European Airports?

[mosanator]

Well have booked some Award flights to Europe for early Dec 2010 and have a couple of options for on going flights after arrival (AMS).

Was thinking of going to have a quick look around Flanders and then flying out of Brussells to Aberdeen. But I have read on a couple of places that BRU is a not so user friendly airport. Has anyone here had any first hand experience with it?

If it is a bit of a problem I may just ticket straight to ABR from AMS and do Flanders and Belguim before we leave from FRA in January. Anyone got any advise on FRA and what its like as we are coming home on QF006 which leaves late so we will have some time to spend around the place.

And before people start going on about visiting Europe in winter and the cold, we live in the Snowy Mtns and we are going to Europe for Xmas with relatives and some skiing !
Thanks in advance

 

[pyffii]

It was 2 years ago that we flew BA from Brussels to Heathrow and from memory we had no problems...Remember it as being just like any other modern european airport..We took the train from Brugge and we arrived inside the terminal....You shouldnt have any worries or concerns

 

[The Beast]

I used BRU in October 2009 (en route to Bruges) flying with AY via Helsinki. It wasn't anything memorable in any way, really, neither particularly good nor notably bad. A per usual it has a very handy rail connection without a ridiculous airport fare loading - if only Australian airports took note!

 

[mosanator]

Yeah thanks guys. Have heard that there is a lot of walking and escalators and confusing, or lack of, signs etc etc. Some even described it as more like a shopping mall than an airport !

 

[The Beast]

There is a lot of walking, and there are many different levels and thus escalators (but this is true of many places). However, I found the signage pretty straight forward. Good luck!

 

[tuppaware]

I had a flight out of brussels last year. 8 am monday morning peak time!

The train into the station was fine. But security were a nightmare! Tightest in our travels in europe. There was 2 lines to get scanned with 500 people to go through. Slow and unfriendly. We were lucky we were at the airport 2 hours early.

 

[clifford]

Yeah thanks guys. Have heard that there is a lot of walking and escalators and confusing, or lack of, signs etc etc. Some even described it as more like a shopping mall than an airport !

This is not the BRU airport I recall. It's actually quite small and easily navigated.

But, if you don't like "a lot of walking and escalators and confusing, or lack of, signs etc etc." then I guess you never, ever go to SYD...

 

[Katie]

We flew BRU to LHR in 2003, and I don't remember any problems with it. I think we had more provlems trying to find Waterloo on the way from Villers-Brettonneux to BRU in Nov 2003. And then we ended up in the car park instead of the petrol station before returning our hire car ...
But the main memory of our time there - do not eat mushroom sauce. We didn't have BA/QP access back then & Mr Katie ate something with muahroom sauce in it that *ahem* didn't agree with him.
He ended up with some new Calvin Klein clobber for our flight to LHR & then on to JFK.

 

[jsoprano]

BRU shouldn't be that bad at all, signage is in English as well and it is a comfortable mid-sized European hub. Can't be as bad as SYD definetly.

Anyone got any advise on FRA and what its like as we are coming home on QF006 which leaves late so we will have some time to spend around the place

I lived in Frankfurt till November last year so am happy to give you some advice on my former home airport and city.

QF uses Terminal 2 which basically houses allmost all airlines apart from LH and fellow Star Alliance carriers. T2 is modern and rather compact and handy, you shouldn't have any problem to find your way. On the other hand there are also limited shopping and dining options. They Improved significantly during the last 12 months, esp with an new market place landside and new shops and restaurants airside in the non-Shengen departures area. Looks really nice.

But when and how are you getting to Frankfurt that day before your flight? It might be worthy to do a trip to the city, it's only 15 mins by train from the airports station to "Hauptwache" in the city centre, and affordable at 3.80 EUR one-way, or a up to 5-person day pass (so return) at 14.30 EUR.

So if you are interested I can give you more tips and advice on Frankfurt, just let me know.

 

[mosanator]

This is not the BRU airport I recall. It's actually quite small and easily navigated.

But, if you don't like "a lot of walking and escalators and confusing, or lack of, signs etc etc." then I guess you never, ever go to SYD...

Perhaps you are thinking of the other BRU vicinity airport??? I don't know. Anyway heres a link of comments:
Brussels Zaventem Airport Reviews and Brussels Zaventem Airport Passenger Opinions about Brussels Zaventem Airport

Yes I know what you are saying about SYD, just look at the reviews for SYD at that same site !!!

SYD for me at least its "the devil I know".(there @ 3-4 times a month),
And Language is "usually" no barrier .

And not there with a teenage son in tow :!:.

And there is none of this Schengen and non Schengen rubbish for a one hour flight

 

[mosanator]

But when and how are you getting to Frankfurt that day before your flight? It might be worthy to do a trip to the city, it's only 15 mins by train from the airports station to "Hauptwache" in the city centre, and affordable at 3.80 EUR one-way, or a up to 5-person day pass (so return) at 14.30 EUR.

So if you are interested I can give you more tips and advice on Frankfurt, just let me know.

Any help, advice would be appreciated.

I have only ever passed thru Frankfurt on trains, so don't know the lay of the land there at all. We are still being flexible with when and how we are getting there. Going to be using rail a fair bit (Eurail pass).
But I want to visit Belguim (Flanders Battlefields) and would also like to see the Ardenne, so was thinking in the last week we are in Europe of driving from and back to Frankfurt to do those areas mainly for the flexibility going by car allows. Any thoughts?

Thx in Advance

 

[jsoprano]

And there is none of this Schengen and non Schengen rubbish for a one hour flight

I fear yes, there will be! But I don't know what you mean with rubbish, it's simply the same partition as Domestic vs. International, as Schengen basically works like one European Domestic zone when travelling between its participating countries. With the comfortable difference that all European airports I know have both inside one (or all of their) terminals, which makes connections much easier.

So a flight from BRU to say Athens is a flight within Schengen zone, so no passport control, works like a domestic flight from SYD to BNE basically. But now the Britons are special, they are NOT part of the Schengen zone. So flying BRU to Aberdeen requires to go through passport control (as a flight from AMS or FRA or any other airport inside Schengen zone would require when going to the UK or Ireland). But that shouldn't be a problem at all, your boarding gate will simply be after passport control inside the same terminal building.

 

[JohnK]

Was thinking of going to have a quick look around Flanders and then flying out of Brussells to Aberdeen. But I have read on a couple of places that BRU is a not so user friendly airport. Has anyone here had any first hand experience with it?

Flew HEL-BRU on AY in September 2007 and out the next day BRU-LHR on BA.

Yeah thanks guys. Have heard that there is a lot of walking and escalators and confusing, or lack of, signs etc etc. Some even described it as more like a shopping mall than an airport !

BRU is not a bad airport. The train into Gare Du Noord is only 3 Euro and while there is a little bit of walking up and down stairs to get to the train station it is not too bad.

A bit of advice do not go sleep at ~4:00am after a heavy night and wake up at 7:00am for a 10:00am flight BRU-LHR with onward connections LHR-HKG-SYD. The plan was to go to sleep early and catch the train back into BRU airport but had to get taxi in the end and taxi fare was ~47 Euro and just made it. Expensive lesson that has not quite sunk in yet....

 

[jsoprano]

Any help, advice would be appreciated.

Given that you do not go to Europe before next January I won't go into too much detail, I assume its too early for you to fix those things yet. But to give you some general ideas to think about:

Frankfurt is actually quite nice to spend a day, some beautiful old buildings like the 'Roemer' city hall, combined with modern architecture and really good museums.

Also, Cologne can be easily combined with flight from/to Frankfurt, especially as you have a Eurail pass. 'ICE' high-speed trains connect Frankfurt airport with Cologne in not more then 1 hour, trains run 300km/h and depart up to every 30 mins to every hour during the day. So to see Cologne and the cathedral is worth a visit.

You could also take the train on the scenic route allong the Rhine valley, really beautiful and passes the 'Lorelei'. Intercity-trains on this route also run between Cologne and Mainz, some of them even directly to Frankfurt airport I think.

There are many more possibilities in easy reach by train from Frankfurt airport, as it is a major rail gateway. You can even get to Munich in about 3 hrs.

Generally, using the train in Germany is extremely convenient and reliable (Germans generally do not think that, but they are spoiled with their rail network and have obviously never experienced other networks like in the UK). So if you need any help on that I am more then happy to give you more advice.

And besides the train, of course this advise: if you want to take a car to the limits, you know you can do that in Germany. Rent a nice fast car for a day at Frankfurt airport and drive it the 200 km to Cologne. The Autobahn A3 should be fine during the day, and large parts have no speed limits. Just in case your into this...

 

[clifford]

Perhaps you are thinking of the other BRU vicinity airport??? I don't know. Anyway heres a link of comments:
Brussels Zaventem Airport Reviews and Brussels Zaventem Airport Passenger Opinions about Brussels Zaventem Airport

Yes I know what you are saying about SYD, just look at the reviews for SYD at that same site !!!

SYD for me at least its "the devil I know".(there @ 3-4 times a month),
And Language is "usually" no barrier .

And not there with a teenage son in tow :!:.

And there is none of this Schengen and non Schengen rubbish for a one hour flight

Hello mosanator, nice to hear from you again.

Just to put things in perspective, I have lived in the UK and Europe for over 25 years, and do know just a little about airports in that part of the world.

Trust me, I do know the difference between BRU and CRL (Charleroi) and any other airport in Belgium. The last time I went to BRU (with my 70 year old father-in-law) I found things to be a breeze, and I'd be surprised if you found it to be any different.

And what's the alternative? All bigger airports with more hassles.

My advice is to just go for it (but people don't seem to listen to my advice). I've no axe to grind on this so you need to make up your own mind.

 

[mosanator]

Thanks Clifford, didn't mean to offend

I just have 2 options, I do Flanders etc straight from arrival in Europe (AMS) or we do it at the end of the trip departing from FRA.

Six of one, 1/2 a dozen of the other!

Got all sorts of pressures about the amount of time myself and my son are going to spend with relatives (one set in the UK, the other lot in Italy) over and around Xmas, and at the same time trying to maximize our time there between doing some skiing and checking some places out we missed last time.

If I do Flanders on Arrival it will mean a flight out of BRU to ABR. At least now with your advise (and others) that option doesn't sound as daunting as it did after reading some of those reviews. Thanks, as always.

 

[The Beast]

The train to Ghent and then Bruges provides good service, you need to change in BRU. Check the timetable at SNCB for details. Bruges is particularly lovely, though Ghent has some good things to see, too. A tour of the Flanders battlefields is also well worthwhile - Welcome To Quasimodo is run by a really nice couple, he is Belgian and she is an Aussie, highly recommended.