we are not talking about everywhere, we are giving our views on bulgaria,which is what this forum is about,

i thought it was typical british to form an orderly queue.
last year with balkan they did not open the desk until an hour before the supposed take off from birmingham,needless to say the flight was delayed without an explanation.the queue then was snaking a long way round the terminal.

comon everybody calm down ,dont let it put anybody off going to bulgaria im sure bourgas is not the worst airport in the world.once your thru bulgaria is well simply the best.as for my suitcase it has also happened at newcastle.

I have never had any probs at bourgas, nor was was case damaged.

Passport control are slow, but you have a fab holiday in bulgaria!

Im flying out sunday into borgas.

im sure bourgas is not the worst airport in the world

You are correct there Hapymackem, Zante airport has to be the worst airport I`ve been through.

We arrived in Bourgas Airport last Monday 12th - the only flight arriving. Got through passport control, got our cases and were at our hotel (first drop off) within the hour. Yes the toilets were awful but that was the only thing wrong.

We arrived back at the airport yesterday - again, the only flight checking in, got checked in within 10 mins (did get charged £20 excess baggage though, so watch out, we were 6kg over). We had a 40 minute delay but we didnt think the total wait was too bad, nor that the airport itself was much worse than others we have been through.

We arrived back in Glasgow with our suitcases completely intact and with no scratches, tears or marks.

So its not always bad. Yes it would be chaotic with 3 flights arriving/checking in but it would be the same regardless of what airport you were at.

Stuart, chill out, please dont go to Bulgaria thinking its going to be the pits because its not. We had a fab week and will most definately go back. Go with an open mind and relax.

Sally

Thanks Sally you were right, flight on time, bourgas loos fine, jumped in a cab with another person and shared the cost in SB in less than an hour!! Nor bad at all!! Stuart

Thats great, glad you arrived safely and hope you have a lovely trip/holiday.

My wife & I returned to UK from Bourgas on 05/10/05. On checking in at Bourgas our 2 cases had padlocks, security tags across the case zipps & also straps round which were connected with combination lock fastenings.
On arrival at East Midlands our luggage was off-loaded & on the carrousel in a matter of a few minutes so no time for problems.
When my wife (I am disabled) got the cases onto a trolley she noticed that the straps were missing so we reported this to the service company that handles Thomson flights. On getting out to the arrivals entrance we notice that the security labels had been tampered with & on checking found the locks had been removed. My wife tried to return to the service company desk but was refused re-admission as it was the other side of customs,so she was told by an information desk to add this further discovery to the sheet they had given us initially.
Whilst waiting for the transfer coach to the Airparks car park I mentioned our problem to someone else in the queue - within 2 minutes 5 other people found the padlocks missing from their cases.
We returned home as we were very tired after almost 48 hours without sleep due to a bug doing the rounds(deli belly) at Sunny Beach. When we woke we got the cases out to check and found that they had been systematically searched - our toilet bags had been emptied out & even a similar container with my medications in. It appears the thieves (We believe the baggage handlers at Bourgas) were only after jewellery, cigarettes & maybe money but they are crafty b.....s as they stole a necklace I had bought my wife only on Monday and left the small jewellers carrier,necklace box & guarantee in our case. They also took the cigarettes (20 packets) out of the 2 x 200 packs & left the packs in the airline carrier they were in.
IF ONLY THE BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD REALISE THE DAMAGE THIS IS DOING TO THEIR COUNTRY - WE SHALL NEVER GO BACK , IN FACT I DO NOT FEEL LIKE GOING ANYWHERE ABROAD AT THE MOMENT

Have never had anything go astray at Varna, during at least 20 visits since 1989, but accept that there is a serious problem at Bourgas.

I would suggest these incidents be reported by email stating time and date and flight number. See -

http://www.mt.government.bg/en/Contacts/BourgasAirport_press.html

In the meantime I have passed this thread to someone who might have the clout to do something about it.

Peter

Hi all
I flew out to Bourgas on 19th Sept and arrived there at 12.15am. Obviously we were very tired along with all the other passengers. We flew from Manchester. Five minutes after we landed a flight came in from Leeds. Five minutes after that one from London, five minutes after that one from Ireland. Like I said we were all very tired and very much wanted to get to our accomodation. Becausen there is no queing system of sort at Bourgas, everybody jusy charged to the nearest cubicle to have passport checked. Consequently, it took us 2 HOURS!!! to get through passport control. I have never seen anything like it in all my life! I was absolutely appalled as there were families there with very small infants who could do nothing but just wait. Surely a better system can be made? I am deeply disappointed. However we did have a good holiday. Dizz xx

I guess if you come from somewhere like Liverpool the difference is the sunshine in Bulgaria, only joking!

Stuart, you say you were only joking. At what point do you think this is funny? Are you going to joke about the Irish next? Or make light of the colour of peoples skin? I am from the Wirral near Liverpool, and find your comments extremely distasteful.

Dissapointed

Mark

Lighten up Mercdriver, I`m from your neck of the woods too and I didnt take offence. It was only said in jest.
Its no different than people from our area saying slurious remarks about Moss side Manchester.
Cmon we are renowned for laughing at ourselves, thats why we are liked all over the world. We`ve got the best sense of humour on the planet, lets show it.

Fitzy,

Manchester - on one trip to Bulgaria got the cases soaked through to the middles, waiting on the tarmac to be loaded. Must be one of the wettest places going apart from India in the monsoon season.

Seriously, (but only a little), no one with a humour by-pass should ever even consider going to Bulgaria. It's still somewhat unlike the usual boring tourist destinations, and a sense of humour can be of great assistence.

However, my humour does NOT extend to thieving at Bourgas Airport, and if we are not careful we'll get our knuckles rapped for going off topic.

Peter

I had no problems at all with the transfer from bourgas to birmingham everything was intact.

The airport does need some investement though as its very run down but got checked in quickly and boarded the plane shortly afterwards.

All the people who had their belongings tampered with i feel sorry for because it puts people off the country i know it would too me.....

the police and the government should be clamping down on these thefts as people wont come back to bulgaria i heard a lot of other people while in bulgaria have handbags taken in varna and bourgas by gypsies and even on buses and the police didnt want to know.

Hi guys,

We had a problem getting out of Bourgas airport!!
There was about 5 flights going out at the same time as us. Three of those were to the UK. It was unbelievable!!

It wasnt too bad getting to the front desks, but trying to get through passport control was horrendous. We waited for about 2 hours. It got to the point where they had to get us to the front as the plane was going in 10 minutes. It was hot, sticky & very tiring. We were the last ones on the plane. Mind you I wouldnt have minded staying a few weeks longer.

I heard that they are going to extend the airport and make it an International one. Hopefully the standards will go up

We flew out of Bourgas in the early hours of Tuesday morning - There where a few other flights going at the same time - but we had no problems at all!! The staff were a little bit miserable, but hey - it was half past midnight on a cold day

No probs with the cases, no probs with customs, duty free, toilets or anything at all....

Except for the SMOKING!!! Grrrrrr

Does nobody take notice of No Smoking signs in the Airport

As long as you stay in the bar/cafe area you can smoke. Or you can go onto the roof & have a fag there. That is unless they have changed it since August.

They may not have changed the rules, but the rules certainly are not being adhered to!

Whilst we were waiting for our luggage when we arrived at Bourgas people were lighting up wherever they felt like, despite the signs and the security guards :x, and also in the departure lounge (to a lesser degree).