Luanda Airport
Lasting Impressions....
Quick Reference Airport Guide
Here is some information that we've picked out of from your reviews. Be sure to read the review pages for the most up-to-date info:
- check-in takes 4 hours
- US$ 20 (in 2005) for the VIP lounge
by Garlic
"A truly bizarre place. Check-in takes HOURS - at least 4 hours for an economy class seat on the daily flight back to Johannesburg (which is why you arrive at the airport 4-5 hours before departure). There is hope, however. Fly business / first class and you get through in minutes. Pay US20 and you get access to the VIP lounge. Included in this price were 2 drinks and some crisps. Best money I ever spent. As for the rest of the airport - dark, dingy, overcrowded and devoid of any creature comforts. Duty free shop selling booze was the only "service" open, although there were display windows for other shops which simply never opened. In the general waiting area there were very few seats at all. I believe a new airport is being built. It can only be an improvement. Arrivals are no better - the hall is a stereotypical airport hellhole, with no signage, paint peeling off the ceiling and armed guards with big guns staring at passengers rather coldly. If you travel there on business, best you be working for one of the multinational oil companies. They manage to get people into the customs & immigration area who will see to it that you do not have to endure the lengthy immigration process, as well as the subsequent customs bribery attempts (the officials ask, brashly, for "gifts"). If you do not have someone to help you through, a very bold and authoritative sounding NO seems to do the trick."
