Minneapolis St Paul Airport

What a friendly airport! Due to a missed connection I was delayed here but I found the staff more than helpful and friendly the free use of ipads handy and on the whole easy to find my way about. I found it a clean and pleasant place and would certainly use again.

As mentioned earlier this is a poor airport to arrive from an international location and try to make a domestic connection. We had 2.5 hours and barely made our connection. Problems are long queues at immigration (common at many airports nowadays) only one security checkpoint open for departures long waits for rail connecting the terminals etc. The domestic airport looks quite nice but had no time to check it out as we were running. Figure at least 3-3.5 hours for a connecting flight from this airport (int'l to domestic).

Connecting domestically to an international flight on Delta as it is a major for them. Not impressed! As I exited my gate I entered directly into a restaurant which is very disorienting and seems to be their design strategy now. Many of the gates are not just gates with waiting areas rather restaurants shops and other facilities. When departing the gate area for the international flights around gate G4 were packed with people and rather claustrophobic and there was nowhere to sit unless you wanted to be in one of the restaurants. This particular day the outside temperatures were close to 100 F and it was hot in the terminal. Also the distance between gates can be quite far. There are some good concessions as there are plenty of them but the airport has low ceilings feels old and tatty and could use a big makeover. As I can choose many Delta hubs in the US to get to and from Narita I will not choose this one again.

The best airport I have experienced. Many places to charge a cell phone or use a laptop. Many pay phones reasonably quiet beautifully furnished. Carpeting is new and helps keep terminals quiet. Has a salad bar and fresh fruit. Free Wifi. Only point of improvement would be the restrooms. I was in Terminal C. The women's room had very cramped stalls that were difficult to get in and out of with baggage. They may be upgrading restrooms in other terminals but I am not sure of this.

Overall very acceptable on food and shop amenities. Layout and signage pretty easy. Feels a bit cramped with low ceilings but nothing too oppressive. Security lines were the longest lines I have ever seen for screening. Condition of most of the restrooms I have seen in the concourses were either disgusting or beyond disgusting. The newly renovated restrooms are nice but could use more stalls and sinks. With regards to the conditions of the restrooms in the concourses it's either not cleaned enough or perhaps not monitored at all. Did not ruin my first impression of MSP but it didn't help either.

The airport itself is good trying to find the place if you are not a city resident is another story. I fly into the Twin Cities about 4 times a year to go north. I get out easily enough but coming back into the city is almost always a nightmare; even with GPS. Every major city I know has airport signage about 15 or 20 miles out of the city - giving you both directions and some peace of mind that you are on the right track. The only airport sign I ever find in MSP is about a mile from the airport - while we're busy doing detours. Last week I was driven to the airport from the Range and we were following GPS. We gave ourselves an extra hour. Missed the flight partially because of very nice but insanely thorough security guards who made my daughter-in-law open all of her baby food confiscated the ice pack in her cold container for the baby's milk and basically held up everyone for about an extra 20 minutes.

I would love to tell you about my experience in the airport but we never got to see it. We arrived from overseas with 2 hours + to make our connecting domestic flight. We spent the entire time waiting in the passport control line where 4 officers one by one checked the entry documents for over 400 people from varying airlines. And we were in the "US passport holders" line! We finally cleared passport control then customs and ran across the airport only to miss our flight by five minutes. What I can't believe is why they seemed so overwhelmed with the number of passengers. It's not like these planes are showing up without notice or anything. In my lone experience I would not enter the US or make connecting international flights through Minneapolis St. Paul until the US Border Patrol there changes their service.

Parking at Terminal 2 is unacceptable and poorly communicated. Arriving at Lindbergh only to find out you need to go nearly two miles away park take the escalator take the light rail take the tram just makes the hassle of air travel worse. The parking seems to be more about the convenience of maintenance for MSP than for the convenience of the traveler. Lots of holiday decorations and heaven knows lots of advertisements but give me moving walkways that work reasonable queues and most important - on-time departures and arrivals!

I have been to MSP a couple of times and departing has never been a problem the service is very efficient and security has never been an issue. On arrival I was disappointed with how I was treated. I come to Minneapolis to visit a friend twice a year and stay for no more than 3 weeks. I was treated as if I intended to stay illegally and was made to feel guilty for something I had no intention of doing. I know these people are only doing their jobs but when I connected through Chicago I was never subjected to such interrogation. I was welcomed with a smile and a very friendly "welcome to America". I have to admit it puts me off wanting to fly direct to Minneapolis again.

We arrived late for a connection flight. We had 20 minutes to get to the next gate all the way on the other side of the airport. I would recommend that you have more than 2 hours for connection time. The airport is messed up and very hard to get around. We never made it to our destination.