david's profile

YOW now offers free WiFi to everyone in their departure areas. With short security lines and free WiFi, the airport really beats the crap out of bigger ones like YOW and YUL. Customs lines can be long in rush hour, but are pretty good the rest of the time.

Lufthansa supplies free self-serve coffee and hot chocolate in their waiting area. The cups are tiny, but you can get as many refills as you want, and the machine makes a wide variety of coffee types. If only they offered free WiFi as well ...

There were only two open WiFi signals showing up in my departure area (the B gates), and both of them redirected to the same server error on 2010-03-14. Unless you have your own 3G stick, don't count on working online while waiting for your flight.

GVA is a only medium-sized hub, but it's slower than a lot of big airports like LAX or CDG.

When I arrived for an Air Canada flight on a Sunday morning, there were already hundreds of people in several confused long lines for the AC checkin counter more than two hours before the departure time, and service was very slow (most of them had skis in huge bags to check). The security line was also long and slow, and I heard loud British passengers complaining they were late for their flights. After security, you have to line up a third time to show your passport for exit control (that wasn't a long line), then you line up a fourth time to show your passport and boarding card at the gate about 30 minutes before boarding, then you line up the fifth (and final) time to board the plane.

The moral is not to cut it close: at least on the weekend, 2 hours early for an international flight from Geneva should be a minimum, not a maximum. Or if you can, pick an airport like Paris CDG or Frankfurt FRA that's a bit better organized.

Taxis are expensive in Geneva, even for the short distance from the airport to the Pâquis or downtown (CHF 34, more than EUR 20, for a few kilometers).

The good news is that you can take the train to the main station in the Pâquis in 10 minutes (there's a train every 10 minutes or so), or the 5 bus in about 20 minutes (it passes the exposition hall and the United Nations on the way). If you're staying at a Geneva hotel, when you check in you'll get a card for free Geneva public transit — including the tram, bus and train — for the duration of your stay, so the ride back to the airport will be free.