Charlotte Airport

I have connected through Charlotte many times on US Air and though it is far from my favorite airport I'll take it over Atlanta for connections any day--it tends to be far less hectic. My chief complaints with the facilities include: the lack of decent eateries (be prepared to pay $8 for a cold sandwich and drink); the sparseness of some of the terminals (can't recall WHICH but I've flown into one a few times that seemed to consist almost wholly of gates; very few stores or eateries); poor transport within / between the terminals (moving walkways only which are often off or filled by people who don't understand the concept of standing to the right to let those of us running to catch a tight connection by); poor seating at the gates (including sparse power outlets for those of us who'd charge our phones or use laptops while we wait); and the lack of free wireless networking. Also it's often cheaper to connect through Charlotte than it is to originate there-- I've seen differences (involving the same connecting flight) of several hundred $$s before which strikes me as very odd given the extra flight leg involved when not originating in Charlotte. Still Charlotte doesn't seem to experience as many weather-related delays as Atlanta and it is much more sedate in terms of sheer volume of people.

We connected at Charlotte with US Air on our way from Gatwick to Orlando. Unfortunately we didn't get to chance to experience any of its facilities as immigration was staffed by 2 immigration officers which meant that it took us a ridiculous 75 minutes to clear immigration. We then ordered by the US Air reps to sprint to the gate for our connecting flight which ended up feeling like more of a marathon than a sprint. Seemed nice and clean but hey it's hard to tell when your running as fast as you can with hand luggage etc. Our recommendation is to make sure your at the front of the line when getting off your plane so you don't end up at the back of a line of over 300 people being serviced by 2 surly immigration officials.