La Rochelle Airport

La Rochelle airport is tiny and small, however is efficient. Arrival: EZY8995, 17.05 (17.37), 28th July. We arrived 32 mins late into La Rochelle however got off the aircraft and was out of passport control in 5 mins, however you did have to wait outside in the pouring rain. The walk to the car hire facilities was long and there was no undercover path. Thus we got sodden. Departure: EZY8996, 12.35 (13.25). We got to the airport 2.5 hours before to drop off the car and then walked the very long walk to the terminal building. Once there the security opened earlier than usual so was in the departure lounge early. Unfortunately the duty free lounge didn't open and one of the vending machines was broken. The services in the departure lounge are poor and there needs to be consistency on when the duty free is open. Boarding began before the plane arrived and we were off quickly 50 mins late as expected. Overall La Rochelle needs to improve its walk to car hire and have more services in the departure lounge.

This airport is bad. It has to cope with several Ryanair/Easyjet/Jet2/HOP!/Flybe flights in the summer and doesn't even take the opportunity of opening up the duty free store. The check in opens far too close to the flight which causes massive queues and the 2 security channels open 15 mins after check in starts. Then you sit and wait for 15 mins until your all called to queue up for your flight that hasn't even arrived yet. However upon arriving it was quick but now you have to wait outside for immigration. The staff however are fine (except when boarding) and the airport is maintained to a ok standard of cleanliness. Travel here every summer with Ryanair or Easyjet.