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AIRPORT FORUM A-Z INDEX


LAD - LUANDA AIRPORT
Page 1 of 1


"Luanda Airport by J Ross

3 August 2007

Luanda Airport would be hilarious if it wasn't so bad. Everything that has
been said below is true and having gone in and out 10+ times in 18 months I
would know. Check in is becoming an increasingly unfunny joke. For the 1405
SAA departure to JNB (Tu,Th,Sa) you now need to be there at 9am. On the last
two occasion we were held outside the check in area for 45 minutes whilst
waiting for the TAP check in to close. Well that's what they told us. The
fact they can't check in more than one flight at a time should tell you
something. In reality there did seem to be people getting through to check
in though so I suspect some greenbacks were going to security guards or
these were 'friends'. Once through to check in things went smoothly enough
thanks to being in the business class queue. Well worth paying the extra
money for a business seat just to avoid the economy queue. The check in
attendent managed to check my bags through on my Air France connection from
JNB without any trouble. Immigration and security is fine as long as you are
near the front of the check in queue. Now you will inevitably get pulled
over by the fiscal police who are just making sure you don't take the local
currency out of the country (not security as was mentioned below). They will
however take any bribe you offer them should you not know any Portuguese and
/ or don't understand that just saying no usually work! Go upstairs to the
bar - mosquito's, cheap beer and little aircon. You can of course go to
TAAG's business lounge which is barely acceptable though now has wireless.
Or pay 20 bucks to go to another lounge which has less to offer but has
aircon! And there you sit, ipod on, reading for around 3 hours before being
called to baord the plane - before it has even come in from JNB!!! So you go
down past another security check and are penned in there for an hour before
being allowed on the bus to take you to the plane. Overall the place is a
farce and is not befitting of a country that is attracting more and more
traffic every year. Apparently plans for the new airport went on hold as
they found a seam of diamonds in the ground they were going to build on so
it could be a while before the situation improves!



Luanda Airport by R Thomson

6 July 2007

Other reviews are spot on. On arrival, immigration is like some Orwellian,
post-communist throwback nightmare almost designed for psychological
torture. Make sure you have the immigration form filled in on the plane and
you get it stamped (show the guy yellow fever cert.). The immigration
officials are painfully slow and exeptionally bossy and rude, there is no
A/C (by the way, there are different queues but no one cares which one
you're in, choose the shortest), it is mosquito infested and dirty...
shabby. the toilets will make you want to vomit.... after you've been to the
immigration desk, they will take your passport from you and you will have to
wait an age to get it back with your visa... there are no seats. This is a
good time to try and get your luggage, sometimes the officials will let you
through to get it, sometimes not, it's completely random just like
everything else... expect anything as they change the procedures regularly
and without informing anyone. Once you have your bags you're almost there,
just have to negotiate corrupt officials searching your bag and being
accosted by local con men/pick- pockets once you're outside. I can't even
begin to describe departure.... long queues to get through.. be careful when
you go past duty free as there is a security check (a guy in a glass room
looking for a bribe) once you are upstairs it's a bit easier.



Luanda Airport by James Ourrie

6 June 2007

The comments posted by Marc Lurie last year are all still valid. This place
is totally unbelievable, it is VERY disorganised and you should expect to
take approx. 1 hour to clear immigration on the way in. Power cuts are
frequent. There always seem to be lots of "officials" charging about talking
into radios and moblile phones continually. But nothing ever seems to get
done. And the immigration officials who will "oh- so seriously" scan your
passport are chosen not so much for their intelligence, as for their family
connections. Petty irritations are the order of the day and all procedures
are subject to frequent change, by word of mouth, without prior warning. The
toilets are UNBELIEVABLE and the stench of raw sewage permeates most of the
upper departure lounge. Mosquitos feast on their European and American prey
while they stand in the endless , demeaning queues.



Luanda Airport by George Amis

11 September 2006

I travelled through Luanda on business a while back and it is one hell of an
experience. I was lucky that I arrived on a 2/3rds empty plane so getting
through arrivals was relatively quick, but another 50-100 people and it
would have been hell. 35c+, mosquitos a plenty, and surly passport control
staff. Leaving was even more bizzare. You have to check in 4 or 5 hours
before your flight, again in a building with no apparent air conditioning.
After this, I was bribed ($20) to get through customs without hassle about
my hand luggage, and you then wait at the one bar/cafe for 3 hours for your
flight. One positive thing at Luanda is your fellow passengers. Bonded by
the grim, but occasionally amusing, experience, everybody seemed
ridiculously friendly, and I ended up spending an entertaining 3 hours
drinking Portuguese beer in the company of Brazilians, South Africans, and
Angolans.



Luanda Airport by Marc Lurie

11 July 2006

Here are a few tips to help you through. The minute you ghet through the
entrance doors into the arrivals hall, go to the desk/counter on the right
hand side. (You'll see plenty of other people there waving their arrival
forms around. Give the guy at the counter your arrival form and your Yellow
Fever certificate. He will stamp the back of the arrival form, and then you
can stand in the passport queue. If you don't get the stamp, you will wait
in the queue for an hour, and then be turned back for the stamp. If you
don't have a Yellow Fever card, don't even bother standing in the queue. Go
straight to the "Saude" clinic on the left hand side of the builing. They
will try to charge you to give you an injection. You can usually get a
counterfeit Yello Fever card from them without injections if you bribe the
guy. Don't get caught bribing him. Better still, make sure you have a Yellow
Fever card. You'll stand in the passport queue for anywhere between 30
minutes to 2 hours. Don't lose your cool, it won't help. Have a bottle of
water in your carry-on luggage because it gets bloody hot in the airport and
the AC seldom works. Once you're through passport control go through to the
baggage area. If you're lucky the baggage will have already come off the
conveyer belt and be stacked somewhere. Take your baggage and the little tag
that's usually stuck on your ticket towards the exit. There is a checkpoint
before the exit. Show the man your ticket and the little luggage tag. He
will check it against the tag on your bags. You then have to choose the
"nothing to declare" or "something to declare" exit. If you don't have
anything to declare, try to get to the far left of the security guy, and
keep against the wall all the way out. If you don't stick to the left, there
is a good chance that you will be stopped, and your bags searched. If you
really don't have anything to declare, they'll rummage around in your bag
for a while, ask you a few questions, be generally unpleasant, and then let
you go. If they find something that you should have declared, then you're in
trouble. The toilets in the airport are to be used only in emergencies, and
DON'T DRINK THE WATER (if there is any). When you leave from Luanda, make
sure you don't have any local currency on you. If you are searched, it will
be confiscated, and you could miss your flight. "

</>

On Aug 6, 3:55 pm, "Gregory Morrow"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> http://www.airlinequality.com/Airpor..._forum/lad.htm
>
> Luanda Airport by Marc Lurie
>
> You can usually get a counterfeit Yello Fever card from them without injections
> if you bribe the guy. Don't get caught bribing him. Better still, make sure you
> have a Yellow Fever card. You'll stand in the passport queue for anywhere
> between 30 minutes to 2 hours. Don't lose your cool, it won't help. Have a bottle of
> water in your carry-on luggage because it gets bloody hot in the airport and
> the AC seldom works...If you really don't have anything to declare, they'll
> rummage around in your bag for a while, ask you a few questions, be generally
> unpleasant, and then let you go. If they find something that you should have declared,
> then you're in trouble. The toilets in the airport are to be used only in emergencies, and
> DON'T DRINK THE WATER (if there is any). When you leave from Luanda, make
> sure you don't have any local currency on you. If you are searched, it will
> be confiscated, and you could miss your flight. "


As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.

Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:

[]
> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.

It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
an embarrassment.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

"Gregory Morrow" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le
message de news:[email protected]...
> http://www.airlinequality.com/Airpor..._forum/lad.htm
>
> AIRPORT FORUM A-Z INDEX
>
>
> LAD - LUANDA AIRPORT
> Page 1 of 1
>
>
> "Luanda Airport by J Ross
>
> 3 August 2007
>
> Luanda Airport would be hilarious if it wasn't so bad. Everything that has
> been said below is true and having gone in and out 10+ times in 18 months
> I
> would know. Check in is becoming an increasingly unfunny joke. For the
> 1405
> SAA departure to JNB (Tu,Th,Sa) you now need to be there at 9am. On the
> last
> two occasion we were held outside the check in area for 45 minutes whilst
> waiting for the TAP check in to close. Well that's what they told us. The
> fact they can't check in more than one flight at a time should tell you
> something. In reality there did seem to be people getting through to check
> in though so I suspect some greenbacks were going to security guards or
> these were 'friends'. Once through to check in things went smoothly enough
> thanks to being in the business class queue. Well worth paying the extra
> money for a business seat just to avoid the economy queue. The check in
> attendent managed to check my bags through on my Air France connection
> from
> JNB without any trouble. Immigration and security is fine as long as you
> are
> near the front of the check in queue. Now you will inevitably get pulled
> over by the fiscal police who are just making sure you don't take the
> local
> currency out of the country (not security as was mentioned below). They
> will
> however take any bribe you offer them should you not know any Portuguese
> and
> / or don't understand that just saying no usually work! Go upstairs to the
> bar - mosquito's, cheap beer and little aircon. You can of course go to
> TAAG's business lounge which is barely acceptable though now has wireless.
> Or pay 20 bucks to go to another lounge which has less to offer but has
> aircon! And there you sit, ipod on, reading for around 3 hours before
> being
> called to baord the plane - before it has even come in from JNB!!! So you
> go
> down past another security check and are penned in there for an hour
> before
> being allowed on the bus to take you to the plane. Overall the place is a
> farce and is not befitting of a country that is attracting more and more
> traffic every year. Apparently plans for the new airport went on hold as
> they found a seam of diamonds in the ground they were going to build on so
> it could be a while before the situation improves!
>
>
>
> Luanda Airport by R Thomson
>
> 6 July 2007
>
> Other reviews are spot on. On arrival, immigration is like some Orwellian,
> post-communist throwback nightmare almost designed for psychological
> torture. Make sure you have the immigration form filled in on the plane
> and
> you get it stamped (show the guy yellow fever cert.). The immigration
> officials are painfully slow and exeptionally bossy and rude, there is no
> A/C (by the way, there are different queues but no one cares which one
> you're in, choose the shortest), it is mosquito infested and dirty...
> shabby. the toilets will make you want to vomit.... after you've been to
> the
> immigration desk, they will take your passport from you and you will have
> to
> wait an age to get it back with your visa... there are no seats. This is a
> good time to try and get your luggage, sometimes the officials will let
> you
> through to get it, sometimes not, it's completely random just like
> everything else... expect anything as they change the procedures regularly
> and without informing anyone. Once you have your bags you're almost there,
> just have to negotiate corrupt officials searching your bag and being
> accosted by local con men/pick- pockets once you're outside. I can't even
> begin to describe departure.... long queues to get through.. be careful
> when
> you go past duty free as there is a security check (a guy in a glass room
> looking for a bribe) once you are upstairs it's a bit easier.
>
>
>
> Luanda Airport by James Ourrie
>
> 6 June 2007
>
> The comments posted by Marc Lurie last year are all still valid. This
> place
> is totally unbelievable, it is VERY disorganised and you should expect to
> take approx. 1 hour to clear immigration on the way in. Power cuts are
> frequent. There always seem to be lots of "officials" charging about
> talking
> into radios and moblile phones continually. But nothing ever seems to get
> done. And the immigration officials who will "oh- so seriously" scan your
> passport are chosen not so much for their intelligence, as for their
> family
> connections. Petty irritations are the order of the day and all procedures
> are subject to frequent change, by word of mouth, without prior warning.
> The
> toilets are UNBELIEVABLE and the stench of raw sewage permeates most of
> the
> upper departure lounge. Mosquitos feast on their European and American
> prey
> while they stand in the endless , demeaning queues.
>
>
>
> Luanda Airport by George Amis
>
> 11 September 2006
>
> I travelled through Luanda on business a while back and it is one hell of
> an
> experience. I was lucky that I arrived on a 2/3rds empty plane so getting
> through arrivals was relatively quick, but another 50-100 people and it
> would have been hell. 35c+, mosquitos a plenty, and surly passport control
> staff. Leaving was even more bizzare. You have to check in 4 or 5 hours
> before your flight, again in a building with no apparent air conditioning.
> After this, I was bribed ($20) to get through customs without hassle about
> my hand luggage, and you then wait at the one bar/cafe for 3 hours for
> your
> flight. One positive thing at Luanda is your fellow passengers. Bonded by
> the grim, but occasionally amusing, experience, everybody seemed
> ridiculously friendly, and I ended up spending an entertaining 3 hours
> drinking Portuguese beer in the company of Brazilians, South Africans, and
> Angolans.
>
>
>
> Luanda Airport by Marc Lurie
>
> 11 July 2006
>
> Here are a few tips to help you through. The minute you ghet through the
> entrance doors into the arrivals hall, go to the desk/counter on the right
> hand side. (You'll see plenty of other people there waving their arrival
> forms around. Give the guy at the counter your arrival form and your
> Yellow
> Fever certificate. He will stamp the back of the arrival form, and then
> you
> can stand in the passport queue. If you don't get the stamp, you will wait
> in the queue for an hour, and then be turned back for the stamp. If you
> don't have a Yellow Fever card, don't even bother standing in the queue.
> Go
> straight to the "Saude" clinic on the left hand side of the builing. They
> will try to charge you to give you an injection. You can usually get a
> counterfeit Yello Fever card from them without injections if you bribe the
> guy. Don't get caught bribing him. Better still, make sure you have a
> Yellow
> Fever card. You'll stand in the passport queue for anywhere between 30
> minutes to 2 hours. Don't lose your cool, it won't help. Have a bottle of
> water in your carry-on luggage because it gets bloody hot in the airport
> and
> the AC seldom works. Once you're through passport control go through to
> the
> baggage area. If you're lucky the baggage will have already come off the
> conveyer belt and be stacked somewhere. Take your baggage and the little
> tag
> that's usually stuck on your ticket towards the exit. There is a
> checkpoint
> before the exit. Show the man your ticket and the little luggage tag. He
> will check it against the tag on your bags. You then have to choose the
> "nothing to declare" or "something to declare" exit. If you don't have
> anything to declare, try to get to the far left of the security guy, and
> keep against the wall all the way out. If you don't stick to the left,
> there
> is a good chance that you will be stopped, and your bags searched. If you
> really don't have anything to declare, they'll rummage around in your bag
> for a while, ask you a few questions, be generally unpleasant, and then
> let
> you go. If they find something that you should have declared, then you're
> in
> trouble. The toilets in the airport are to be used only in emergencies,
> and
> DON'T DRINK THE WATER (if there is any). When you leave from Luanda, make
> sure you don't have any local currency on you. If you are searched, it
> will
> be confiscated, and you could miss your flight. "
>
> </>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 21:53:49 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

>Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>[]
>> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
>> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.
>
>It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
>country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
>important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
>criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
>little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
>certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
>comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
>airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
>growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
>an embarrassment.

The Dutch govt intends to have a global warming tax at Schiphol EUR 60-70 per
passenger/flight. Last week on just one day this would have a produced more
thanEUR10 million in revenue.
--

Martin

horne is boring

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le
message de news:1i2g1s1.1rkpoabikb0x1N%[email protected]...
> Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> []
>> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
>> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.
>
> It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
> country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
> important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
> criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
> little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
> certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
> comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
> airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
> growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
> an embarrassment.
>
> --
> (*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
> http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
> "Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
> Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Martin <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 21:53:49 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
> chancellor (*)) wrote:
>
> >Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >[]
> >> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
> >> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.
> >
> >It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
> >country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
> >important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
> >criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
> >little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
> >certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
> >comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
> >airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
> >growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
> >an embarrassment.
>
> The Dutch govt intends to have a global warming tax at Schiphol EUR 60-70 per
> passenger/flight. Last week on just one day this would have a produced more
> thanEUR10 million in revenue.

I wouldn't mind if the UK government's "environmental" tax went on it!

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 22:21:33 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

>Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 21:53:49 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
>> chancellor (*)) wrote:
>>
>> >Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> >[]
>> >> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
>> >> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.
>> >
>> >It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
>> >country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
>> >important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
>> >criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
>> >little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
>> >certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
>> >comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
>> >airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
>> >growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
>> >an embarrassment.
>>
>> The Dutch govt intends to have a global warming tax at Schiphol EUR 60-70 per
>> passenger/flight. Last week on just one day this would have a produced more
>> thanEUR10 million in revenue.
>
>I wouldn't mind if the UK government's "environmental" tax went on it!

It probably will. It has been pointed out by a Dutch politician that it will
have no positive effect on the environment,
--

Martin

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 23:04:46 +0200, "Runge3" <[email protected]> wrote:

>horne is boring

Yes he is. Is he more boring than "The Reid" though?


>"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le
>message de news:1i2g1s1.1rkpoabikb0x1N%[email protected]...
>> Iceman <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> []
>>> As I've been saying, for anyone who has been in Third World airports
>>> at all, all of this complaining about Heathrow is ridiculous.
>>
>> It's not. Heathrow isn't serving a capital city in an underdeveloped
>> country. It's one of the world's busiest airports, serving the most
>> important European city (at least in terms of business and finance.) The
>> criticism aimed at Heathrow is fair. The opening of Terminal 5 will go a
>> little way to address some of the problems of overcrowding, but almost
>> certainly not enough. People complain about Heathrow because they're
>> comparing it to other major hubs, not because they're comparing it to
>> airports in developing countries. There's a fair amount of opinion
>> growing among UK politicians (at last!) that Heathrow is fast becoming
>> an embarrassment.
>>
>> --
>> (*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
>> http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
>> "Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
>> Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

<Amanda> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 23:04:46 +0200, "Runge3" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>horne is boring
>
> Yes he is. Is he more boring than "The Reid" though?
>


What's boring is people like you posting off-topic personal abuse.

Oh dear, now I'm boring as well...

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 18:23:42 +0100, "Boring" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
><Amanda> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 23:04:46 +0200, "Runge3" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>horne is boring
>>
>> Yes he is. Is he more boring than "The Reid" though?
>>
>
>
>What's boring is people like you posting off-topic personal abuse.

Yawn. Whatever you say, Reid.