Minneapolis St Paul Airport

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.

In a nutshell never take a connection flight to this airport without leaving at least 2 hours in between connections or else you will have to due a little workout in the airport just to get from one terminal to the other while looking at the watch and crossing fingers. And if you miss your flight you will have to beg Delta airlines to rebook you that's of course if you find someone in the terminal to rebook you. Just imagine a large gym with people sprinting all over and there you have it Minneapolis airport.

I have been quite satisfied with my experiences at MSP. I must agree that some of the concourses (C especially) seem quite long but it never hurt anyone to walk a little bit (there are moving sidewalks for a good part of the C concourse anyway if walking isn't your thing). The signage within the airport is quite good and it is a very clean airport. Can't say much about the retail options as I've never understood shopping at airports. I feel the food options are rather good. Others have pointed out the fact that it can be a bit pricey to fly out of MSP but I have found there to be much fewer delays at MSP than at O'Hare. It's nice to have the non-stop options that Delta provides. The three daily non-stops to Amsterdam are wonderful for connecting to many cities in Europe.

The size of MSP and the length of some concourses (especially G and C) are rightly (in)famous; there is however a little-known way for departing passengers to deal with this. There is a pedestrian bridge between Concourses G and C over the access road; the middle of this bridge can be accessed directly from the Red and Blue parking ramps. Security and check-in can be done here but baggage check cannot be. NOTE: Only Northwest/Delta passengers can check in here. It would be possible for arriving passengers to leave security here and then take the tram from the parking ramps to the main terminal to pick up baggage but whether this would be faster than walking the concourses I cannot say.

Checked in around midday for a late afternoon NWA flight. No crowds fast simple kiosk check in and very helpful bag drop lady. Only one place to eat landside so decided to go thru security (quick easy and pleasant) and find a restaurant/fast food outlet. Plenty of places to eat and drink airside. It is a deceptively big airport and some gates involve a long walk. But there are plenty of moving footways and an electric cart pick up service at specific points around the concourses. Signage was clear departure info everywhere toilets clean plenty of empty gate lounges to 'get away' from the throng for a while. Some gates become quite crowded just before departures. Pleasant experience overall.

The airport is aesthetically beautiful but it is not set up for easy access to other concourses/gates and baggage this is especially true for those on small commuter planes that use the B and C concourses. After flying packed like sardines in planes not designed to accomodate anyone over 5'5" and 150"s you then have to walk from what feels like downtown St. Paul to get to the main concourse. If you need to go to another concourse you are hopeful that you have the time or are phsyically able to do so. The main point of this is don't ever count on the Tram on Concourse C to be working. In the last 4 months the times I have flown which is often I have been able to use the tram 3 times. Landing yesterday 4-16-2009 at gate B 13 I found out that it will be down for at least 10 days to replace the cable sytem. Which is wonderful if it was well used and several years old but it is less than 5 years old I believe! Again if you are training for a marathon you will love the airport. If not be prepared to walk or if late run!