The airport at Santiago de Compostela is a local hub for International flights from Vueling and Ryanair, whilst also hosting a few Easyjet and Nordic services along with many domestic Spanish flights.
The new terminal, bathed in natural light and spacious, provides a pleasant, low stress, airport experience, essential for frequent business travellers.
Drop off and pick up
Santi
ago airport is 13km from the city centre. There are good connections by road, but no rail link and although the bus from the city centre and railway station is every 30 minutes, it’s a slow/stopping service.
Santiago provides the ‘kiss and go’ style drop off, with drive-through lanes to encourage a quick exit by departing passengers. This also reduces the chance of arrival passengers hoping to be picked up in the drop off zone and avoid carpark charges, which is a frequent cause of airport traffic congestion.
Pick up makes use of a huge new multi-storey car park, which also accommodates the hire car companies. Access is good, large lifts to the terminal work well. The café in arrivals is exactly opposite the baggage claim exit doors, providing a comfortable area to wait. There are healthy choices available, mostly toasted sandwich type savoury foods and always in Spain, their delicious, freshly squeezed orange juice.
Departure
There is little automation considering this is a fairly new terminal. Bag drop is fairly slow, mostly due to weight limits on baggage being strictly adhered to. Anxious passengers rearranging both cabin bags and hold luggage, to comply with the rules and avoid extra charges, has become a common aspect of the low-cost flight experience.
Transit through security is a little haphazard, it appears that a new system is possibly being installed and there was confusion about where to find a tray and what to do with it. The post-security large duty-free shop was well stocked but initially had only one check-out manned and queues were very long and the service slow.
Arrivals
Everything worked well and efficiently. Baggage came quickly, toilets were clean. The roads around the airport were free of congestion.
One of the many Christian pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, runs along-side the airport. The beautiful bays and beaches of the Galician coast, great seafood and Albarino wineries make Northern Spain an attractive destination for tourism.
© ExtraVitality 2017
