Brussels Charleroi Airport

I now avoid this airport if I possibly can - Brussels Zaventem is infinitely superior in every respect. Charleroi Security staff are officious and unnecessarily unpleasant - none of the staff seem to understand the concept of 'customer service'. Really it is worth paying a few euros more and fly from elsewhere to be treated like a human being.

I travel a lot to through this airport because it offers the only flight from Brussels to Valladolid and it's an absolute disaster. Poor accommodations with practically no shopping nor restaurants. The guys from security are rude to an incredible point it's horrible. And there are no luggage caddies and you have to go down steps to arrive to your plane.

This is one of the worst airports on busy days. It is impossible to find if you come from Brussels. Signs hardly visible and I believe in some places even non-existant. There is almost no landside space and usually only one of the two toilets is open for hundreds of people. Staff attitude vary from friendly to the more typical service attitude "I don't know I don't care go away". I hate passing through Charleroi and I only buy tickets for airlines from here when the price difference is massive.

The airport is relatively easy to get too - that is if you can spot the tiny airport symbol on the exit sign on the E42/A7 motorway. The symbol is so small that even with long-distance glasses I nearly missed the junction. Once there the airport itself is small compact modern clean and easy to navigate around both when departing and arriving. The announcements both in the terminal and in the car park are clear and precise. The parking is on the expensive side but there are plenty of spaces available. Overall a good experience.

It is really difficult to get to the airport road indications are scarcely visible parking are too expensive for the quality of the airport bus from the train station have a very low frequency and often it is needed to wait a lot in open air. They made an 'impressive' new building but at the end Charleroi remains the usual substandard facilty - with the same money they could have made a less fancy but more efficient structure.

It's quite small with a few and very expensive shops but it's clean and new. Insufficient seating in the check-in area but plenty after the security controls that are very rigid. Friendly personnel queuing Time could be improved. Cheap bus to go to the train station just outside the building.

Despite having spent millions on updating Charleroi airport - it still remains a pretty poor neighbour to the 'real' Brussels airport. Very poor signposting to get there expensive and confusing car parking facilities poor (and expensive) public transport connections. The airport has aspirations to be a large international hub but frankly it still remains a local secondary airport - poor service lack of information things dont work - shops overpriced with very restricted hours. Even the security and border controls are slow and inefficient. Yes if you can get a cheap fare with Ryanair/Wizzair etc etc its OK but this comes at a price - sometimes it works (if you're not hit by a strike or foggy weather or a late night arrival and the airport closes) but overall not a particularly pleasant airport to fly in and out of.

The new terminal is a vast improvement on the old one - more spacious and much better facilities. The"Paul sandwich shop is good. Some attention to detail is required - for example the soap dispensers in the toilets needed refilling priority boarding on Ryanair was a farce. The airport location (at Charleroi) is its biggest drawback - a long way from Brussels. The airport bus is reliable but unpleasant. I have used it several times; the buses are getting rather dirty inside. A good clean of the upholstery is needed. Signposting to the airport bus at Brussels Midi station is still hopeless - unless you know that it departs from the Rue de France you could spend ages trying to find it.

The online check-in worked very well at Charleroi (the did not work at Shannon Airport on the way back). We had to wait nearly one hour at the customs when we arrived back from Shannon. I never waited at the customs for more than 10 minutes at any airport. They charged me 4260 EURO for 3 days parking. Before I knew these things I booked another flight in July from Charleroi. The car would park there for 2 weeks.

I arrived and departed from CRL new terminal in the last 2 weeks. It's quite clean and modern and friendly. The staff spoke at least a basic English or even Italian (there are many Italian immigrants in that area). Ordinary busses available to reach Bruxelles the cost is €8 for a no- return ticket and takes 1hr to get to the Bruxelles Midi railway station. Fast baggage delivery. On the coming back fast check-in and self check-in terminals are available just select your flight and enter your booking code. Clear audio message in English French and Flemish. In the public area you can find a chemist a bar-restaurant and a cafe where they sell sandwiches and sweets plus a very good press shop. The boarding area is quite small there is a big duty free shop selling usual things you can find there but also a good selection of chocolate. Unfortunately the prices are a bit higher than in other places. Also available is a small restaurant. Drinks do cost much more than in Rome: €3.00 for a 0.5l bottle of Coke! Definitely a positive experience being a new airport.