CINCINNATI AIRPORT review : 9 December 2009 : by K Van Houw

Customer Rating : 4/5

Terminal 2 is not closed. It looks a bit dated (like it was built in the 70s, well it was), but is efficient in serving its purpose. Overall, a very easy airport to connect through, everything is set up logically. For originating and departing traffic, you can get between parking and your gate quickly, even at peak departure times. TSA does a much better job here than I've seen at other airports. It's a shame Delta is in the long, slow process of de- hubbing it in favor of ATL and DTW, but that was inevitable post Northwest merger considering the simple geography of CVG being between the two.

CINCINNATI AIRPORT review : 30 November 2009 : by M Baughman

Customer Rating : 4/5

CVG has been decimated by the Delta/Northwest merger. Delta has mostly moved out and the airport seems abandoned - much like Pittsburgh. It's a shame to watch this airport build up from nothing return to its modest origins. Delta's Chitauqua Airlines regional jets are now pulling up to Terminal A gates while Delta tries to put ComAir (in dreadful remote Terminal C) out of business. Terminal 2 (Star Alliance) closed altogether and I would not be surprised to see Terminal A mothballed.

Cincinnati Airport review by J Schmidt

17 March 2009   Customer Rating :

CVG is an easy airport, if you're not flying Delta. If you are, it's still not too bad. Terminal 2 restaurants are not too bad, and there is now some food inside security. A big plus. Security at this airport is usually friendly and courteous, but I've had my bags screened much pickier at CVG than any other U.S. airport, to the point of almost missing a flight for the same bag and contents that caused no problems at other airports. It almost seems like security personnel are bored from few flights and really like to make up for it with those that are going out. Anticipate a little extra time for CVG security. Arriving and departing at Delta terminal 3 is more like getting into any other big airport, but terminal 3 food and shops are far more extensive. It's more like a small Atlanta airport, but the smaller size makes it less hassle. Arriving at terminal 2 is easy; as there are fewer flights. Unfortunately, flights to and from CVG tend to be very overpriced since DL has a near monopoly.

Cincinnati Airport review by B Luchow

11 March 2009   Customer Rating :

Cincinnati airport is the most wonderful airport I have connected through. The airport's A and B concourses reminded me of ATL, but much wider and easier to navigate. Someone told me concourse C is closed, but I went there as I had a 5 hour layover, and there were several flights. This is a very nice city with a beautiful airport!

Cincinnati Airport review by J Ludewig

9 February 2009   Customer Rating :

Not sure whether they changed the attitude, but the custom office at my last immigration process in January was very friendly and even joked about the extended security installations, aka handprint etc. I was thru in less than 5 minutes. A very good airport to enter the US. Little strange, however, is the extended security check right after leaving the customs area when you need to go to your gate for the next leg of the trip. The security there is a lost more restrictive than anywhere in the US, not to mention Frankfurt.

Cincinnati Airport review by Douglas Weir

4 December 2007   Customer Rating :

Immigration and Customs were efficient and I was through both of these plus the secondary security screen in less than an hour in spite of being nowhere near the front of the plane and with another international flight deplaning at the same time. The immigration staff did all that they could to reduce delays by checking forms in the line and correcting them rather than making people go to the back of the line and fill the forms in again, and directing people to the US citizen desks once these were empty. This is more than can be said at many east coast airports. The 5 1/2 hour layover passed relatively quickly as the airport had a good variety of shops and the restaurant meals I purchased were surprisingly good when compared to my usual experiences. I'll keep this airport on my shortlist as a transit point.

Cincinnati Airport review by Simon Blackburn

13 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Still my preferred entry point into the US - as long as the international arrivals haven't all come in at once and you're on the last of them! This happened once and the queue was over an hour. Otherwise it's usually very quick and easy and spacious.

Cincinnati Airport review by Ned Hopkins
27 October 2006

CVG is a sprawling airport with long walks from one gate to another. It's not an altogether bad place to spend a seven-hour layover, which is what we did between flights from LGW and SFO. Delta Airlines Crown Club is large with many amenities -- including a business center with a goodly number of computers connected to the inernet by cable. Getting through immigration and customs is a breeze -- making Cincinnati far preferable to the most used east coast airports.

Cincinnati Airport review by J Ludewig
1 June 2006

CVG is generally ok for arrival in the US. Not too busy at immigrations, especially when you exit the plane first and get to the counters first. However, a very foreigner unfriendly attitude from custom inspectors. On May 14 they had 5 counters for US people and only one for foreigners. Considering all the hassle aka fingerprint, iris-scan etc. that foreigners have to deal with, it is hard to understand why the US treats visitors so bluntly.

Cincinnati Airport review by Robert Clark
18 May 2006

CVG is a good plane changeover place, especially after a very long day of flying. I was flying ICN-SFO-CVG-BWI. That first ICAO is Incheon Seoul, Korea. Changing planes here was simple, as the airport is not crowded at night, and there are a few smoke spots in the terminal, namely in restaurants. No drinks to be had however.

Cincinnati Airport review by Andrew Turek
3 January 2006

It's been a few years since I was there, but I left on a Sunday and found that I couldn't get a drink because of some Kentucky law that probably pre-dates the Civil War. Even in England we have long since relaxed our licensing hours and Sunday trading laws for main airports. I hope the same has long since happened at CVG!

Cincinnati Airport review by Dan Neeley
3 July 2005

Although international arrivals are a bit odd (the problem of having to re-enter the airport has been resolved) because of dual desks, the airport itself is flawless. The well designed terminals make connecting a breeze between inter-airlines. I have flown in and out and have made numerous connections at Cincinnati over the past 10 years and have only had a handful of problems.

Cincinnati Airport review by J Ludewig
29 June 2005

Depending on how many international flights come in, you can wait 5 minutes at immigrations or one hour, as I did in April. Staff was a bit 'soldier' like, but ok. Immigration officer was friendly. It makes no sense to me, however, that once you exit immigration to board another inland plane you have to go thru security again, which took another 30 minutes. Layover times in CVG should not be calculated too tight.

Cincinnati Airport review by Tom Birkland

21 March 2005

CVG is a better airport to connect through than Atlanta airport. The gates are laid out in a much more logical way, the food and shopping is better, and the Comair commuter terminal is quite nice and easy to use. The shuttle from Comair's terminal C to the other terminals is quick and easy to find, and puts you in the middle of the other terminals, rather than at one far end. It's a shame that DL doesn't use this hub more than ATL.

Cincinnati Airport review by James Tanford

20 December 2004

This is not a good airport for international arrivals. The only way to exit the airport is first to re-enter it. Sound confusing? Once you've cleared customs and immigration and have all your luggage, you cannot exit directly to the parking lot. The only exit is through the main terminal, which means you have to re-check your bags and go through security clearance and metal detectors, and then find yet another baggage carousel to pick up your bags a second time. The process is excruciating and long after an international flight.

Cincinnati Airport review by A Day

23 October 2004

I can't believe that CVG is rated so high. I have flown through it many times on Delta and have always had problems connecting. Maybe they've improved since I was there last but the transportation system between terminals is awkward at best, the waiting areas are always crowded and a couple times I had to sit on the floor while I waited for an available seat. I must admit that the ground staff I've dealt with is pleasant and helpful but in general I try to avoid CVG.

Cincinnati Airport review by Iain Mottram

30 August 2004

I've used Cincinnati airport twice in the past year and have found it to run smoothly and easy to navigate. The food in the main international terminal is above average for airport food, the terminal is also clean and well designed. The Comair terminal is also good to use with adequate food concessions and seating.

Cincinnati Airport review by Philip O'Connor

16 June 2004

Cincinnati is the best hub airport I have experienced in the US. Immigration on arrival for non-US citizens is efficient and polite. The Delta terminal is bright and cheerful - and the walk between gates short. I would recommend this airport.

Cincinnati Airport review by William Montgomery

25 January 2004

I have been flying into Cincinnati Int Airport for 16 years now and have seen many changes. I agree that the fares are quite expensive, however, compared to Chicago, Dulles, Houston and LAX the Airport is in wonderful condition and the staff are friendly and mostly informed. I am not endorsing this port of entry into the United States for Immigrants, but they seem to be able to move crowds quicker than everywhere else I have flown into. Additionally the Airport Security is proactive in Cincinnati. They have gone through numerous "exercises" to ensure they are ready, should an event take place. This instills my thoughts about their concerns for me the customer !

Cincinnati Airport review by D Fetterolf

28 March 2003

I was also in the Cincinnati airport on 03/16/03 and agree with the comment below. We also were flying Delta. I understand the security issue but my first day of vacation was ruined because I didn't get to my final destination until 6.5 hours later than we were supposed to. To get rerouted into Atlanta and then go to my final destination of Panama City with a 2.5 hour layover on Atlanta - we didn't book our flight through Atlanta in the first place because it was more expensive. And to have a Delta rep say to you "well if it's any consolation this doesn't happen all the time". I've had nothing but problems with Delta and I've flown to many different destinations and never had a problem until I started flying with them. They didn't even give any meal vouchers or portion of your money back or anything. All we got was a pony sized bottle of water t stand in a line for over 2 1/2 hours with no A/C!

Cincinnati Airport review by Mike Pinske

18 March 2003

I was very disappointed with my recent travel to the Cincinnati airport on 3/16/03. On this day the airport had a security alert and everyone needed to be evacuated from the concourses and sent back through security. While this would be a difficult task for any airport, Cincinnati Airport was clearly not ready for such an incident. Very little communication or direction from airport officials was provided. I spent 5 hours in a line that I didn't even know where it was going and there was no one around to ask. I spent this time in line only to find out that my flight left empty without me and that I would be unable to get onto another flight for another 24 hours. It seemed that the airlines and the airport officials were at odds with each other and neither was there to help travellers. No hotel or food was provided as a result of these delays. Very little help was provided by Delta. Furthermore, no one is able to fully state what happened. Based on rumors that I had heard from other travellers, the whole incident appears to be the fault of security. I would like to reiterate that this is a very difficult situation for any airport to handle. However, one would expect that airport officials would have been trained to handle such a situation. This is not the first security issue to happen to a US airport of a similar nature. For these reasons I will not be using Delta or making connections through the Cincinnati airport in my future travels. Other airlines & airports I feel would have been much better at handling this situation.

Cincinnati Airport review by Tony Carlfeldt

31 July 2002

Terminal 3 (Delta) at Cincinnati (CVG) has one of the most efficient, open and easy to navigate terminals in the USA. This facility is comprised of three concourses; A and B service mainline carrier Delta and charter airlines, with concourse C handling all of Comair. Between Delta and its subsidiary Comair, about 500+ flights per day are offered. The biggest negative about this airport are its outrageous fares. Delta and Comair comprise 93% of the flights at CVG and charge the 2nd highest average fare in the country (according to the USA Today newspaper), right behind Charlotte, NC. There is no low cost carrier servicing CVG, and only minimal flights daily by United, American, Northwest, USAir and Continental.


 

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