Beijing Capital Airport

Not Verified | Vast airport, and like Daxing not many people which made the whole experience fairly eerie. Going through security took a while, China is very much a surveillance state, you're constantly being watched. Shopping/food options are limited, staff not particularly helpful but this isn't unique to China.

✅ Trip Verified | I have flown many times in many countries in Asia but I’ve never seen such a high level of securitisation. There are literally thousands of facial recognition cctv cameras watching you, tracking what you do. Staff were chasing foreign travellers and ordering them to remove their hats (not in immigration or security, just anywhere in the airport where they wanted to track you). Foreign travellers arriving go to booths to be finger printed (this is becoming more common in Asia). Even to go through international transit, you will have your face photographed (and scanned into their systems). Then once you’re on board, Air China flights all have state security agents, dressed in black who walk up and down the flight carrying a camera. Not to mention that the plane safety video has a whole section on how you should not commit a “crime” on board. I will never return and I advise others not to.

Not Verified | I came here twice, an 8 hour layover and an 11 hour layover, im from Australia and was seeing some of Dads family in the UK. I didn't have that high hopes for China i didnt know what to expect but wow. The airport is massive yet its so empty, it obviously very government controlled or something, staff spoke like barely any English but they were alright i guess, Security the first time took forever to que and it was insanely hot, the second time was extremely quick though. We stayed in a business class lounge because the lounge we paid for was before security, the lounge was good it had great food and was nice. The airport is pretty intimidating to be honest, very foreign barely friendly to foreigners. Couldn't wait to get back to Australia.

Not Verified | The airport seems to get worse every time I use it - long queues at check in, immigration, and delays at baggage reclaim. Check in at T2 is particularly slow because for some reason they insist on having large numbers of passengers re-open their checked baggage at the counter. Flight-side food and drink options are awful and almost non-existent in T2 - most of the floor space seems to have been given over to luxury handbags and perfumes.

Not Verified | Worst airport I've ever been to. There are no information boards or help desks despite the vastness of the airport and no effort for passengers who speak anything but Mandarin. The WiFi is useless because it does NOT work, no matter how many times you try. I had to pay extra to use my data roaming just to communicate with my parent because they were using the wheelchair service and they separated us. Due to their lack of communication, my dad who was using a wheelchair was left waiting and was the only passenger to use the wheelchair service who was without his family. Air China airline staff told my brother who was putting his bag in the cabin overhead bins to wait and allowed at least 100 passengers through the aisles before I finally took matters into my own hands and stored the bag in the overhead bins myself. The blankets were NOT in plastic bags. I will definitely avoid this airport in future and neither will I use Air China.

Not Verified | Be careful when having duty-free. I took Air China from Singapore to Beijing Airport for a layover, we were hand carrying our duty-free bought in Singapore for my relatives. When passing customs into domestic flights, we were told Duty-Free were to be put in cargo so we sent it to be put in cargo. Keep in mind we were using a fabric bag so it's not very protective. We put the fragile sticker on the bag and GUESS WHAT? They put 2 heavy hard casesd luggages on top of our bag and they threw our bag onto the belt to bring it to cargo hold. I could feel the thud from the throw as I was in a Window seat above the cargo hold. They even threw our bag in the cargo hold. They threw our bag 2 times so hard I could feel the thud in the cabin. After we got our bag, we found the duty-free leaking. It was a $60 bottle of alcohol for my relatives. Airport was ok just the ground crew.

✅ Trip Verified | I can't help but being disappointed at my experience with Terminal 3 at Beijing Airport. I had two transits there, on the way to and back from Japan, once in the early morning (5am), and once in the evening (7pm). The terminal is large, pleasant to move around, and quite clean. Water is free, in paper cups, which isn't always the same. The negatives are many, so I'll start with a big one: the wifi is awful. An absurd number of websites are blocked, this being China, but even those feel random. Youtube is a no-go, but Whatsapp works fine. Instagram worked for my girlfriend, but not for me. Twitter worked on the first transit, but not the second. This might seem minor, but the anoyance accumulates when you're left with nothing at all to do in an empty terminal. Because it is empty: food and shops option are severely limited, with only one restaurant and one perfume shop being open when we were there, even though it wasn't too late or early. I was looking forward to buying a magazine in Chinese since I'm studying it, but those were nowhere to be found. Food itself is fine, but comes with a caveat, the severe lack of meat-free options. My girlfriend is piscitarian, but even so we found all noodle dishes and sandwiches had meat, you'll just have to make do. Going around the terminal you'll notice a severe lack of plugs, which are stingily doted out 2 at a time at specific spots. Inexplicably, at the end of the terminal a small decorated area has abundant plugs and armchairs to rest, at odds with the rest of the place, almost to reward those intrepid enough to drag their luggage so far away from everything else. The above had left a pretty mediocre impression on my first transit, but on our return it got worse, as we had to interact with staff and services. We had a 7 hour layover, so we were planning on using a lounge to rest. No such luck. We were not entitled to Air China's Business and First Class lounges, so we went to the Transit Lounge. There the staff spoke hardly any English, "you had to book", which was comical on several fronts. First of all, the whole airport was empty, secondly Air China's website did not say booking was mandatory. The website booking also didn't work. The (very expensive) hourly hotel? "Full, full, all full". It gave a strong impression that staff just couldn't be bothered to have English guests. Near the fountain a sign read "paid lounge", so we took an elevator down there. The stinky and mostly empty lounge sat brightly lit, but staff was seemingly unaware of the sign outside, and spoke even less English. We then decided to ask the information desk, which unhelpfully, and again with very limited English, sent us to the aforementioned lounges. "No idea" why they wouldn't offer paid services. A brief note on the use of English, as I don't want to sound entitled. I have studied Chinese, so I could have attempted a conversation, but after a long flight, and ahead of a transit I was quite tired. Plus, with the broken wifi, the dictionary was not available. I think it's quite normal in a space specifically designed to accomodate international travellers to account for English being spoken. Even ignoring that, and trying to use the giant tablet with map information, it's all in Chinese. It seems a sign of general disinterest that little to no effort is made to have English options, which surely is detrimental not just to travellers, but to staff.

✅ Trip Verified | I was transiting with Air China in Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 3. Most international flights operate from Concourse T3E, but some use T3D. In my cause both arrival and departure were from T3E. On transit passengers need to go through document and security and customs check. The walking times are not really long and mostly travelators are available. There are 2 transfer service checkpoints, one from each side of the concourse. The crowd is not really well organized and staff is not really helpful. Not everyone speaks English, which is quite frustrating, when you actually need to communicate with airport or security staff. Arriving early in the morning, get ready to spend 1h queuing for transit. Other than that, I have to note that Terminal 3 is very modern by its looks and layout. The ceiling is high, which makes it seam like the airport is free and spacious. Walking distances are not too long. Most gates are accessible in less than 10 minutes of calm stroll. Between T3E, T3D and T3C there is an automated people mover (train), which is easily accessible after security. I didn't use it, but I located its station and observed it a little. There are few restaurants, which in my opinion are quite reasonable priced. Early in the morning only few Chinese restaurants and Western cafes were opened. The food is actually quite delicious. I would note good availability of seating spaces. Some are equipped with universal power outlets and USB chargers. If you want to use Wi-Fi, better use Wi-Fi kiosks as SMS sometimes doesn't go through. Be aware that you won't be able to use most messengers and social networks. Also it was nice to have drinking fountains within short reach from most seating areas. I would suggest considering Beijing Capital Airport as transit hub for Asia. Clean and modern airport with all the necessary facilities for longer transits.

Not Verified | Avoid this airport for International Transit. I foolishly picked Air China to save some money. Pay a bit more and choose elsewhere! If there’s a definitive false economy experience, this airport ticks all the boxes .

Not Verified | Better avoid this airport for transit. Beautiful airport and at the same time one has forgotten about the passengers going through it. Basically no food, no bars, no wifi - may be this is the real China. My 4th time transiting here and my last time, it seems it is getting worse with time.