COLOGNE/BONN AIRPORT review : 21 May 2008 : by M Jonkman

Customer Rating : 4/5

Overall spacious and clean airport. Cheapest long-term parking P3 was full. Obviously not an incident, because there was a staff member to advise about other possibilities present. Had to choose between queuing or going to P2. Travelling by GermanWings was outside Schengen, which meant departing by bus from a (temporary?) big party tent connected to the Terminal 1 building. Very hot because of the sun on the roof. Passport control, on return also in a tent. Bagage reclaim big enough (now?), no problems there. Picking up co-passengers after collecting the car from the parking turned out to be a big problem, at least for Terminal 1. The natural place to wait seems only accessible for taxi's and the like. Advice: collect them from the departures level, where they can wait on a visible spot.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by M Jonkman

21 May 2008   Customer Rating :

Overall spacious and clean airport. Cheapest long-term parking P3 was full. Obviously not an incident, because there was a staff member to advise about other possibilities present. Had to choose between queuing or going to P2. Travelling by GermanWings was outside Schengen, which meant departing by bus from a (temporary?) big party tent connected to the Terminal 1 building. Very hot because of the sun on the roof. Passport control, on return also in a tent. Bagage reclaim big enough (now?), no problems there. Picking up co-passengers after collecting the car from the parking turned out to be a big problem, at least for Terminal 1. The natural place to wait seems only accessible for taxi's and the like. Advice: collect them from the departures level, where they can wait on a visible spot.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by M Jerman

12 September 2007   Customer Rating :

At CGN Germanwings use their own terminal 1, which they only share with LH. Arrivals: Passport control and baggage reclaim in Terminal 1 old, outdated and extremely small. Once outside you can actually start enjoying the airport, especially when you reach T2. Very nice layout, spacious, lots of shops, bars etc, all in glass, very modern. Connection on the train to the city centre easy to find and use. Regular service, at very good price. Departures: From train station very long way to walk and not very good signposted. Once in actual terminal, it all changes. Germanwings' check in area very big and spacious, it was fairly busy yet it didn't look chaotic. If travelling with hand luggage it is possible to use self service check in, which is easy to use. Security very quick and polite. Shopping good for the size of the terminal. If travelling outside Schengen, my advice, wait to go to your gate until last minute as once you clear immigration, there is no shops or bars. No airbridges in terminal 2. Departures side of airport is very modern, spacious, clean, good sign posted, very nice to use. They need to do something about arrivals tho as it is not very nice and gives wrong impression. There is also a small viewing area on top of the terminal which is free and gives good overview of the airport.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by T Maresh

20 March 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

CGN is a pleasant small airport. It reminded me of BRS, except that CGN used a jetway, BRS didn't. Train connection is kind of weird. I wanted to use my free luggage trolley to the train door, which means using the elevators, which never are easy in any airport. The elevators in CGN are hard to find, and the buttons are really confusing with the labels not clear and worn off: I ended up on the wrong floor several times in the terminal, and in the train station I ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. The train ticket machine wouldn't read my VISA bank card, so I had to go back through the terminal and crazy elevators to find an ATM machine, which did work to give me cash to use in the train machines. When I arrived in the Cologne Main Train Station, the same type of machine accepted my bank card with no problem, and a train staffer was there to help, also. Also, flying out, be aware that you can't get into Burger King on the other side of security. The only normal place to eat is Subway, and the attendants there ignored me, so then I went over by the Continental gate for a German place for Cappucinno and Crescent, which was okay. Otherwise, just a handful of shops and not much else, so just remember that it really is just a small airport. The security seemed okay but the security staff doesn't speak English, and there's no fast line for guests who know what they are doing, but otherwise no real problem. (I have a metal medical implant and am too familiar with security in many airports.) Okay, that's all. Probably comparable to HHN, (which I've used many times,) but maybe better because of rail link and closeness to an actual city.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by E Teh

4 January 2007

I used this airport in December 2006. It is a small airport, with only very limited facilities, especially on the departure floor after security. I also find that it is rather poorly sing-posted. It took me a while to locate the train station from the arrival at Terminal One. On the way back, I had to take a long detour from the train station to the Terminal building. I was shocked with the smoking arrangement. There were numerous anouncement to inform passengers that smoking is only allowed at the cafes and the bars. Surely, these should be the last place it should be allowed.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Mark Hatton

2 October 2006

Pretty good airport here, mainly used for low-cost carriers such as HLX- Express and Air Berlin. Good range of facilities, my only gripe is the wait between getting off the plane and baggage reclaim, but otherwise a very good airport with all the facilities you need.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Jon Moody

18 May 2006

May 2006. Well designed, calm and spacious airport with a fair range of shops / eating options for the size of the place. Rapid connection to Cologne Main station and then onto the rest of Germany by rail. Only one criticism - exiting the station on the way back, I did a very long detour because the signs were not too clear, but it gave me the chance to have a look around this pleasant airport.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Carsten Hesse

3 January 2006

Good airport following major infrastructural investments. Extremely easy to get around with numerous new shops being added recently. New transatlantic flights starting in May (Continental to Newark) and with the airport's great emphasis on low cost segment big future ahead.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Debbie Lewer

9 October 2005

Cologne airport is one of my favourites, whether it's the shiny ultra- modern new terminal or the 1960s "old" one, which has a cool retro appeal of its own. If you're into architecture you'll enjoy it here. Staff are mostly friendly and chatty, the atmosphere is calm and spacious and a good tip is it's got one of the cheapest duty free shops I have found in Europe (whiskey bargains to be had!), what's more, at the "old" terminal, you can walk into the little duty free and buy on LANDING, which means if you're coming from the UK and wanting to bring your German friends an alcoholic gift, it's by far the best place to pick it up and there never seems to be a queue. Only downside I can think of is that you need to be ready to walk long distances through its large spaces, especially if you land at the old terminal and then want to get the bus into Cologne. However, the S-Bahn link to the main station has recently been completed, it's cheap and quick and at the end of the line lies one of Germany's best and friendliest cities.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Maurice Bender

16 September 2005

Very comfortable, calm airport with much opportunities to see departing and arriving aircraft. Check-in and boarding is very quick, they have also got a good overview signs programme, you really learn quickly how to find your gate. I recommend this airport, Frankfurt Hahn HHN is nothing compared to this low cost carrier hub.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Maggie Ni

3 September 2005

Baggage claim is quite slow. Everything else works pretty well. (Beside the signs to the Deutsche Bahn station under the airport, not that clear)

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Chris Seal

1 September 2005

Really nice, airy airport. Often fly from there with EasyJet to London. Business Lounge is usually deserted and offers a view over the main passenger lounge. Only gripe is that when travelling to the UK you are made to go through two security checks for some reason which means it takes twice as long to get to the gate for boarding. Rail links to Cologne and other parts of Germany are excellent.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Thomas Martens

29 May 2005

Cologne/Bonn is getting better with every flight. The new Terminal 2(British Airways, Easyjet, HLX and others) shows how a modern terminal could be: clean, bright and with short ways between railway station, check-in-counters and gates. Old Terminal 1 (Lufthansa, Germanwings and Condor) has 12 new gates and a new departure hall, the "Starwalk" since December 2004. This means also 10 new security checkpoints which reduce the waiting time to an absolute minimum. Unfortunately, the Star Alliance and Silverwings lounges are situated next to the check-in counters, before the security checkpoint. Cologne/Bonn may be called crazy, but their big runway is prepared for the A 380, wich they expect to be used by FedEx on the Cologne-Memphis freight service and also for occasionally passenger services, if landing in FRA is not possible. The regional trains operate every 20 mins to the Cologne main station for just 2,10 EUR. Every hour connects a high-speed-service (with the Inter CityExpress-train) Düsseldorf, Essen, Hannover and Berlin with the Airport.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by David Charlesworth

15 February 2005

This is a fabulous airport, clean efficient, great shopping with good rail and road connections. It is served by a mix of discount and national carriers. This is one of the easiest to use airports in the world. It is clearly ripe for expansion - I hope it continues to be so efficient. Be aware that the lounges are on the land side of security.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Mark Evans

9 July 2004

The direct rail link to Koln Hauptbahnhof opened on 13 June 2004, served by S-Bahn Line 13 three times per hour. The journey takes just over 15 minutes and the one-way fare is EUR 2 - a marked contrast with the GBP12 (EUR 16-17) charged for the equivalent Heathrow Express service. Terminal C/D at CGN fulfils a similar role to STN as a hub for several budget carriers, to which it bears a passing architectural resemblance. Though not perfect, CGN offers some attractive bars to pass away the time, and my overall opinion is favourable.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Irun Trenner

17 April 2004

Cologne is real secondary airport trying to head world class which will be hard to reach for them !! They spend nearly 300 Million Euro for an ugly and disfunctional terminal (Terminal 2). From all the recently built new terminals in Germany and Europe this is surely the most useless one. The so called "Star-Architect" , as the press-relations of the airport are no tired to tell us, truly designed fault !! The terminal consists partly of glass-like plastic-floor which in many areas broke only months after the terminal was opened !! The floor surface in the connection-tunnel between Termial 1 and Terminal 2 consists of many little bumps and creates a horrifying sound when pulling a bag over it. Unbelievable how a STAR- Architect can design something as nowadays 80% of all travellers use suitcases with wheels!! The light configuration in the terminal is very bad.

Cologne/Bonn Airport by Steffen Schroeder

26 February 2004

Cologne/Bonn really has developed within the last years. When I was young, the airport served only a few European destinations and was mainly used for inner-german LH flights. Nowadays CGN is expanding rapidly since the no-frills carriers Germanwings and HLX moved in. The new Terminal 2 is a very nice steel/glass construction with a large departure hall and a lot of shops and cafés. Although Terminal 1 is more than 30 years old, it still has a relaxed and cozy atmosphere. However, restoration will be necessary in the future for sure. A weak point is the public transport system. At the moment, passengers have to take busses either from Cologne or Bonn to get to the airport and back. A new railway station is under construction and will be opened on June 23rd 2004. I hope this will make the airport even more attractive as I really like flying out of CGN.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We cannot guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.

ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE

  These Review pages are designed to offer guidance and assistance to other travellers, and we ask respondents to use an "informative" style of comment and share any travel tips for the airport in question.

  Your First Name (or initial) and Family Name, and E-mail address MUST be supplied.

  When submitting comments, please DO NOT insert paragraphs.

  Please check you use Upper and Lower case only - submissions made all in CAPITALS will NOT be accepted.