Charlotte Airport

My wife and I connected through CLT on our journey from Nashville (BNA) to London Gatwick (LGW) this past December and found this airport to be far superior to Atlanta for connecting flights. Courteous people everywhere you turn along with an excellent airport layout made our journey both easy and pleasant. I can't really offer an opinion on the restaurants there but the numerous Starbucks were noted. US Airways has really made a believer out of me as far as their friendly employees and pleasant flights. I have been to London on nine previous occasions by four different carriers and US Air overall has been the best way to fly. Upon return from Gatwick into Charlotte the journey through US Customs was far quicker than Atlanta Dallas-Ft Worth Houston or Chicago O'Hare. The big difference is in the sheer volume of passengers that are processed at the larger airports that result in the long lines of tired grouchy people. Baggage transfer and the distance to departing domestic gates are well laid out and the use of moving passenger walkways makes your connection a breeze. If you don't mind going through the smaller Gatwick airport for your trip to London I don't believe that you can beat Charlotte International and US Airways.

I have used CLT for connecting flights several times. It is a very "pretty" airport and at times reminds me of a smaller-scale O'Hare (due mainly to the greenhouse-like windows in certain areas). Each time I have gone it has been rather crowded but the facilities are more than adequate to handle the traffic. In addition the signage is quite prominent and the layout does not leave you scratching your head. When I arrived at CLT for the first time I had to walk a few terminals over for my connecting flight. It was quite a trek but with the aid of moving sidewalks it was just a 10-minute walk.

Just returned from Miami to London with a connection in Charlotte - found this airport to be very user-friendly with several restaurants and shops. Not too busy and bliss smoking allowed in the restaurants! Would use again.

I have connected through Charlotte many times on US Air and though it is far from my favorite airport I'll take it over Atlanta for connections any day--it tends to be far less hectic. My chief complaints with the facilities include: the lack of decent eateries (be prepared to pay $8 for a cold sandwich and drink); the sparseness of some of the terminals (can't recall WHICH but I've flown into one a few times that seemed to consist almost wholly of gates; very few stores or eateries); poor transport within / between the terminals (moving walkways only which are often off or filled by people who don't understand the concept of standing to the right to let those of us running to catch a tight connection by); poor seating at the gates (including sparse power outlets for those of us who'd charge our phones or use laptops while we wait); and the lack of free wireless networking. Also it's often cheaper to connect through Charlotte than it is to originate there-- I've seen differences (involving the same connecting flight) of several hundred $$s before which strikes me as very odd given the extra flight leg involved when not originating in Charlotte. Still Charlotte doesn't seem to experience as many weather-related delays as Atlanta and it is much more sedate in terms of sheer volume of people.

We connected at Charlotte with US Air on our way from Gatwick to Orlando. Unfortunately we didn't get to chance to experience any of its facilities as immigration was staffed by 2 immigration officers which meant that it took us a ridiculous 75 minutes to clear immigration. We then ordered by the US Air reps to sprint to the gate for our connecting flight which ended up feeling like more of a marathon than a sprint. Seemed nice and clean but hey it's hard to tell when your running as fast as you can with hand luggage etc. Our recommendation is to make sure your at the front of the line when getting off your plane so you don't end up at the back of a line of over 300 people being serviced by 2 surly immigration officials.