Charlotte Airport

I travel for a living and connect through Charlotte at least twice a month and guess I just have bad luck? I fly from Raleigh which should be a thirty minute flight max but for some reason we always get grounded due to air traffic and the flight seems to now take an hour and a half. I've had to run through this airport countless times and since there's no rapid transportation going from the A terminal to the E terminal can be hell. And once I catch my connection taking off takes forever. However the free Wi-Fi is lovely and I always appreciate airports with Chili's!

Unlike the other reviewers here we had a very bad experience that might be specific to certain days of the week at CLT and/or elsewhere. We arrived in CLT on a Saturday from Mexico and went through customs around 6 pm. At that point there were maybe 2 planes full of people ahead of us and only 6 customs officers screening people. It took well over an hour for us to get through customs. While waiting 3 additional flights arrived and were queued behind us. We heard later that it took many people over 2 hours to get through and that many missed connecting flights as a result. What makes this experience especially unfortunate is that it is really unnecessary: a TSA agent told us that this is a recurring situation on Saturday nights - which means the Dept. of Homeland Security at Charlotte could have planned ahead knowing the number of international flights coming in on weekends. Instead it appears they assigned more people to herd us and/or tell people to put away cellphones and cameras than there were US customs agents. Signage in the airport is mediocre at best requiring people to direct travelers at times. On the positive side we found the selection of restaurants to be excellent and the airport clean and modern-looking.

CLT is compact well-signed easy to navigate and most importantly-not overcrowded. Only negative- my flight waited on the tarmac for 15-20 minutes for a gate to become available (not sure whether or not this occurrs frequently). Excellent alternative to transiting through Atlanta.

Chic and comfortable. I didn't notice any decent restaurants - all they seem to have is fast food. But if there's one major complaint I have is this: how could you call yourselves an "international" airport and don't have facilities dedicated for currency exchange! And don't direct me to the bank - it was closed. Driving out of the airport was a nightmare but I will allow that traffic that particular day or time may just happened to be awful. Fix those little items and CLT is one of the best airports in the country.

Arrived to CLT from Munich the immigration was so fast that I have been waiting for luggage 10 minutes. Then everything was easy and fast to get a car. For sure a good entry point for that area of the US.

Any US airport that can get a UK citizen travelling in Y class into a rental car and on the Interstate in under an hour from touchdown gets my vote. CLT was presentable and not too crowded. Immigration and all other staff were friendly with the possible exception of the Hertz desk clerk who was a bit curt. I agree with the comment about car return but computer routing to/from the West always seems to take you down Little Rock Road which is a bit of a tradesman’s entrance thus not well signed rather than the more official Interstate route. Be warned!

I agree with the other reviewers about the Charlotte airport. It's a gem once you get inside. However if you are returning with a rental car I suggest you give yourself plenty of time. The rental return signage is the worst I've seen in 20 years of air travel. I've been there 5 times and it still takes me a extra time (and a u-turn or two) to find the rental car lot (I use Hertz but they all have the same problem). If you're an airport manager or city planner for Charlotte please see what you can do to improve this one glaring defect. Oh and by the way this Hertz airport rental operation is not the smoothest either. They use one or two big shuttle buses so the wait for a pick-up can be long. On the inbound they didn't have my car ready for me although my arrival was on time (and they forgot the nav system). On the return the bus driver almost ran over me when I tried to board the bus. I'm not kidding. Happy travels.

CLT is a very nice airport with an easy-to-understand approach. It is also the airport of choice if you are supposed to be heading to any location in South Carolina like CAE (Columbia) or GSP (Greenville- Spartanburg). Taking that next leg is quite expensive so land at CLT and rent a vehicle. The parking garage is simple and very close to the main building. I'd recommend CLT as a good portcall for anyone entering the USA as their customs are efficient.

I have connected through SFO LAX EWR MIA BOS etc etc and this was my first time in North Carolina. I have to say this little gem wins hands down every time. More akin to a European hub than the hellholes of Los Angeles and Boston and especially user friendly if you have children. Plenty of shops and things for kids to look at and do and just a general feeling of Southern Friendliness Id go back anytime! Definitely doing something right!

I have only used CLT airport twice (once on arrival and once on departure to/from the US) but what an experience. Based on the other comments I may have arrived on a bad day because it took me at least 90 minutes to get through immigration! I had to run for my connecting flight but I was stopped and selected for an extra security check by personnel that was in no hurry to expedite this check and I did of course loose my connecting flight. I have never experienced anything similar to this. I have been a Star Alliance Gold member since 1998 so I do travel some. Although the time needed to get through immigration may vary I have never on my numerous visits to the US (approximately 3-5 times a year since the mid 90s) had to wait as long as at CLT. Please observe that I always try to get a seat making me one of the first out of the plane just to get a head start for immigration.