Brussels Zaventem Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Quite an agreeable airport due to its size. Indications are pretty clear and it is easy to move around. One very strong criticism: there is no fast track at immigration even for transit passengers which must be unique in Europe. Somebody from Brussels airlines told me that they requested a fast track many times but the Belgian immigration police does not want to do it as a matter of principle: this somewhat downgrades the airport as the queues can be very long.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is supposed to be the flagship of the European Union. A joke. Whilst efforts are made to segregate Schengen and non Schengen flights this necessitates a convoluted transfer system that simply does not work. On fight having arrived at B we needed to transfer to "T" which necessitated a bus ride. We tried to descend the stair case marked "T" bt it was blocked by people queing. This took 30 minutes or more to clear as we shuffled forward like prisoners in a line up. We were told that buses did not start until 8.00 but it was already 8.25. What happens to earlier flight arrivals is not known. We came back at 6.45 and had to walk the length of the airport and go through security twice. A rubbish airport and to be avoided.

Not Verified | Awful smoking place. Rather a dump. No seating outside, bad chairs. Check out how Dublin airport does and adapt fast. Now it is a shame how you treat smokers.

Not Verified | On departure, the queue times for security checks have gone up considerable, easily to 15 min in off peak times, and 30 min off peak. Brussels Airport has invested in a nice connector, with Lots of security lanes. Even in peak time, only 6 lanes for standard tickets are open (of 20), during off peak max 4. This just to save money on security. Of course, Brussels Airport is doing its best to manipulate the numbers, by advancing their scanning personnel to halfway the queue, so the displayed waiting time are lower than the real ones On Thursday evening, passport control on arrival had again. Deactivated the automatic passport checks. So, investments don't pay off, people have to wait for 2 slow policeman on counter in EU passport control. Combined with all luggage handler troubles continuously occurring, Brussels Airport is going down to the service level you find in underdeveloped countries. Overall, service level has considerably decreased the last months

Not Verified | Very long queue in transit for non EU passports! Spent 1 hour in line for immigration stamp and 30 mins for security clearance. Luckily went to airport early so didnt miss my flight but I bet many did. Added to this staff were rude to passengers begging to jump the line as they were going to miss their flights.

✅ Trip Verified | What an totally awful experience. Flew from Prague to Brussels to connect to Newark NJ. Very long walk for arrival terminal A to terminal B for EWR flight. We had to go through passport control. What an incompetent disaster. Long line for non-EU passports, for two windows. Also two windows for EU. Four windows not open. People anxious about missing flights. The EU line was often empty and the two agents at the EU windows just sat there. Finally one agent started taking people from the non-EU line which was snaking into the terminal. Then the other non-EU agent moved to an empty booth and with another agent opened up two more lines. We finally got through - estimated wait time 30'. At the gate, we lined up in zone 2 to be rudely told we had to got through a passport security check. TSA pre-check didn't matter. Had to get a Brussels airport stamp on the boarding pass/new boarding pass. Staff incredibly rude. After passport check no one told us where to go, we approached an agent who turned and walked away from us, we pulled over another agent who told us to go to zone 2. No signage, no one directing anyone, it was a total farce, a disaster of incompetent rudeness of epic proportions.

✅ Trip Verified | I was traveling on Brussels Airlines on LHR-BRU-BOM route. My transit experience in Brussels was smooth. I had a very short walk from one gate to another, and didn't have to go through additional security during the transit. My only disappointment was with the restroom, which had poor ventilation and a strong, foul odor. Having nice restrooms is an important part of the transit experience, so I think Brussels Airport has some room for improvement.

Not Verified | Worst airport ever. No air-conditioning. Huge lines everywhere. Because of the lines you don't have time to eat drink or even go to toilets. It is even worse with kids (although I thought that was impossible).

✅ Trip Verified | This was by far the worst airport I have had the displeasure of traveling through. After gettting off our first flight and attempting to transfer to another, we were met with a passport check. No one was helping to direct the lines for the first hour so many people waited in the wrong line, only to get to the front and be turned away and told to start over, waiting in an even longer line. (The signs are very unclear so it was not a lack of paying attention) Luckily, we were in the correct line out of pure luck. Every single person I spoke to was going to miss their flight, as the passport check line spanned for almost 3 hours. The best part was that, for the hundreds of people in line, only 2 were checking documents while 4 booths remained closed. Once finally through passport check, we ran to our gate at the end of the terminal, finding out once there that we had to backtrack all the way back to the beginning of the airport, B9, because we had to meet with the United desk staff to exchange our boarding pass. Apparently the one we initially waited for in an hour long line was not good enough for them. After finally getting our new boarding pass, we got to wait in another security line inside our gate area. Apparently the first TSA check was not enough so everyone then had to chat with a very aggressive TSA man again. Sometime within the 15 mins that it took to do this, our gate changed from B30 to B15 so, getting to B30 with 5mins to spare, we had to backtrack yet again, 10 mins to the new gate. Worst airport experience I have ever had, and all that I spoke with and overheard talking said the same thing.

Not Verified | Never again. I will never make a connection through Brussels or any other European airport again. Not even the prospect of Belgium chocolates will tempt me to do so. I thought allowing 4 hours for a connection would suffice but I was wrong. After my Brussels Airlines flight taxied to a stop at the far end of the tarmac, I struggled down the stairs and across the tarmac, then along a long walkway to the terminal. That took 20 minutes. Then through the terminal clogged with passengers dancing along to the DJs spinning loud, pounding music with strobe lights flashing—at 9 am! Another 20 minutes to shove through the rave. Then through duty-free to another terminal where I came to a halt, along with 100s of others waiting to get through passport control. 3 hours, 180 minutes, sweltering, slowly shuffling forward while others shoved and pushed their way to the front. Finally got my passport stamped, staggered through yet more duty free, only to find I had another 30 minutes hike to my gate. So 240 minutes later I reached my gate - too late to board my flight.