Aeroporto di Catania - Sicilia Reviews 278

The airport passport control officer behaved in a racist and unprofessional manner. He made inappropriate comments about the country where I was born, even though I hold an Italian passport by blood right through my grandmother, simply because my surname is not Italian. His behaviour made me feel like a second‑class citizen. I believe the airport should review the standards and training of the staff they hire, to ensure they do not harm people’s dignity or negatively impact tourism. Individuals who demonstrate such unprofessional conduct should be reassigned to roles that do not involve direct interaction with international travellers.

In the departure hall practically no seat at all!
If you arrive,a,little earlier you have necessarily to sit at McDonalds or the other bar. Or in the only one bench outside in the open.
Unbelievably no seat!

Basically queue from the moment you arrive to the time you board,in excess of 2.5 hours! No organisation and no time to sit,refresh,comfort break or eat or shop ,a horrendous experience which has put us off ever returning to Sicily. Never again.

Without a doubt, the worst airport I’ve ever used and I really mean that. Took us hours to get through the queue to check in our hold luggage because the attendants thought it necessary to move in utter slow motion with no consideration for the queue or our needs to get through security in order to eat something and board our flight. When we finally got through security, we realised the advertised McDonald’s (which after ten days of eating Parma ham sandwiches and pizzas) - was only available before security. Who wants to eat dinner before their flight - before security? What a joke. The only food thus available inside was guess what? Parma ham paninis and pizzas. FOUR food shops selling the same thing. Not a single restaurant or decicated place to sit down. Also the gates are confusing and passengers from two flights were in disarray as there was no clear indication of where to clue. A bunch of chimps could run an airport better. disgrace

Tourists, be aware when leaving Catania!

Apparently at the airport, staff have strong interests in opening all your luggages and keeping your belongings despite they are allowed to be boarded.
Probably they don’t earn much.

Be safe!

An unimaginable nightmare.
The Jet2 ground staff are pathetic !
After a delay on our flight last Saturday back to Birmingham, there was mis information, confusion and downright lies from Jet2 personnel.
With the exception of Elio, who was at least human and faced up to the issues where his colleagues h as absconded, the night descended into chaos with the scrambling of busses to far away hotels for the night.
A fact that there were children and elderly passengers on board seemed to escape the view from other jet2 ground staff.
The next day rescheduled flight could not have come soon enough.
Don’t travel with Jet2 and DEFINITELY don’t go to Catania !!

Baffling to see this is still classed as an airport and not commended as the laughably kafka-esque performance piece it is, with an almost artistic level of halfassery and apathy demonstrated by the staff.
Our flight (Jet2*nowhere*) operated by a third party arrived at 11:35pm, and, whilst we were awaiting any information as to whether we were actually going to get back to the UK that night, it transpired that our hopes were cut much shorter, as the runway closes at 12 midnight, assumedly for Italian reasons. We were boarded none the less at 21:50, and stood on the gangway for 2hrs until commons sense overtook us and we realised the airport crew were fecklessly inept and deboarded ourselves, to the irritation of the 13yr old chap seemingly running the Sicilian operations of Jet2 with the cautious precision of a hammer welding chimp in a china shop.
This began a further 3hr ordeal, running after airport rep after airport rep, reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland (although heavy hallucinogenics would have made the experience atleast somewhat interesting and comprehensible) all the while requests for information on the next step in the process were ignored, laughed or shrugged off as "Not their issue".
Again, collective sense prevailed when, as we were given our local hotel booking and information on bus transfer after waiting a further 3hrs in a dimly-lit-now-closed airport front terminal, the Titanic-like approach to organising priority of transferees became something of a dystopian scene from the exodus of a failing state, atleast Titanic crew were trained to a minimum standard and had the sense to let the frail and children board refuge first (we had 2 of the group 75+ and diabetic, having not eaten for 4hrs). Again, Catania staff were predictably indifferent and willfully ignorant of this, possibly because every passenger needing medical transfer, would be one less hassle for their overworked Saturday night.
The hotel actually existed (to the shock of all on the bus), the rooms and staff were pleasant and the breakfast welcomed, however, not a decent espresso in sight, but that's a small critique in this
So here we are. A day late, 600miles from destination and waiting a repeat of yesterday.
One recommendation: Fly to Palermo and book a transfer, or avoid Jet2 AT ALL COSTS.

I felt comfortable and welcomed at Catania airport, it is very big and the staff is kind and helpful. Thank you for the wonderful holiday

The worst airport baggage service ever. Period. 50 minutes waiting for 1st baggage from Malta. The flight only about 40 minutes but we had to wait 50minutes for our baggage.

I am a frequent traveller to Italy. Last week went to Sicily and rented a car from SC rental car at Catania airport via the Discovercar platform. The car was in poor condition with many scratches but overall I have decided to take it. The lady at the checkout showed me the car, updated the damage list and that was all. When returned to the car, at the check-in in the man found that the door key could not get fully inside the door lock and said this was new damage. I mentioned to him that I never try to lock the car manually as there is a remote and this damage was already marked on the checkout list, he replied something like "Si" or "Yes" (has poor English anyway) and went back to his office. Then came out and said..Ok, your deposit will be back in 10 days.
Later I had an Email with the damage invoice. And today my credit card is charged a much bigger amount with no paperwork at all. No invoice, no explanation! Total rip-off. At the airport, they shared an office with ECH and Optimo Rent, so presumably, they are one and the same company but using a different brand. Will not use all three brands ever again and strongly recommend to fellow travellers not to do it!

SAC SERVICE CATANIA AIRPORT!
Luigi and Angelo were DIVINE! They made the wait fun and they were so helpful.
Flight on Sept 3 ITA at 12:00 to Roma Fiumicino
Antonello & Camerin Bux

Tough we r living in 2024...
NO AC
NO DRINKING WATER

The airport is awful. The staff are rude and full of their own self importance just because they have a uniform on. Thanks to the officious woman at passport control for gates 19 to 22 who kept moving the time slot for going through for the Stansted flight, she single handily made travelling from the airport the pits. However once through, it was third world, no seats, overcrowded, toilets awful and services absolutely rubbish. Anyone thinking of travelling through Catania airport, think again, find another route but avoid at all costs. It is fine going in but getting out makes you want to be anywhere else but this sh.thole

it is a shame that this airport continues to operate. Third world countries are doing better. You wonder what kind of management is here, do they not see it or do they not want to see it. I'm afraid that people are running the business here who were not chosen based on their expertise but on acquaintances with important people. Shame to death, Sicily will never blossom like this!

The worst airport I’ve ever been, and I van tell you, I’ve visited a lot. 2 times during departure it was a horrrible experience!! First time we were waiting 1,5+ hours to get checked in, and we needed to rush to be able to take the plane. Second time was even much worse. 4 hours waiting without any information, in a very very small tent, where airconditioning didn’t function most of the time with 32 degrees Celsius. The airport management demonstrates the incompetency to a top level and is showing that they are not able to improve or managing a crisis situation. Never, but never again I will visit this airport in the future!!!!!! Highly unrecommended!

We traveled from Catania to Rome. there were eight of us in the group (three adults and five children). We arrived more than 2 hours ago. We went to the counter and on the last ticket the clerk said that she could not make a ticket and that we had to wait up to 45 minutes before departure. I begged her and her boss to give my tickets to the girl so she could go with the group. They didn't want to. We arrived 45 minutes before take-off and saw that 4 other people were waiting for tickets. they overbooked. Very rude and unprepared. they don't know how to manage and unfortunately they are not ready to help. after we got the tickets, we asked to go on the fast line, but they didn't let us. very big crowd and only one baggage check lane was working. nice airport but traumatic for passengers due to disorganization

Sono stato 3 volte in questo aeroporto, mi sono trovato bene.

The worst thinkable service I've ever experienced. They lost my luggage. Now - after 6 days I still haven't received my luggage. I've tried to phone the lost and found department at least a hundred times, I've tried to contact the courier at least a hundred times. When I went to the airport, I was told that they had given my luggage to the courier that morning - 4 days ago now. I've tried the customer service, I've tried the Border Police, and all I'm told is I'll have my stuff tomorrow. However they lie, they cheat, they steal. DO NOT EVER GO TO SICILY VIA CATANIA AIRPORT. The people that work there are the scum of the earth!