Beijing Capital Airport

This airport is huge and airy with a wealth of shops in the area near the gates. Despite the presence of people movers some distances are unnecessarily long. The hairpin turn before immigration services is a case in point and Transfer passengers desk needs to be more clearly signposted. Perhaps most problematic about this airport is the lack of wireless internet service. It is advertised in a number of places but never available. The information desk staff seem unable to provide assistance with this matter. One good thing about this airport is the presence of showers for use for a nominal price.

We used Terminal 3 flying in from Helsinki and had no problems at all - short queues at customs and immigration a bit of a long ride on the train to collect your luggage but a lot better then having to walk that distance. On leaving set off from hotel nearly 4 hours before the flight but taxi journey only took 35 minutes check-in took 10 minutes so we had a lot of time to kill for our 10:55 flight. Terminal 3 could do with some more western food outlets the one we used (a famous country & western singers eatery) the staff had a very poor command of English - apart from that a very good airport.

I was in transit at the Beijing Capital Airport. First impression was the airport is huge and clean. However there is only 1 Chinese restaurant operating there. And their service is on- par or lower than the fast-food restaurant. Before getting into the main transit hall transit passangers (even does not entry the country) are subject to the queue of the immigration control. After that yet another baggage scanning. First many didn't understand what was needed of them (look at the web-cam for photo shoot) and this makes the officer angry. Probably those who work there has very little interest to speak English to the international transit passengers. I like the fact the airport provides power terminal for laptop and etc.

International Check in is not bad. They need bigger notice boards to say where your flights are checking in. A long way to go to the aircraft via a train which doesn't hold near enough people. Returning to Beijing is a absolute shambles. Clearing customs can take a long time as they don't have enough customs windows open and you can wait forever if 3-4 flights arrive at once. Then there is the train to the baggage collection. If you have any oversize baggage you have to go miles to find it.

Dim lighting and a cold feel. No interesting shops - only designer shops and duty free shops. No magazine or electronics or toys. Choice of eating is dismal - sushi or a bar or a coffee shop. Not a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

Arrived in Terminal 3 international flight. Nice bright and airy had to wait a bit as security lines were slow train to main terminal area where bags arrived fairly promptly on the belt. Return was great no queues at check in for Qatar flight which is the last to leave at 2am. Terminal was fairly deserted no queues at security either. disappointed that the duty free and most shops were already closed even though we were there at midnight. nice terminal only criticism is there is plenty of walking to be done to get from check in to gate.

This review is for Terminal 3 the international terminal. Beijing Airport is a pleasant and modern airport albeit one that feels a bit like a huge empty cavern. Free WiFi is available. However you need to register in person at the Business Center or a few other airport locations to get a user ID and PIN code that you then need to submit via a rather user- unfriendly web page. Apart from the cumbersome activation procedure I have no complaints about the WiFi service. The staff are generally polite and efficient despite their limited command of English. However there need to be more dining options within T3; currently there is little else aside from a Chinese Pizza Hut and a bunch of cafes. Overall it's a nice place for catching a flight but definitely not somewhere you'd want to linger for long at.

T3 - Lots of great shops and places to eat. The Air China Business Class lounge is the best lounge I have been in. There is a little hotel at gate E-10 (all the gates for international flights are the E gates in this terminal). It has mini rooms with no windows that you can rent by the hour or even overnight. Caution - when you arrive if you are connecting internationally and already have your boarding pass or want to go rest in the hotel do not follow the crowd down the escalator after customs. This leads you out of the terminal and to baggage claim via a train. If you do accidentally get to the train just take it to the main terminal and then don't get off. It will take you back to the E terminal where you will have to clear a new set of customs and security to get back into the gate area.

Disorganized sprawling airport that is too big to be practical. Like C Neumann experienced twice the ineptness of airport information staff. There are no floor plans showing which row and number of stall holds which airline check-in desk. Aimlessly wandered in the airport looking for Continental desk. Found Info desk gave info staff airline flight number and time of flight. She told me "this flight does not exist" multiple times and on the third try searching on her computer found said flight to exist and directed me to the correct row--in row E (it is not alphabetical order which would be the intuitive thing). Second time found airport staff and asked again where is check-in desk and she did not know despite working on the check-in floor aiding travelers. She had to radio the info desk. After multiple tries info desk did not respond. Had to walk to info desk who did not know either and had to look on his computer (they should really know this without resorting to looking it up). She ended up directing me to the wrong check-in desk. From check-in to gate is much too far. Besides walking long distances it requires a shuttle ride to the gates where you must walk long distances again. Security was terrible no organisation. People cutting lines drifting in and out of lines. No one spoke English. Was in danger like some other travelers of missing flight due to excessive security delays. Every once in a while an airport security worker would walk by. If I had not asked in Chinese for help because my flight was leaving soon I would have missed my flight altogether (worker removed me from the line and brought to the front cutting all the people behind me.) Was late for flight and no one bothered to radio ahead. Allot yourself at least half an hour from check-in to gate plus more for security. Airport staff has none to minimal English skills. Bad service from shop assistants prior to gate.

T3 is fantastic T2 is a little bit dated but services are good. Immigration staff are friendly and efficient. heaps of shops and cafes. The only is internet there is no free wifi services at PEK.