Copenhagen Airport

Went through this airport a week ago because of a connecting flight. I just had hand luggage but I noticed that passengers with baggage could pick up their baggage from the conveyor belt some 12 minutes after arrival. Instructions about baggage and the right conveyor belt were clear and accurate. It was easy to navigate through the airport. Staff were very friendly. SAS airline staff at the airport was polite and helpful as they helped me check in (I lost my reservation number on the previous flight so I couldn't use the machine to check in). Security check went ok and fast. Everyone was pleasant. I didn't like the fact that airport gives you only 15 min of free wifi. There is no recharge point and you can find a power plug only in some restaurants and cafes which are far too expensive and do not accept diners card and can't return cash in euros. The exchange office was very far away. No automatic ones. Still found some friendly employees in one café that let me use a power plug for free. Boarding was ok. The waiting area is a bit dull though. Had no problems finding my way to the gate because signs are very clear.

I travel frequently to Copenhagen with two small children to visit family and despite the nice shops and interior this is eaily the worst airport I have ever been to with kids. As the only airport I have ever encountered staff do not allow through security small foldable buggies built for airport travel. They claim the union wont allow staff to carry them down the stairs by the aircraft. Travelling as a single parent with a 10months and two year old trying to manage from check-in to the plane is a true nightmare and staff does not offer any help but feel righteous as they simply follow rules. Dreadful and shameful!

The terminals are always busy but for some reason there is always a calm atmosphere. From an architectural point of view CPH gets top marks as well. The combination of Danish design and the hardwood floors is something I have never seen anywhere else in the world. Shopping facilities are great and the food selection good too (a little expensive). You get some excellent views of the airfield - very nice experience indeed.

Used this airport again and nothing has improved. Everything is still all about forcing you into the expensive shops to make them get your money. All areas without shops are more or less uninviting and seem to be deliberately neglected. The staff every time I go through security at CPH I'm so happy to be fluent in Danish since those who aren't are in for some rude high-handed treatment. Arrivals is also an unpleasant story: On a busy Monday evening they used only 2 of the 9 baggage belts; one belt for each handling agent. Fill the area with some plane-loads of impatient and grumpy Scandinavians plus tired confused tourists and make us wait and wait and wait the only thing you get is chaos.

Arrivals and baggage claim in Terminal 3 was very crowded with some impatient people around. The airport has a quick train link (15 minutes to downtown) with the city centre. Its best to buy your ticket to downtown from the staff-manned booths as the machines aren't very straight forward. Airport is also useful for people traveling to nearby Malmo in Sweden which also has a train link to Copenhagen airport. In departures once you get security side there is a very good selection of restaurants cafes and duty free shops.

While terminal 2 of Copenhagen airport does show its age this is still a charming place to go through. Speedy checking with only a few minutes in the queue. Practically no waiting time at security with friendly and helpful staff both places. Shops are a bit on the pricey side but they do have a wide selection and if you know the normal high street prices you can be lucky and get a bargain. Restaurants are excellent and can be recommended. It can be a bit of a walk from the lounges to the gates and occasionally the queue at passport control can be long but often you wait no more than 5 minutes to get through. Copenhagen Airport is an charming old airport that has managed to follow the times and is still a pleasant experience to go through.

My worst travel experience ever. At security I was taking my laptop out of my bag (you only get to unpack right at the scanner) when an aggressive attendant grabbed all my belongings out of my hands and shoved the tray through the scanner. Stunned I walked through the scanner but another guard sent be back out rudely saying I cut in front of a family (I didn't). She made me stand just outside the scanner for quite a while like a naughty school kid publicly humiliated while other passengers walked past and looked at me. When she finally said I could go through she continued to berate me saying "obviously you don't travel much!". They then kept my bag behind the counter for a further ten minutes until I finally called their supervisor. Their tone changed immediately. They explained I had left my Ipad in my bag and I said "Yes because you grabbed my things off me before I could finish!". If you like public humiliation and an alarming sense of powerlessness go to Copenhagen! For me never again.

Friday afternoon 15/6-2012 just prior to peak holiday seasons: The airport was then very crowded and then it becomes cramped to move around with family and luggage it becomes hard and tedious to move fast anywhere though never directly stuck. With only 2 hours time available prior to departure we could not manage to get time for lounge visit as time was lost in packed areas though no queues took more than 15 minutes to overcome. The airport is fantastic as one almost always get direct gate access to flights and do not have to walk far anywhere – i.e. bus transport to a/c are not frequent. Secondly after check-in one gets easily to the 1st floor and from there no more ups and downs as all the rest happens in the same level.

Arrived in Copenhagen on June 7 (last week) and had no problems. The departure yesterday was a different story and results in my agreeing with other reviewers that this is the worst airport I have been to. The SAS staff will not provide boarding tickets to passengers - - they insist that all passengers use the self-help kiosks whether you are up to the challenge or not. Some of the kiosks were "frozen" or the scanner for passports was broken and covered with tape. My email from Orbitz did not provide the correct info for me to get a boarding pass. SAS staff directed me and a lot of other folks to a line for help from one of their colleagues to look up our info in their computer at which point they wrote a number on a slip of paper and sent us back to the kiosks. After that there were the lines for baggage check-in which have already been mentioned by other reviewers as uncontrolled and very chaotic. I found the staff to be ill-tempered. The security was the next process and while I did not find any problems with my granddaughter and I passing through we watched the man ahead of us being treated very disrespectfully by the security agent. Thinking we were finally through all the hurdles there was yet another queue on the way to the gate and many passengers were asking to jump ahead for fear of missing their flights. This line was for another look at our passports. Very stressful and tiring experience with little time left for shopping.

Departed from Copenhagen on afternoon of June 9th from T3. Have to say that we were absolutely disgusted by the total chaos in approaching the security gates. No one minds waiting to get through security as it is obviously essential to safe travel but in T3 it was like a massive rugby scrum and surely the antithesis of security! It started off well enough with a pleasant security officer guiding people into a queue but the queue then approached two information girls who directed people to left or right. On each side there were 6 or so belts but no system of queuing so that everyone was just piling towards the conveyor and security gate in a random fashion pushing and shoving trying to get to the gate. It was actually very unsafe and we were left like this for about 20 minutes whilst trying to get to the security gate. Also counter productive for the airport as when we did eventually get through we were in no mood to look at the shops and just went straight to the departure gate and waited there. In addition it seemed as if the airport staff were totally disinterested in what was happening. Definitely my worse airport experience.