Stuttgart Airport

Few days back I flew from STR - HAM and must say that airport is in need of complete overhaul including the staff. The airport looks same like Hamburg airport from inside but it lacks decent staff and clear signs. It was an absolute quiz to find lounges and accessing the password. The staff do not seem to have enough knowledge and has no will of serving passengers but people employed at security check are decent enough. Once at lounge I was welcomed decently but staff do not have manners when picking up used plates without banging makes unnecessary noise. AC was broken and was uncomfortable to relax. There also no clear signs on train station of which side would be departure and arrival terminal. Such small things can make journey smooth enough for which STR airport is not ready. Even though alike structures HAM airport is better than STR.

Modern architecture and pleasant airport. Arrived at terminal 3 and luggage delivery was quick. Tourist information booth located just outside the baggage claim area - helpful and friendly staff loads of brochures. S-Bahn lines S2 and S3 connect the airport to Stuttgart central station every 10 mins - reliable service at EUR3.30 one-way travel time 27 mins. Upon departure check-in at the self-service machines hassle-free. In the public area large terrace with nice views on the apron - unfortunately there is an admission fee of EUR2.50. No queue at security staff was friendly. On the downside boarding areas a bit cramped with limited seating facilities. Lounges are airside - but well-hidden in a corridor on the 3rd floor!

This is what a mid-size airport should look like. Only thing to debate are overall pricey bars and restaurants. Very good connection to downtown by s-train.

Very nice Midsize Airport need a few more connections to the world but overall a nice Airport.

Most positives have been covered by other contributors. On the negative side we have planes that arrive at airbridges but their passengers have to descend via comparatively narrow stairwells to ground level (where are the escalators?). Then the already-mentioned trolley that require coins - a problem for most pax arriving from outside of the € zone. Then car parks with sometimes illogical numbering of spaces. Departing there is no large information board directly opposite from where pax come through security.

For its size and traffic it handles STR Echterdingen does its job with laudable efficiency. The terminal building is impressive and always clean with abundant natural light. This is due to the fact that it is split into 5 levels but the bulk of the main terminal area is under one roof. Check-in is uniformly speedy and the staff are polite and efficient. Queues at security are manageable and the move from landside to airside is always smooth. The facility itself is compact and easy to navigate. The Red Baron Cafe landside is the best option for dining as it offers the best choice airside slightly limited but adequate for an airport of its size. A bus ride to your aircraft on stand-off bay is almost guaranteed but STR does this day in-day out so they do it well and everything is efficiently co-ordinated. Connections to the city are readily available via the S-Bahn on the underground level. The black and yellow checked Expresso bus is a good option to get to nearby Reutlingen and surrounds and Expresso tickets are also valid for the Reutligen bus network. Luggage delivery is swift but beware trolleys are not free. If you need change for one there is a change machine just near the baggage services counter on which you will find a sign: 'Kein Kleingeld - Keine Information' 'No change No information' a nice comical touch. Have been using this airport regularly over the past 10 years and have always had smooth and pleasant experiences.

Stuttgart has come a long way since the early 2000s when security check was slow and staff were rude and intimidating. Nowadays with the new terminal building the airport is a very pleasant one to travel through. Being a hub of Germanwings terminal 2 -- which is really a dozen of check in desks for Germanwings only accessible through a connecting corridor of terminals 1 and 4 -- allows for very comfortable check in without queueing for more than 5 minutes. Other check in counters also seem to have reasonable queues. Security check is now handled professionally and civilly (with an occasional smile from the staff) without much waiting. Signage could be a little bit more prominent as the white on black signs can be hard to spot against a mainly grey background (I prefer the signs from the Spanish airport administration). Also the toilets could use more frequent visits from the cleaning staff and a better ventilation system but are by far not the worst facilities I have come across. Shops offer the standard range of what one could expect in such an airport and one can kill some time browsing. Bars that serve International German and Swabian staples can be found on the airside of the terminals but the prices are about double of what one would pay in the city centre so I have not tried their offer. Transport to and from the airport with the S-Bahn (commuter rail) is good and reasonably priced with train frequencies thinning out somewhat in the evening. Also in the evening you can spot one or the other shady figure on the train. Taxis are generally available outside the arrivals area but are a pricey option. Parking is said to be not cheap however this is second hand information I have. Upon arrival luggage is returned through the carousels fairly quickly. However there is no indication as to where one's luggage is to arrive immediately when entering the airport. This is very annoying in terminal 1 as there is a carousel right when entering the building after being dropped off by the buses and another two carousels down a corridor with doors that only open one way. Upon my first arrival with Germanwings at Stuttgart many passengers and I went down bespoke corridor only to find that our luggage was not being delivered through those carousels and eventually someone in the group concluded that it must have been in the other hall down the corridor. This had a group of 30 tired and annoyed passengers walking down a corridor the wrong way and tailgating through a door we shouldn't have gone through in order to retrieve our suitcases. To pick up on what someone mentioned in a previous post: smoking has been completely prohibited as by the non smoking law passed 3Q07 within the airport and one will now find clusters of smokers just outside the doors landside. There are no indoors smoking areas and the smoking ban seems to be enforced as I saw nobody smoking inside the building.

STR is a pretty neat airport one of these nice German regional airports that have so much less hazzle then e.g. Frankfurt has. STR still does offer some attractive connections and make it a real alternative for intra-European flights. But beware: Although they promise a minimum connecting time of 30 minutes this is absolutely not manageable. The problem is that in some instances you can't transfer airside but have to land yourself. This is definately valid for those flights arriving from non-Schengen airports. You have to go through immigration control and customs go out to the public area go one level up and proceed through the normal security control. Depending on the time of day this can be VERY lengthy. And from here it still might be a pretty long way to your departure gate. In the end this is even more hazzle then transferring in Frankfurt. Plus a missed connecting flight.

I found the airport to be refreshingly clean and everyone was most helpful and polite. I particularly was pleased by the availability of luggage carts. Also liked the rapid disbursement of luggage. Both going and coming my opinion of the airport was positive.

I know that German airports are notorious for exposing you to cigarette smoke but the waiting area for domestic LH flights downstairs in Terminal 1 is really intense. As I came down the stairs there were about twenty people smoking right at the bottom and more people smoking at the bar along the back wall. It was nearly impossible to find a seat far away enough to escape the smoke. It made the no smoking signs right over the seating area seem comical.