Reviews Addis Ababa Bole Airport

Name: Addis Ababa Bole Airport
Rating: 2.4

2.4 from 33 reviews

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Overall rating: 2.4

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Habesha_Toronto

4.7

When arriving at Bole International Airport in the mornings, the visa on arrival queue takes a while. That's why you should always get a e-visa online so you can skip the lines and go straight to the queue for customs. Customs and immigration lines move fast and then you get your bags and your done. Just remember the restrictions of what you can and can not bring to Ethiopia.

Date: 27.05.2019

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Jarek Zoglowek

4.2

Old but nice airport. Toilets are clean. Very high security level.

Date: 10.12.2012

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Alex Djaferis

3.8

(from 2012) - depends which terminal you end up in. The old one is not so good...the new one is brilliant and I was happy to spend the 4 hour layover browsing around or grabbing a drink in the bar. Clean, efficient and friendly staff.

Date: 18.05.2015

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Iang23

3.5

Looks like they?ve done quite a bit of work.. big revamp.. pretty good by African standards.
Great Wi-Fi.. could do WhatsApp calls without any issues.

Date: 24.02.2019

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EspenRR

3.3

Awful security check point! No system and completely unorganised!

Date: 18.01.2014

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The Gulden Man

The 'domestic' terminal, Terminal 1, is quite gross and outdated. It looks like it can collapse any second. Nothing seems to work there. The 'new' international terminal, Terminal 2 is much better and certainly one of the best in Africa. I like that people are scanned at the airport entrance, it gives a safe feeling. I don't like the chaos it creates, though. :) There seem to be quite some shops in T2, T1 lacks quite a bit. The Ethiopian lounge in T1 is ok-ish, but the toilets are horrible. The lounge in T2 is much, much better and on par with those of European carriers. I'm not sure how much added value the extra security checks just before the gate have (both T1 and T2), but it's nice to keep you busy for a few minutes. Wifi is slow but stable.

Date: 03.04.2014

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Peter De Bock

ADD departure area is divided into a pre and post security zone. The pre-zone contains several shops and the lounge, the post security zone contains seats, toilets and points with drinking water.

Basic airport, crowded, but everything works and moves at a steady pace.

Date: 24.06.2019

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Mark Sear

A dump but a nice dump I suppose - very chaotic.

Date: 22.04.2012

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Jekson

2.8

Esse aeroporto carece de mais organizacao.
This airports lacks more organization.

Date: 23.06.2012

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nhoizey

2.7

Waiting for bording during more than 2 hours without anything to eat or drink was a bit desapointing?

Date: 07.03.2019

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Christina Mathis

2.7

The international terminal is definitely nicer than the domestic terminal but it leaves something to be desired.

Date: 28.12.2017

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dm-photo

2.5

no (working) free wifi,
only one restaurant brand (with 3 identical restaurants 50m from each other)

Date: 19.12.2016

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Shoukry

2.5

Terrible facilities, announcements not clear. Not enough seating in gates 1 through 7. Both monitors in the departure lounges of gates 1 through 7 not working. They need to do better.

Date: 27.01.2018

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kinderhippo

2.3

It is simply no european airport and everything is a less organized compared to FRA or AMS.
Still the security went quite fast and I managed to reache my connection flight to Cape Town with only 1h 25min time.

Date: 28.02.2019

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Stefan

2.3

They have someone level of organization, but for example have no current signate for business class bus boarding (it ist in a separate area, away from the regular gate, nicely done if you know about it)

Date: 26.05.2017

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Hugh M

2.3

The most painstaking hub you'll ever visit. Just a handful of toilets, no internet except in one pricey cafe in departures, and visa on arrival queue moves at a snails pace requiring about 3 different staff interactions per visa.

Date: 14.06.2016

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Florian

2.3

The new terminal was just build and it is already too small. Since Ethiopian Airlines is rapidly growing the facilities aren't. There are only 4 security checks when transiting and hundreds of people in the queue. Leading to flight delay and waiting for over two hours in the lines.
The only good thing to tell about Bole is that even if you try it is hard to miss a plane because the staff will run up and down the terminal to announce boarding times and pull you to the plane.
The smoking in the halls is annoying.
Unfortunately when transiting, Bole Airport is very likely to mess up luggages.

Date: 16.10.2014

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Wally

2.2

no mobile signal, no internet and bad security attitude

Date: 21.11.2011

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JWalker

2.2

Nightmarish to transit in. If in transit for over 8 hours on Ethiopian, you are eligible for a hotel and free entry visa. Fort the free entry visa, you need to get a green voucher on the Ethiopian transfer desk. Request hotel voucher at departure airport. In Addis request to have your passport stamped, and don`t get to the visa on arrival line.

Some of the staff have no clue of their own processes, beware.

Also, the only currency accepted airside is USD.

No working wifi throught the airport.

Date: 05.12.2016

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Hugh M

2.2

For a big transit hub it's a shocker. About 6 toilets to serve the whole terminal. There's no wifi or any food or retailers beyond security. Bring manual entertainment if you have a long wait

Date: 20.12.2015

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Mars

Airport is not ready yet but even the ready parts are not nice.
The older has not enough seats and plywood shanties as shops and lounges. Login to wifi doesn't work.
The newer gates are reached after long queues for security checks. After security you find no shops and no water but at least more seats and working wifi.
Too many bus arrivals and departures.

Date: 19.02.2019

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gorka

Terrible and desorganizad airport, took me 2 hours to go through security and inmigrations, few, expensive and bad qualiy restaurants and few and dirty toilets

Date: 02.04.2018

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Hugh M

So disorganised. People going down escalators into queues that aren't moving and there's no stop button. Cafe staff at the London Cafe take an eternity to serve your food, utensils and Bill.

Date: 27.06.2016

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Ville Grandin

Awful airport. Worst ive been to out of 86 airports. Delayed flight, no info. No seats. Overcrowded.

Date: 27.02.2017

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Francois-Marie Perrin

1.8

Meme les longs courriers ne sont pas tous au contact et l'aeroport n'a pas les moyens de ses ambitions de hub avec des capacites d'accueil trop limitees par rapport aux correspondances offertes. Des controles de securite tres tatillons (on vous fera enlever vos sandales) et inutilement multiplies. Mais l'efficacite est la.

Date: 28.02.2015

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Jeff

1.8

Kind of a gross airport, but the international terminal has a lot to do.

Date: 14.02.2014

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Laurenz Locker

1.8

Flying Ethiopian was great. Modern fleet, nice crew, but the airport in Addis has a long way to go. The new terminal is ok-ish but the old one is horrible. Before passing security there are shops and restaurants but everything looks like work in progress and the washrooms are gross.

Date: 06.07.2019

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Glenn MacArtney

1.7

Apart from generally offering fast connections from arrival to departure gates when in transit then this is a rather poor excuse for an airport. No facilities, shopping options and a lousy lounge.

Date: 11.08.2017

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Chris

1.5

The boarding was chaos and out of control. the passengers were just rushed down to the gate, not priority for business class passengers. A very bad experience I never experienced in my travels before....

Date: 11.08.2015

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mikaeldahl

1.5

Very loud electrical buzzing sound in the terminal. It was there both times I was in the airport, one month apart. Also the security was very suspect. Let me through with multiple water bottles.

Date: 07.05.2019

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Hans_Bru

1.5

Absolute chaos, very unclean (avoid the toilets), overcrowded to the next level. People pushing past eachother to get to the gates and through security, avoid absolutely and not recommended for connections.
Ethiopian Gold lounge was an absolute joke.

Date: 20.02.2019

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Edward

1.3

Poor airport, a shame as Ethiopian aren't a terrible airline however due to this airport I would not fly with them via Addis again.

Date: 02.04.2017

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Jean Christophe

1.3

No free wifi available, few and very bad restaurants, only USD Cash accepted in shops, credit card payments don't work. Terrible airport. But Ethiopian Airlines is good