Charlotte has some of the nation’s highest airfares. It’s a tradeoff – the city gets a lot more air service than it would support on its own. American Airlines operates a major connecting hub, and dominates the airport. With 68% of Charlotte passengers connecting, locals get a lot of non-stop options than their city would normally support – but little competition.
American likes the airport not just for its geography but also its costs. The place is cheap to operate at, but those low costs also align with a miserable passenger experience. The airport is a pit. And for me it’s also where connections go to die.
The airport wasn’t built for the volume of traffic it gets. The corridors are packed body to body with passengers. The American Airlines clubs aren’t much better, with the main one still in the old US Airways design despite a six month renovation (that didn’t fix poor kitchen conditions, either).
This airport has some of the longest walks outside of Salt Lake City. Arrive on a regional jet on the E concourse and you can easily be looking at 15 minute walks to a connection, or longer when people movers are broken and they are frequently broken.
The physical infrastructure of the Charlotte airport simply cannot support its American Airlines hub operation. Yet solving would drive up costs – in a way that American Airlines would not abide. So, this:
The airline sells 35 minute connections for those flights, too. It’s technically possible to make it from one flight to another even coming from a regional jet at E, where you first need to wait for your carry on bags to be delivered planeside (those Bombardier regional jets don’t have overhead bin space to fit a standard rollaboard). If you hoof it over you may arrive at your connection before doors close. But not always. It really depends on what runway you land on.
When it doesn’t involve those regional jets on the E concourse you’ll find 30 minute connections. To be clear: these are purchased voluntarily and someone like me knows what I am getting into by booking one. If your inbound aircraft gets caught in an alleyway, all bets are off. Or if your first flight has a short delay, your connection goes away.
The @CLTAirport is a miracle of modern engineering in that it’s been under (re)construction for a decade & the more they do the WORSE it seems to get; with everything designed in a way that if the slightest thing goes wrong the entire facility collapses into chaos. pic.twitter.com/9emtE4D6g9
— David Fleming (@FlemFile) July 8, 2024
Passengers, though, have new legal protections to allow them to endure the suffering of the Charlotte airport.
Three years ago American Airlines was trying to get the Charlotte airport to stamp out ‘to go’ alcohol sales.
Chief Operating Officer David Seymour shared the plan for what’s next: getting government to crack down on airport alcohol sales. He says that they’ve already gotten Dallas – Fort Worth airport to ban alcohol to go from restaurants. However they’ve been pushing on Charlotte to eliminate the practice, they’re “shutting down as much as they can,” but vendors there are resistant. That’s why they’ve engaged their government affairs team “trying to crack down.”
Now airport vendors have state law backing to sell alcohol to go:
Other alcohol law changes:
ABC stores can now sell gift cards.
ABC stores can be open on New Year's Day, July 4 and Labor Day
It allows airport vendors to sell drinks that can be carried around the terminal
Pickleball clubs can now serve alcohol
Beer and wine can be sold at…— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) July 8, 2024
You can drink while ‘walking around’ or, I suppose, while rocking in a rocking chair. And you’re then more likely to bring that booze on board and serve yourself.
During the pandemic this was a huge problem because American Airlines (and other airlines) stopped selling alcohol in coach so passengers pregamed and brought their own to drink on board, despite rules to the contrary. That problem has lessened with the return of alcohol sales. But selling alcohol for passengers to take with them often does not end well.
Isn’t this already the case in your home airport of AUS? Do you hate it as much there as well?
CLT is the worst airport in the country, in my opinion. It’s an utter hell hole combined into a septic tank full of Taco Bell leftovers.
That airport makes me want to drink the moment I step foot on the property, so much, I plan on partaking in some to go alcohol during my business trip there next week.
Honorable mentions for other septic hell hole airports: DEN, MCO, MIA.
I don’t know if this is still the case as I avoid CLT if at all possible. But they used to have restroom attendants, so you felt like you had to tip to dry your hands.
Good article, Gary. When connecting at CLT, many American Airlines passengers enjoy consuming one or more refreshing alcoholic beverages while waiting at their departure gate for another delayed flight due to late crew, aircraft, or mechanical issues. Many elite passengers have learned they can avoid hangovers by staying drunk and maintaining their permabuzz until takeoff.
We will not fly to or through Charlotte Full Stop
Dunkin… is right with DEN being up there, too.
Ugh
Currently sitting at DCA gate with paperwork issues cutting into my lunch time in the Chelsie lounge
Grumble Grumble AA
Although for just 75,000 AA I’ll get to Sydney in First including Transcontinental
Charlotte. Still hanging out with the UsAir garbage that slunk there from Pittsburgh. And not a single thing has improved in the 20 years since.
@david s – no longer..
@David S: Restroom attendants have been gone from CLT for years. People complained about the tipping… so they raised their pay to like $16 an hour and the airport even put up signs saying you aren’t expected to tip them as they don’t make tip wage. Of course individual restroom attendants kept taking those signs down or covering them. So the airport fired the lot of them.
CLT is my home airport and I fly out of it at least 3-4 times a month. I hate it so much, but once you get your routine down it is slightly more tolerable.
Park in the daily decks (if you make the reservation online you put in your license plate and it lets you in automatically) and walk through rental cars to get to the terminal (it’s faster than the shuttle). They now have an underground walkway from rentals as well if you want to avoid walking across the arrivals traffic.
When going through security avoid the line that employees go through, TSA does not put extra staffing for them so it slows on that side.
The Admiral’s Clubs there suck, regardless of the new or old one. They are too cramped and the food is horrible. They have been stuck on those stupid biscuits and gravy for months now. The renovation was even worse because it was all just package food.
My carry on isn’t a roller so I can still take it on regional jets and I actually prefer regionals because everyone else is having to check theirs. You can get a carry on with the same storage as a roller now.
The Charlotte airport is a disgrace….
The two AA lounges are also a joke….overall, a third world experience. American Airlines needs to either explore significant airport upgrades (in conjunction with the City of Charlotte), or find a new SE US hub…
I live in CLT and have no problem w the airport. Agree it is not a good connecting airport (outside of the fact you can walk quickly between gates unlike places like JFK, DEN or ATL.
I lived in Dallas area for years and loved DFW as a home airport but also don’t like it for connections. Frankly I hate any connecting airport. The best are horrible at times. Wherever I have lived (Houston, Dallas, Nashville and Charlotte are last 4 stops) I pick an airline not on loyalty but on non-stop flights. Makes life a lot easier even if I had to fly a lot of SW out of BNA.
As for Admirals Clubs yes they are bad but I go to the Centurion Lounge where I rarely have to wait and is much nicer in every way.
BTW Gary the state law doesn’t mean the airport has to offer it or drinks can be consumed in the airport. The “to go” cocktails have to be sealed (like a growler). Of course to accurately state things would generate the clickbait and hysteria you so desperately desire!
I understand why usair de-hubbed Pittsburgh. But they had a brand new airport built for connecting traffic. Best airport in the country to make connections
Good article, Gary ! About the only thing that I would take issue with is your comment on 35 minute connections: “If you hoof it over you may arrive at your connection before doors close. But not always. It really depends on what runway you land on”. Per your recent article on AA’s AURA System, now it’s a guarantee that you’ll miss a 35 minute connection, as AURA will rebook you around 1/2 way through it. In sum, I’m not disagreed that CLT sucks, it’s just that AA’s AURA System makes it suck even worse.
Just connected through CLT last week. Still crowded. All walkways were working. But had to reach the far end of the E concourse to connect. Took about 16 min.
The question still remains – where is the Charlotte Fire Chief during all these pushes? Take a look at the “Typical CLT” photo. You see the ONE exit sign, “backwards”? You have old, young, disabled, confused, deaf, visually impaired, obese, healthy people that are going to die when the microwave at the bagel shop explodes and people smell smoke. Where are they going to go? The emergence exits? Find one. Out the jetways? Those will be locked, and the ones used for boarding will have passengers stacked two deep. People will be filling the concourses as people are trying to turn around and escape. It’s going to resemble a horizontal World Trade Center. They’ve been told, yet nothing changes.
After a ridiculous connection in DFW where we made it, but bags of course didn’t, we were treated to about three hours in CLT baggage claim. The AA agents blamed us for booking tight connection and offered no help to forward the bags etc. Luckily for us, the shining star of CLT is the divey snack bar in baggage claim. We got a snack and a couple beers that we could take to seats and wait out AA incompetence since we were on the wrong side of security and other amenities. Once bags arrived, a whole new chapter of craziness standing for over an hour for the shuttle to our AA-provided hotel to stay overnight for missed connection…breathing in nothing but bus fumes and getting hung up on when trying to contact the hotel. Took Uber to different hotel we picked. AA and CLT are off my list.
CLT is hometown for me for 20 years. This article is 100% spot on. Super expensive and an ever worsening awful customer experience. I am roughly a 1 time per month traveler on average, and I dread every interaction with the airport. After $4 billion and 10 years worth of upgrades it still sucks. It cannot handle the volume as you noted. The concourses are so small compared to virtually any other airport Itravel to. For personal family vacations, it is even worse. First as you also noted, the flights are super expensive due to AA’s virtual stanglehold on CLT. Second, those low costs you mentioned show up in the form of underpaid and overworked staff, resulting in general a lack of pride in a job well done. In 6 personal flights with family over the last 2 years, AA has delayed or misdirected our bags 3 times. You cant go on a 10 day cruise in the Med with just carry ons. The traffic flows are awful, the place is constantly overwhelmed, they lose your bags alot, and the flights are among the most expensive in the country – what’s not to love, right?!? The most disheartening thing though is I have no expectation whatsoever it will get any better. Flying through all these other airports just makes me sad for how much better CLT could be.
I actually am willing, and have, paid more to avoid CLT like a bad tooth.
1. The crappy regional bombardier that dont take roller boards.
2. The way too short layovers
3. One of the crappiest airports I’ve been in and I’ve been in plenty of 3rd world hellhole quonset hut types.
Now you’d get to enjoy drunks walking around.
Hard pass
Those of you saying CLT is a pit and horrible…
ORD: Hold my Malort.
Just as a counterpoint I have had no issues and made all my connections in the last 15 years there and they are my closest hub. The American lounge is really bad though, the food was less than you would offer a couple of guys if they came over to your house to have a beer lol.
I’m reading this waiting on a late flight in CLT in a boarding area with too few seats. Haven’t been here in 5 years and it’s worse than it used to be. Gosh I miss USAIR.
I don’t understand why the Fire Marshall doesn’t shut that mess down. People would get trampled in an emergency.
@ Gary — It is still my favorite connecting point from US SE to CA. Extra EQM when crediting to AS! I suppose PHL would make a good option too, but it typically costs more to connect there and is only marginally better than CLT.
CLT is deplorable. Prior to the LGA renovations I used to say CLT was a combination of the worse of ORD and LGA. I will pay extra to avoid CLT due to the crowds and the deplorable conditions of the airport itself.
To quote Yogi Berra:
It’s so crowded, no one goes there anymore.
I’m just here for the comments. I think Mia is the worst airport in the country.
Connected many times through there and in the segment era used to do it on purpose. Never a problem. The small admirals club (new one) was bad but the old led one was fine. Of course, for the pretentious self important, I suppose basic comfort doesn’t meet expectations.
Just missed a connection in CLT even though my flight arrived 30 minutes early. Waited for a gate for almost 1.5 hours because the outbound flight had a mechanical issue and then the pilot shared they have to find new crew. I live in RDU and the flight I was rebooked on ended up delayed multiple times and didn’t arrive until 10pm – 8 hours after the original flight. Afterbthe second delay, A few others and I just canceled and ubered to the train station for a peaceful ride back to Raleigh on the NC Train service. Still hours before the plane actually touched down at RDU.
Leisure Suit Gary is at it again. Such quality content here.
EWR is the worst.
I’m sorry, I don’t understand the CLT hate. It’s not the best, but it’s certainly not LGA or the bastardized versions that have concourses where you have to take a bus (lax/dca?) I’ve had better, but far worse. Plus, I’m local so I get multiple stops a day just about everywhere.
“Black says:
July 9, 2024 at 1:41 pm
I’m reading this waiting on a late flight in CLT in a boarding area with too few seats. Haven’t been here in 5 years and it’s worse than it used to be. Gosh I miss USAIR.”
Dood, who da phuque do you think has been running AA for the last 12 years, +/-? Yes, US (HP, really).
I just love to see all the negative connects on AA, when it’s really the old US / HP leadership that is driving this once great airline deep down into the dregs of today’s travel options.
The crowds aren’t AAs fault. They’re just supplying a product where there is demand. It’s the reality of air travel in the US these days where the average load factor is over 90% capacity on a daily basis. This (CLT) Oh you just farted meis using a hub dating back to the old, original Piedmont Airlines days when the busiest travel days were less than 1/2 of the passengers that we see today. All of the major domestic hubs are saturated these days.
@Gary – You throw a lot of shade at CLT. Some is justified but a lot is not. You make some vague allusions to what’s wrong but outside of distance between gates you don’t say what needs fixing. Why not simply clearly outline your gripes? I think CLT is pretty solid but I’m willing to alter my view if there are compelling facts to the contrary.
All of these people whining about CLT obviously haven’t been to ORD or PHL. Those two have all of the charm of a Greyhound station.
The MOST IMPORTANT comments made so far are about the threats to life from a potential fire evacuation or mass evacuation for another reason. There is no way it’s safe for this many people to be packed into such a compact, confined area with very few exits that are safe to flee. Run out onto the tarmac in CLT, good luck, you’ll get run over by a plane or vehicle! This needs to be addressed. It’s definitely way too overcrowded.
Waiting for the Fire Marshall to reduce capacity. No way is safe to have this many people in standing room capacity, choked up in hallways. One fire away with a deadly stampede awaits us.
CLT SUCKS! The great pyramid at Giza plateau was built quicker than the never ending renovation . Many contributors have alluded to US Air. Prior to that name it was Allegheny Air— otherwise known as “ Agony Air.” But I digress. I have not experienced such a facility since Nagpur, India in 1970. That is NOT a compliment. I will say, however, American Air does not move the bulkhead forward or aft to accommodate the proper ratio of poultry and freight forward to passengers aft.
CLT reminds me of the game, Mouse Trap. It’s a hub and spoke design dumping everyone into the center which is total chaos. All the hallways are narrow, you can’t pass anyone on the moving sidewalk because they are narrow, and if you’ve ever had to navigate it with an older parent or toddler, it’s a special kind of hell. About the only redeeming factor is the Christmas tree they set up for the holidays!
All said, ORD is also terrible and the new terminal is going to give some people a heart attack. It’s like watching a cardiology stress test as people struggle up the hill.
And don’t get me started on PDX. They need to get over their carpet fettish. It’s gross.
The B and C terminals are a joke. Narrow concourses with 1/2 the seating for those waiting to board. AA most profitable hub cuz they won’t spend any money. E gate is a joke. Map makes look like it’s a short walk to B,C, D but it’s not. Shitting airport that grew way too fast. Great connections but I hate it.
CLT has a great location for local O&D with an abundance of direct flights. Other than that, CLT is becoming a monumental embarrassment.
Planning, design and execution for lowest cost per passenger and lowest cost per plane movement may attract a hub operation for an AA but nets a mean and dismal experience for the traveling public.
CLT had a once in a generation opportunity in a booming regional economy to make something great for travelers. Can’t do it on the cheap with half measures and 2nd quality effort.
And it’s chronically filthy. At least maintain it.
Because of operational issues AA, the airline, generates a lot of future business for AA, the organization.
CLT is my home airport, and I use it on average twice a month.
I’m with AC on this. While the admiral’s clubs indeed remain mediocre to poor, the airport itself has been fine, albeit busy. Centurion lounge is quite good.
I would like to see any data supporting Gary’s claim that CLT flights are more expensive.
The problem seems to be that the gate areas aren’t big enough for their passengers, which then spill out into the concourses. That’s most of whom I’m dodging in the concourses.
I live in a small town (CRW) and try to avoid the CLT connections at all costs. I will take the 528am flight to DCA and endure a 2hr layover to avoid the crowding in CLT. And every connection I have in CLT is 30-50min…so no time to even take advantage of the Admirals Club..smdh. I will choose ORD over any airport any day, but that’s also because I prefer United.
CLT needs to build underground terminal connections. Ideally CLT needs a new airport but this is beyond the scope of small NC minds
People love to rag on airports. CLT is not nearly as confusing as many other airports because all the terminals are connected. Concourse B and C need to be wider to accommodate the volume of passengers.
I had a change in CLT in May ,after a back problem my friend convinced me to take a wheelchair.
It was worse than any of the pictures you showed. It was a pit stop of wheelchairs, not enough of people to get us to our gates. I counted over 15 chairs crowed together where most people already knew they were NOT going to make their connection. No fault of the staff who were taking two chairs at a time or TRYING to figure out who they could take that MIGHT make their flight. Kudos to the wheelchair attendants and staff trying to help, just not enough staff or space to park the chairs.
Shame on management who subject their employees to a no win situation and enduring the customers and their frustrations..
CLT is my home airport too. Outside is even worse than inside, so every trip (even personal ones) I take ride share to/from the airport. And if you are picking up guests, forget it. Tell them to take ride share too. 20 years ago, I could leave my house, park and be at the gate within about 40 minutes. No more. Thank you “progress” in my fair Queen City.
In defense of fair old CLT, the problems are consistent with the problems everywhere it seems. My family took a vacation to Glacier this summer. Outbound through DFW and return through ORD. Both experiences were horrible with having to run, as a family, through terminals due to what felt like a windshield ground tour of all the runways from our plane after touching down. Only to be followed by sitting 10ft from the gate for 45 minutes while the airport sorted out the problem with jet bridge. On a recent work trip to OMA, same. Cramped seating, no tables where one can sit with a lap top and do work while waiting the 2+ hours for a delayed flight (my litmus test is what kind of seating is available other than for eating or drinking at bars). Last fall, took a personal trip to RSW. Holy mother… I live in the south and can take heat, but a jam packed RSW airport with antiquated A/C is even too much for me. I wanted to bust through a door and run onto the tarmac because it looked more peaceful outside. For years, I traveled to San Juan…same with the A/C.
Let’s face it. Air travel is broken. Most barhrooms at airports make me long for the days of those CLT attendants. A $1 or $2 tip was worth it to me to have paper towels and not park my rollerboard in an overflowing urinal mess. Everywhere is like this. Sometimes you get lucky and you sail through. But the best advice is: balance expectations. Because it ain’t worth a stress induced meltdown. To go drinks are a nice touch too.
“People movers are broken?” You mean “moving sidewalks” are broken? This is CLT, not IAD. There have never been “people movers” at CLT.
I was just there and there was definitely a bathroom attendant
Mean drunks ruin it for the rest of us. Im a sweett drunk. It amazes me the diffrent life experiences of diffrent flight attendants cause widely varying judgments of how much is too much. Anyway, I’m for to go drinks.
I have been in CLT for more than 20 years… It just seems like they put a bandaid here and there and nothing seems to be improved. The old Usairways ran for the most part good but this new AA is a complete disaster! The main reason why AA is poorly ran is due to them hiring managers that seem to be right out of high school… Little to no experience in the airline industry thus results in the choas passengers endure daily. Employees are controlled by what AA call allocators.. Assigning them to multiple tasks back to back to back flights in the extreme heat! Many have passed out!!!! The terminal isn’t designed for the capacity of flights it has… CLT never was an airport to handle over 700+ flights. There are many many issues with this outdated airport and how the main airline is managed. Many paying passengers are left behind all due to the short amount of time they are given to make their flights… Multiple on the ground gate changes disrupts the operation and irritates passengers who literally have to run to make their connecting flight!!!
Just don’t fly.
The basic reality is that AA on its own tried to build separate hubs at BNA and RDU and closed them and then used the only redeeming factor of a merger with USAirways (or the other way around) to provide a viable competitor to ATL by growing CLT which is a booming city.
The current ATL terminal and runway layouts were built 45 years ago but is still the gold standard for efficiency and the ability to move passengers at an enormous rate.
AA cannot and will not spend the money to fix CLT or DFW which was also not designed to connect the number of passengers it carries.
AA’s operation at CLT is the best advertisement for DL at ATL.
On the other hand…………….#ONE Airport in US of A has to be PDX!!!!
Beautiful, clean, large, renovated!! Best news is ALL foods, drinks, alcohol….have the SAME EXACT pricing as they do on the streets of Portland!!! THey don’t hike it up by 2 to 4 times the cost because your at the airport.
Sounds like the OLD DTW airport before the new one was built. Yuck.
The long walks at airports have gotten worse. ATL has the train between concourses- but the concourses require a long, long walk. The new international terminal at BOS requires a long long walk, and arriving at distant gate the walk to customs is really long.
The airlines sell the short connections because that moves the flight higher in algorithms , but as many have noted it requires every detail to be perfect. Even with perfection, if you are seated in back of your inbound flight, or need to use a restroom, all bets are off. I used to travel by air often. Now using my little RV for some vacations. Smh
Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 is almost 20 years old and still looks brand new.
Maybe the US government should cut off money to useless countries and people and actually make airports that work.
The crappy CLT experience starts before you even get to the curb. It needs a rail or some other way of getting to the airport besides car.
Personally I don’t understand
understand the complaints about DEN. Compared to the old Stapleton, the current airport is so much nicer.
This is my home airport and the construction is sad and poorly thought out. Even spending billions they didn’t even consider adding Clear…and they will not even consider it until 2027 or 2028 per Twitter post. WOW!
Just visit the AMEX club and get out of the main areas. The AA clubs are super DUMPS…even the one in Bravo. Oh, and the inbound traffic is a nightmare on most days…
Originally, with the merger it was neck and neck for the worst hub airport. But, to their credit, PHL – both the city and AA – took the bull by the horns and have made major strides. CLT now stands as the absolute worst and a total disgrace. As noted, the city (and AA with low costs) is taking advantage of a gravy train while doing little, if anything, to remedy the situation.
As a sidebar, as the government sticks their unwanted bureaucratic nose into airline operations, they should turn some major attention to the published connecting times – especially at places like CLT.
In summary, this place is a nightmare and to be avoided if at all possible.
I’ve had an AAdvantage Account since 1988 and have been elite for many years. Until this June I had avoided CLT altogether . But a business trip to Charlotte made it hard to avoid
It is as bad as people say. Charlotte created this monster because the city wanted to have an outsized airport for a city of its size. Fifty years ago the city boosters were putting themselves in the same league as Atlanta.
The cheap costs to operate there and the lack of incentive to make the real improvements- such as an entirely new airport- make CLT a blight for the city not a marvel of air travel. AA would have to spend too much money so status quo won’t change.
Reminder you cannot take alcohol on-board to drink in the plane, you can only drink what is served by the crew on-board.
Great idea…give alcohol in to go cups so people can get drunk & board flights to then be a problem for all to endure in an even more cramped tube in the air. Brilliant. I see no future problems ahead.
One of US’ worst airports.. ! Connecting flights are a disaster. Poor or non -existent customer service.
So, AA is what causes all the misery because the operate 68% of the fights. The other airlines with 32% have nothing to do with the misery. Come on, I am not a shill for AA but every airport has it’s share of misery.
It is getting harder and harder to read your blog.
We left from BWI knowing we were to have a 3 hour layover in Charlotte changing plans to eventually get to Vancouver. While being pushed and shoved to get to the next gate, there was no where to sit. We were then told there would be an additional two hour delay as they didn’t have a captain/pilot to fly the plane…now two hour wait or five hours in total. I told the hostess as we entered the plane, that I hoped American Airlines could at least serve complimentary drinks to the passengers. She could care less.
Have flown between PIT and MEM via CLT many times in years when there were no directs. If connecting between a regional and a regular at CLR, never book without at least an hour in between.
New personal Mantra each week: Do NOT leave Jax and connect in CLT! Om….
I agree with most of the people who comment about CLT and with your article. But is it really that much different than any other airline at any other airport? How many times do you hear this on flights…” uhh…folks…uhhh… this is the captain… uh… we’re early to the gate and we’re waiting on that flight to….uhh…board and leave so… uh… we’re waiting here for… uh…. about 15 minutes or so until…. uh… they leave”.
Or in most cases that’s replaced with “they don’t have a crew at the gate to guide us in”. And then the update is another 20 minutes after the initial “15 minutes or so” estimate.
I use CLT as a connection if needed because it’s 3hrs from my house and when AA screws up- and they ALWAYS do, I can usually rent a car and drive home. ATL is 6 hours drive to home and while it can be done…well, it’s 6hrs. Look, ALL airlines suck to some degree and ALL flying is miserable especially now with concrete padded seats and legroom for a legless toddler. AA is a discount airline disquised as a bygone days full service carrier. I expect krap service and a krap experience and they deliver on that expectation every time.
The other thing you mention are airline lounges. I don’t understand that experience either because I refuse to play that billion dollar game of me paying yearly credit card dues to a krap airline for a lounge that’s more crowded and filled with more screaming petulant children than the gate area. IF I can even get in the lounge without waiting in a Disneyesque line. That’s a suckers game. Worse than “loyalty miles”.
LOYALTY MILES!!! LMAO.
I pay everything with a debit card. Zero interest, zero debt and I don’t help fund an airline and their country club mix, canned soup and recycled scones in a lounge filled with self important people and a line to the bar longer than my connection time. I can afford to fly so I can afford an extra $50 IF I have time to drink or eat. Give me a triple burger and fries over a fought over biscuit and strawberry infused water any day.
Besides, usually those “lounges” are so over booked that I’m standing against a wall or sitting on the floor trying to fumbledik around with a 15 week old Pepperidge Farm cookie watching these important people fill their plastic baggies with peanut mix. Yea ok…I see ya big spender. C’mon man, just go to Walmart and buy a bag for $4.98. Have some dignity.
Besides, as you point out, usually you’re sprinting from gate to gate or going to a hotel anyway because AA or Delta or…or… or screwed you on a connection. I usually never have time to linger in a lounge anyway. So $500+ a year for that “privilege” is insanity.
I guess I would be a fervent reader of your articles if the airlines were like they were years ago and loyalty miles were worth something and attaining status was actually attainable. But they’re not, so flying is nothing more to me than getting from A to B in the least time as possible. They’re nothing but an overpaid taxi service to me. Keep your worthless miles. Keep your Uranus Level VIP status. Or Pluto or whatever they are. It’s all junk.
F the airlines.
And they’re goofy lounges.
AA may only control 68% of the flights, but CLT is their airport. Was previously USAir’s and now AA. Every decision made in that airport must clear AA, and we know how bad that airline is. Hard to say, but true that PHL is significantly better than CLT in most categories. I have avoided CLT like the plague the past 4-5 years.
I live in central NC. One hour from Raleigh and two hours from Charlotte. I have to travel to CMH four or five times a year. There are nonstops from CLT but not from RDU.
But given the chaos at CLT, I would rather fly out of RDU and change planes. The new LGA terminal is paradise compared to CLT.
Traveled through here a couple of weeks ago. A zoo. My first flight was delayed; my connecting flight left early? Moving sidewalks don’t. Despite having over two hours to get my luggage on my flight, they put it on the flight an hour later. Didn’t even try. They had two flights going to the same place an hour apart at gates right next to each other. No confusion there.
I’ll take my chances on ATL or even DFW in future.
Charlotte Airport and American Airlines suck. Spent my 73rd birthday trying to sleep on the floor because our flight was delayed from 9pm takeoff to 6 am. NINE DAMN HOURS! This included 4 gate changes and 5 time changes. Plane was hour late arriving in New Orleans, when we arrived in Charlotte we waited half an hour for a gate to open. Then inside found out our flight was delayed an hour and a half. No need to talk to American reps, three of them were taking care of a line of about 250 irate customers. At midnight we were told we could get hotel vouchers but we had to get in the line and get our own transport to the hotel. Thus, slept (maybe an hour) on a hard, stinking floor. At 6:30 am we took off for a 55 minute flight to Louisville. So American and Charlotte KMMFA…..you both suck.
Ah, yet again, the American public faithfully wants it both ways: to be able to take their alcohol to-go, while still holding America’s airlines accountable for their inability to catch every passenger who smuggles alcohol aboard in a discreet to-go cup. And when these drunk yahoos become unruly and cause a flight to divert, inconveniencing everyone, including the airlines, who can we trust the public to blame? Yep, the airlines: America’s favorite whipping boy. America’s airlines: guilty of everything except transporting the American public without going out of business.
Charlotte is a great little town. Just do a “reverse sort” on travel time and pick a flight with an overnight layover. These are usually the cheapest anyway. Rent a car, eat some southern cooking, visit a brewpub, spend the night and make it back in time for a leisurely trip to a bar near your gate. We did that recently on a trip to Barbados.
Now the flight back through Miami was the one where all the people movers were broken and we couldn’t believe how far it was from the gate to customs and immigration–I think it was about a half mile.
Hi Gary. Since I live near GSP, 90% of the time I connect through CLT. E to mostly C and sometimes God forbid B. It’s such a cluster and a trip back in time, jogging with my hand delivered carryon which takes forever to retrieve unless in F. The lack of a taxiway on the north side turns a 25 minute trip to the already baked in hour and ten when flying into E.
All terminals other than D and the new A, while recently “modernized” are still way too narrow. They need to figure out a more efficient gate seating layout to somehow widen the walkways.
I know, easier said than done but I wish they put their efforts into this and the brutal security lines. We need Clear there although that doesn’t help at other airports recently, such as Denver and Seattle.
I digress.
CLT is an absolute mess and continues to get more and more crowded. This spring and summer have been ridiculous. It makes me want to connect via DFW even if the connection is longer.
ARMS you right wing hack stop trying to blame the govt for AA fail.
I’ve been pouring my free bloody Mary’s from the Delta lounges into to go coffee cups for a couple of decades now. Walk right onto the plane with no issues. 🙂
Lived in CLT since 1979 watched the airport and city grow from a backwater stop, to a nice size in late 80’s to a mess today!
Why wasn’t a separate Arrivals/Departure/Terminal2?added to the A expansion for all airlines except AA? Now with A having phase 2 almost open it will be over a mile walk to get luggage? Walking inside all concourses it’s just under 3mi a lap.
The arrival and departure lanes for busses and cars need to be expanded, 2 lanes in and only one out! One accident and it’s gridlock for hours!
Future plans do call for rail access to the airport from down town but don’t count on it for another 10yrs.
The diagonal runway 5/23 is closed but can’t be torn up for 10yrs due to FAA rules that time will soon be up!
When that happens a possible whole new airport terminal could be built addressing all current issues and future expansion?
Bag room is managed by the Airport not airlines and is in dire need of major upgrades but so far it’s only patch repairs and reconfiguring existing belts to the new expansion of arrivals.
If a small arrivals and departure terminal was added to the new A it would have alieviated 30/40% of the pressure. One belt breaks I’ve been told can cause dozens of flight delays and thousands of missed bags, down times of one/ two hours is almost common!
CLT is stuck between its growth and what to do? They need a whole new terminal, 100-120+ gates, how to implement it and keep the current terminal running while they come up with a plan then start the building while keeping airlines happy. Location is great but a clean slate option might be easier?
They should not have built the rail terminal between the runways instead that area should have been the new terminal and when the old terminal is removed the 4th runway could be built in its place!
We were there Saturday night agent told us to get our luggage went to get it lady at baggage said it would be 3 hours and we could not get back upstairs until 3:30am when TSA opened missed our flight and had to drive to one and half hours to get our luggage not happy
I ALWAYS leave a 2-3 hour connection (minimum 1 and 1/2 hour) for flights connecting at CLT. Never been a problem. In fact, the old facilities for me mean walking between gates is actually shorter and faster than many other hubs.
The best part of the airport is Wilson Air. I love flying GA into CLT. The gas is a little pricey, but otherwise the fees are very fair. CLT also has an excellent approach and tower control. It’s a very safe and well run airport and bravo airspace.
My daughter tried for 5 days straight to get home on American all 5 days they cancled the flights, I had to drive over 2 hrs each time to pick her up and try again the next day. They force you to be there 4 hrs early as most days of takes 2 plus hours to clear the tsa lines and you need to be at your gate 1 hr early or you can’t fly. We called American to see if there was any way to get her home and they said either deal with it or go somewhere else. She lost her job because she bought an American Airlines ticket. 5 days on the last day she flew around the country starting at 8 am when she arrived at the airport she finally landed at 2 am the following morning. 5 days no hotel or food comp of any kind no apologies,no explanations nothing at all. Just come back tomorrow and we will try to get you on another flight. The planes are broke down daily and you are literally playing Russian roulette with your life everytime you step on an American Airlines Flight.
CLT has been a hot mess the last few months. Fly into terminal E and fly out of A or B means doing the OJ Simpson (Hertz) through the airport. Often Flights from other airports have to wait to take off because CLT is too crowded, or upon landing wait for a gate. Lately it has long lines at the AA customer service counters, and the airport looks like an attack of the walking dead with so many people running every which way. I even saw pilots running through the airport on a recent Friday night. All that said, the food at the Admirals Clubs has improved although not as much as at some other locations. One Friday night in May many people wandered around the bigger club trying to find a seat and/or ended up eating or drinking standing up.
Used to have to fly into Charlotte on a regular basis for Business. First it’s the obligatory 20 minute wait on the tarmac somewhere while you wait for a gate to open up, then the elbows to elbows when you get off. I didn’t really care about the prices as the company was paying but it was always so much more then other east coast cities. Thank God no more business trips there.
And you think PHX is much better? I dont go through CLT much but I have had more missed connections through PHX than any other hub I go through. The fact of the matter is that all the old USAir hubs are crap. And the management of AA now run things the old USAir way. In the next recession (coming soon to the USA), AA will be the first to declare BK. They have more debt than any of the other majors. So if you think it is bad now, just wait…..
Are we really so low class as a society, that we must turn to drunkeness to cope with airport & travel frustrations? It’s not the city nor the airline … folks, it’s your behavior.
Drink alcohol and stay home.
Or, Arrive sober, then party hardy…
at your destination…you decide.
But please let the rest of us travel through these frustrations without your alcohol induced antics.
Entitlement.
Go back to using the Pittsburgh airport as a hub where you had fewer weather delays and a clean efficient facility.
On the other hand I was pleasantly surprised when traveling home from during the beginning of covid when my merican airlines flight was rerouted through Charlotte instead of ohare! The process was MUCH more pleasant and smooth and the airport staff were very polite and helpful. The route of this problem has more to do with corporate greed and the change in American values in the past 50 years. Gone are the days of service based organizations and now most small companies are out of business due to economy of scale take over of huge companies who are run by executives who no longer care about their employees or their customers, but only about their huge personal power and salaries and bonuses and can’t be bothered to truly make or provide a quality product or service.. the two biggest industries that come mind are health care and air travel including the making of products related to these industries, be it planes or medications….
Just a humble opinion from someone observing the changes in being a passenger and being a patient and observing pilots and stewards and being a doctor and observing other doctors and nurses over the past 40 years. The quality of the worker bees and the consumers of the products has plummeted while the cfo and ceo are doing better than ever and seem to know less and care less about the daily running of the organizations they head up.
I had a connection at Charlotte AA on June 24 that was cancelled due to delays. Had to purchase another ticket to get home as no options existed for my flight home from Hartford within 2 days. My question is, with trip insurance purchased, can I make a claim for the travel interruption and extra money spent on a different carrier to get home?
I have been going to CLT for 30+ years and travel throughout the US. Their construction plans must have been done on a cocktail napkin. It has been under construction for 20 years and is worst today. A complete joke.
All these responses are hilarious. The number on comment is about the limited leg room on AA flights for legless babies. What a classic! As far as the Alcoholic Ananymous persons commet…You stay home and DONT drink…jackass!
Bombadiers?? This made me chuckle, as we haven’t seen any of those for decades now. Talk about a blast from the past!!
Americas airports are garbage dump co.pared to the rest of the world.They are outdated and underfunded.Stop sending money to Israel and Ukraine and fix our problems at home.Its embarrassing how bad it is now.
Your post about the chaos at Charlotte Airport and the new law allowing passengers to drink to cope is both eye-opening and concerning. The ongoing delays and poor customer service at such a major hub are troubling.
This made me think about another critical aspect of airport operations: septic tanks and waste management. Efficient management is crucial for maintaining sanitary conditions in high-traffic areas.
Do you think that improving these behind-the-scenes systems, like waste management, could help alleviate some of the problems at Charlotte Airport? How significant do you believe the role of infrastructure management is in ensuring a smoother experience for travelers?
I flew from TPA to CLT recently 2x and both were a disaster a delay in CLT caused my flight leaving TPA to be delayed and I ended up staying overnight in CLT. All this because they were waiting on beverage cart in CLT. Ridiculous. Security out of CLT was absurd. Over 90 minute wait. Luckily my flight that morning was also delayed. Worst airport in America. They should look to TPA for design because security is efficient there and flights usually leave on time.
So how does selling alcohol solve the problem of getting to your gate on-time with a layovers? We being 30 people on our flight had a layover in Charlotte going onto to JFK with American and we all missed the layover flight. American Airlines basically closed the door in our faces as we arrived with the flight still sitting in the gate. But to avoid that flight being late they wouldn’t open the doors back up to let us all in. Having us all now to reschedule our flights to JFK we all missed our flight with American to our oversees destinations having to wait until the next day. AA did not cover the hotel charges for that night.
All alcohol would have done is piss us all off more then we already we’re. Your article makes no sense to solving the layover flight problem at Charlotte.
Sitting in my EMB145 at CLT Gate E39 right now, waiting to depart for CHO. On my walk from the C/D Adm Club all the way up E concourse 20 minutes ago, I’d estimate half or more of the moving walkways were not operating. Truly a pain and really reflects poorly on CLT management.
I’ve read that airports are purposefully making walks longer and slower to encourage sales at the concessions, a big revenue source for airport authorities. Wonder if that’s going on here at CLT?
Thanks to Gary for his great posts!
Took almost weekly one way flights into CLT (a few connectors there), 10-20 yrs ago. Fairly routine then with majority USAir and 4 or 5 other carriers. But signs were present then that big changes needed to be implemented ASAP to prevent today’s chaos. But name one thing that hasn’t gone to crap since the present administration “won” in 2020. After all, the pothole czar from South Bend is over airports, etc. Just a thought.
I live in Charlotte and fly via CLT frequently, and it has to be the worst hub in the USA. The airport always conveys a doom and gloom feel, like one of those Sci-Fi Movies — where as the Meteor approaches — everyone is trying to escape before impact!
Never been to the Charlotte airport in the U.S. at all,so can’t really say much on this
I hate American Airlines!!!!
They are the most undependable airline there is.
Recently flew in and out of CLT .
It was very difficult to find the baggage claim area. The airport was packed with very little seating. Airport signs were difficult to see from a distance.
Doesn’t make me want to use that airport again. Worst experience ever
CLT used to be a wonderful airport. I wonder when they are ever going to finish the remodel. As far as adding excessive alcohol to the stress of traveling, what a disaster. Nothing like an out of control drunk to make your flight miserable.I feel especially sorry for flight attendants these days. They should get hazard pay.
Great, now you can look forward to having a shoulder to shoulder crowded CLT, packed with a rowdy DRUNK bunch in the midst.
If the place is already miserable, why not add to the misery by making it dangerous too?.
Currently at CLT and this article couldn’t be more true! Overcrowded, delayed, and run down. The booze helped lol
Charlotte resident since 1997. The airport is a metaphor for the high growth, slow to catch-up infrastructure that is not unusual in the southeast.. Its really unfortunate because its such as great city, but we torture our connecting passengers. and even our originating passengers. There is no easy solution and the constant renovation are not addressing the overall poor design starting with the edition of the E gate some 15 years ago. For people like me my goal is to minimize time in the airport (never even think about going to the AA lounges because you will never find a seat). Sure you take some risks “cutting it close” but if im in the main concourse less than 20 mins or so, it’s a win.