I go through there five or six times a year so I guess that doesn't really constitute 'loads', especially to people who have to travel weekly or monthly for business.

I guess the point is that it should be easily navigatable even for those who have never stepped foot in there before.

My vote for worst airport: Philly, just barely edging out Heathrow.

Munich T2 deserves to be named Europes best. It is reasonable as airports go, no really really long security queues and good selection of eats once inside.

Only if I drive there. It's actualy quicker to drive to Zurich for me than fly there using MUC. I hate the distance involved with public transport, especialy when you land at 10:45 pm.

Have a look at the link. At the bottom it says "Survey Methodology". It seems to be quite a substantive survey as opposed to "We asked 200 viewers....etc".

I have to say that Munich Airport does have a lot of empty space, (though I dont think the opening of a "tie rack" would improve most travellers experience of their journey )

The other think I really like about the airport is that it is easy to drive to the T2 taxi rank and either drop or pick up my wife or any visitors.

I'm really surprised by that- every time I've flown out of Zurich the security check's been extremely quick. And I've never had to wait on line at customs.

I had that also in Singapore.
Had to go walk down a circular stairwell, identify bagages, get in tht bus to go ...

Have flown through Zurich 6 times in last 6 months and the queuing was horrible. Especially as transfer passengers have to get rescanned grrrrrr
Perhaps I've just been unlucky?
Would agree on hight rating for SFO (great food, two branches of Sephora and you can get a pedicure in the security area).

What would win worst? CDG surely. Even my former worst one (Schipol) has improved lately.

Worst one for me would definitly be CDG. Once while waiting to board the nearby toilets started leaking and the passengers had to trek through liquid to get to the boarding gate.

Also changing terminals is a nightmare there. As for luggage, count on getting it at least one day later.

Strange, world rankings don't mention Duncan B.C.

http://www.action-ultralights.com/airport-map.htm

Must be because it is not very good for connections and those big trees on finals can make landings a bit hairy.

I would rate Frankfurt higher than Munich

I certainly would not rate Frankfurt higher than Munich. Ok it has more connections and flights but that also means more busses used to smaller destinations. Long walks between connections.

Frankfurt is an awful place to be if you are transferring after 8 pm. no decent places to eat and they always run out of Weizenbier at approx 18:00. It also is very expensive there.

I never had luggage problems from there, but then again never had luggage problems from Munich either.

Frankfurt has an advantage that the city is closer to the airport.

I wonder what would Munich's rating be if they were split them into Munich T1 & Munich T2.

T1 - Shit
T2 - Excellent

@ Deccie
If you’re connecting in T2 after 8 pm I ‚d tend to agree its a bit of a ghost town as most flights from T2 are west bound and leave morning and afternoon if you jump on the Skyline to T1 there are loads of places to eat and drink direction S bahn, most are 24 h too you’ll get your Weizen

@ timezoner. Cheers thanks for the tip. that is what I actually do in Frankfurt is go outside and eat at the station if I have the time.

Actually around the airport train station there is a really good and reasonable Chinese. Much tastier than anything here in Berlin.

Munich? You've got to be joking.

Definitely.

A company I used to work for designed the baggage handling systems there (worked on a few sites with some of the guys) so I'm a bit biased but I think it's a great airport - easy enough to get around, modern and efficient. Could be closer to the city, but it's really not too bad.

.

Is the "you" in the above quote directed at any poster in particular or the 8.2 million travellers that took part in the survey?

So am I, because it's the only airport I've been to where they forgot to put a single piece of luggage on the plane!

Munich is brilliant for parking to pick up or drop people off, and the passport/security, departure gates are all near together, so that is really good. Also coming in, going through passport control and picking up luggage functions well too. But what is awful is the transit area. It can be miles and miles from the gate that you come in to your next departure gate, and there are no moving walkways to help. It's all a bit up and down, and a really long walk. For anybody who is not able to walk far, or who is perhaps a bit frail, it is miserable. We always used to transit Munich, and I have often seen poor lost souls (usually elderly) wandering around. The theory is that there is transport help for them, the reality is quite different. Also the departure areas are so boring - a few miserable shops, nothing really worth browsing, and the cafe food is very limited too. If you have a lot of time between flights, it is deadly.

as someone who spends a lot of time at munich airport (2x week), I tend to agree that some of the walking between the gates is a challenge but everything else is really tiptop. Definitly one of the better airports in the world.

in T2 there are a ton of moving sidewalks to help those out!
I have never had issues in T2, T1 on the other hand depends on what airlines you are flying, but they do hold the flights and they do escort you to the other end if needed! but then again, you actually have to open your mouth and ask for help!

Munich must be the only airport in the world with its own brewery , so this must give it extra kudos !!!

...but they had such a cool chime... CDG Chime like out of a sci-fi movie... now it seems that that has been changed, so no redeeming feature. I think they must have some cracked-out Orangutans down there doing the luggage...

As for Munich, I think part of the reason it handles capacity well is that it is way overbuilt for the volume. I mean, the thing is about 5x the size of Vienna, for example, with similar populations...

How is Dublin airport doing in the ranking?

Munich Aiport the best in Europe?
Extensive Surveys?

Bullshit...!

I have travelled through MUCk approximately 50 times in the last year and never saw a hint of a survey form!
And their baggage handling is crap, it's a lottery as to whether it will be 10 minutes or 45 minutes waiting, T1 or T2.

On the whole it's not bad, but no way is it the best in Europe, surely it can't be, can it?

Must think of one better......erm, erm, erm!

I don't think we've ever transited T2. There are definitely no moving walkways in T1. And yes I know they can escort you, but in our case that was only talk, no action. We were delayed - either late flight or the doors were frozen when we came in or something - anyway, airline fault, and they promised to have transport to meet us at the aircraft exit to take us to the next flight, due to leave with about 15 mins or so. Didn't happen, and there was nobody there to ask anymore. Fighting our way back into the aircraft to find the cabin crew didn't seem like a good option. We just had to run like hell, fortunately the onward flight was delayed too!

I couldn't disagree more.
All the way along from A to F.

T1 is definitely SHITE, but it does have travellators..

and where exactly are they in T2? The positive thing I have to say for T2 is that it's spotless clean (kind of representative of the rest of Munich hehe) and it doesn't seem crowded. Arrivals are a bit stupid though, and I laughed reading a previous post re: lost souls wandering about..it's so true hehe

In T2 in the departure area between the central shopping bit and the gates

Yes there are Jeeves, but they are downstairs before you check in, NOT in the transit area. That is a nightmare of narrow walkways and stairs up and down, awful if you are in a hurry.

Munich Airport was fine. But the big loophole is the S Bahn station. It is impossible for anyone who doesn't know German to figure out the ticket vending machine. There is NO HELP ON THE PLATFORM. For an airport that boasts of a fast link to the City Centre, they really leave you out in the cold when it comes to getting tickets and info on the S Bahn train system. There needs to be a ticket counter/help counter at the top of the escalators going down to the platform. There is NO SECURITY on the S Bahn platform. We emailed S Bahn, just got a std form email from them. We emailed the airport, they said the platform is not our responsibility... We lost a bag in the whole hassle to get a ticket... Had we been dishonest we would have just taken the chance and ridden without a ticket... We were honest but we met dishonest people who either took or bag or stole it... This is the reward for honesty... We hope they stop pointing fingers at each other and fix the problem...

there is ticket counters- one in Terminal 2 near all the cheap flight places and a larger one with generally 3 people manning it in the Central area, near the main entrance to the Sbahn at the top of the Escalators- as one should have their ticket already before they go into the platform area- those are the Munich MVV rules, or they wouldn't have a platform ticket too!

Good to know there is a difference between taking a bag and stealing it.
Any chance you simply left it behind somewhere and lost it?? No? Maybe a teeny teeny chance?

Yes we thought about that. As soon as we realized we called S Bahn, went to all possible Fundburo's and frantically doubled back through everywhere we had been. The S BAhn ofice at Hauptbahoff told us they find so many things that people leave behind they have space to keep it in their office only for 1 day, they send it to the Wuppertal office after 1 day. Point is, people find things... So it is just our bad luck... We could write a book on this topic... maybe help some locals navigate the lost and found system. By the way, the City of Munich Fundburo has 2 auctions coming up Aug 12 and 13 and a bike auction Aug 18th to sell things they find...Atleast the lost and found system is good....

Had it been easier to get the tickets we would not have spent the time wandering around trying to figure out a way (the up escalators were not working so it was hard to lug everything everywhere). Ofcourse we were being honest...We could have been dishonest and just ridden without a ticket. If we left it someone found it and did not return it. S Bahn had, based on our report (hopefully they did) initiated a search in less than half hour after the loss. This leads us to believe there are crooks who know this weakness and prey on it. What chance is there that a normal person going about their life reaches there just when we (possibly) left it there thinking, here is a nice bag, lets see what it has... It did not, but could have had illegal substances... Who in their right mind would get involved in something like this.... There were no euros or dollars in it but other valuable things.. Why not do the right thing??? Why not return it?? We would have rewarded the person. Its always the honest person who pays a heavy price isnt't it?

Actually, I find that it is usually the impatient person that pays the heavy price...or the person who can't just learn their lesson and move on.

Ofcourse there are lessons to be learnt in every experience. That doesn't erase our nightmare. This is a loophole in the system and hopefully people in official positions are better at making note and improving things. We spent an hour in the whole ordeal. After 8 hours on a plane and 3 hours before perhaps, I am not sure anyone can have more patience. Finally it was an old frail looking woman with no English who helped us. Point is help is needed.

If you want people to actually buy the tickets make the station more easy to deal with. Put a map, put a sign, have turnstiles, so no one can even go to the platform without a ticket. That's how it is everywhere else.

Ha, worst idea yet. Good luck getting through goddamn turnstiles with all your luggage or on crutches. Just because other places do something does NOT make it a good idea.

Good point. Then move the machine out of the platform and in the central area. If they can't put a booth on the platform (and no other S Bahn platforms that we saw have a machine or a booth anyway) then put the machine near the booth upstairs. Point is, passengers find themselves on the platform with no help. The escalators were not working when we were there. Once you go down to the platform the Airport administration drop you like a hot potato, they say is is S Bahn, talk to S Bahn.