The profoundly ugly, boring, and at night dangerous city of Hannover has only one virtue: Hochdeutsch being in origin the dialect of Hannover, the locals--those few of them who speak German--are at least rude to you with perfect Goethe Institut diction and accent. How surprising then at security at the airport to be bellowed at in plattdeutsch, and, upon complaining (in better German) that I did not understand, to be bellowed at in an "English" so heavily accented as to be incomprehensible to any native English-speaker. And that was not the end of the shouting. When I went through the scanner I was shouted at again--well, really the wall was shouted at, but I was supposed to intuit that I was the object of the hail--in proper German but, as the proper German revealed, in "du." Still, anyone wanting a taste of old-timey German official abuse and shrieking (in that odd falsetto I thought was confined to German officers in war movies) might find the experience of security at Hannover Airport edifying. And such a person will have plenty of time to study it: security is extremely slow and meticulous, and the bag scanner continuously has to be cleared of stuck bags. Personally, I find the silent insolence i AZof security at Franfurt more soothing. read more

Hannover Airport - Wall, Hannover Airport. I was yelled at for failing to grasp that a security officer who was yelling at just such a wall was yelling at me. - Airports Near Me - Langenhagen, NI

Worst airport experience ever. Where to begin: disorganized security lines with over 100 people waiting and only one checkpoint open, nobody managing the lines to ensure the appropriate flow of people, incredibly rude and uncommunicative staff who are talking and laughing while things around them are clearly out of control. Total mess. Never again. read more

Reason #1358 why Germany is better than America: How they handled thousands of stranded passengers in the middle of the night. Here's the backstory: Kyle H. and I traveled from the US to London for a layover. What should have been just a few hours in between flights got continually delayed until we spent almost half a day in the UK. When we finally got onto our flight to Berlin, we were exhausted, but relieved. About halfway to Berlin, our pilot gets on the intercom to notify us that the Tegel Airport had discovered WWII era bombs and the entire airport was on shut down. W.T.F.?! [And yes, apparently it is not surprising to find old bombs from a war that happened 70 years ago] Anyway, the airport is shut down and we're in the air, so what do we do? We fly to Hannover instead. So we fly into Hannover and land in the middle of the night. We are 3 hours drive from Berlin. What the eff do we do now? When we deboard the plane, we see that there are literally thousands of stranded passengers asking the same question. We even made friends with another American traveling for work and agreed to pitch in on a rental car if the airline can't find a solution for us. But there was no need for Plan B. Hannover Airport, despite it being the middle of the night and receiving thousands more people than expected, was READY for us. They got on the intercom and started telling passengers from various flights to head to various ground transportation exits. To cut to the chase: within 45 minutes of landing in Hannover, we were on a charter bus with the rest of our flight driving to Berlin. They had a whole FLEET of buses and bus drivers ready to drive hundreds of stranded passengers to their final destination! We arrived in Berlin hours later than planned, but for the situation, it was the smoothest it could've went. Now I ask my fellow Americans, have you heard of any American airline/airport doing that? If you have, please let me know the story because if this situation happened in America, the outcome would most likely be an unapologetic apology and a standby flight at the most inconvenient time the next day or so. (And don't even expect any compensation of any kind). Major Kudos to Hannover Airport for being so prepared! read more

Food: 3/5 Service: 5/5 Cleanliness: 5/5 Decor & Style: 5/5 Pretty small airport, but clean, staff is friendly, somewhat good food options, and seems to be plenty of seating. Very easy to get around! Nice and efficient. read more

Smaller airport in Northern Germany. My advice is if you are hungry to make sure you get something to eat before going through security. There is nothing much after except for a vending machine that wants 3 euro for a bottle of coke. Me thinks not! read more

Ok, I have travelled to a few airports, but this is probably the first time I review one. 5 stars from me for the Hannover Airport. Here are my reasons: Easy drop off with no long walks to get to the terminals. Great signage, easy to see where to go and where to drop off your bag. I cannot say enough good things about the food market in the terminal, Marché. Food is always fresh & appealing, plus the prices are really reasonable for an airport location. Now what about security: the passport guy was a little grumpy today, but still had a smile on his face. The security gate people were in a jokey mood and even spoke English to the people who can only speak English (nice change from the Frankfurt Airport Security peeps who rather speak German really slowly and louder, which still doesn't help). Quick note about the toilets; it's a very nice touch that in the toilet cubicle there are sanitizer spray on the wall. This allows you to spray it on a piece of toilet paper and wipe the toilet seat. So simple but so genius. Plus for all Americans, it's nice to sit in a toilet cubicle which doesn't have gigantic gaps between the doors. Anyway, great airport. Love traveling from here. read more

U.S. Airports could learn a lesson or two from the Hanover Airport. It's relatively small but Lufthansa has a great business and 1st class lounge. The airport security folks are friendly, polite, helpful and efficient. There are free newspapers in the general boarding areas and plenty of seating. read more

This is a lovely little airport fitting for the host city. Not too big but easy to navigate with good services available. Exactly as efficient as one should expect from a modern German airport. read more

It is a small and cozy airport in many ways, certainly for a big town. Unlike some of the German reviewers I have always found the airport to be very clean and efficient. One of my favourite bits is waiting for the plane to be ready for boarding - there is only very little duty free shopping, but there are free newspapers available, and that does make up for a lot, I think! A very pleasant airport! read more

What to say? I'm sure there are some good aspects of using this airport but I'm struggling to find any. Over 45 minutes to get through passport control and security - basically because there's only one position and channel open. Security has little space for people to open bags to get out PCs and liquids and to disrobe, so it's one at a time. And then the same again with the area to gather all your things together again. The departure area that I got herded into was small with few facilities - the croissant that I bought to go with coffee was stale (and wasn't cheap either). The toilet smelled awful and when you go in a closet best check there's paper in there - two of the three I tried to use had none. There are cabinets for smokers - but the area all around them smell of smoke. My gate was changed between the time I arrived in departures and passengers were processed without any announcement so I found myself patiently waiting and wondering there were so few of us on the flight. Come on HAJ, this isn't an experience that is going to bring people back willingly! read more

Just to let you know, a small cup of coffee costs €6.90! There are no water fountains. Good luck to you.

Flying from Hanover airport has to be one of the most uninspiring experiences I've ever had. The very few shops (I'm talking five or six) there close at around 6pm leaving very little to do. Duty free shopping once through the departure gates consist of little more than a beach hut size box selling alcohol, chocolate and sweets. Non-alcoholic drinks aren't sold which is frustrating given you're not allowed to take any drinks past security meaning if your flight is delayed (which isn't unusual - though through no fault of the airport) you can get very thirsty. I would suggest waiting until your plane is boarding before passing security for this reason. read more