Cardiff Airport Lounge in The Vale of Glamorgan

Old shabby and lots of steps with suitcase or trolley to car park/ pick up points

Convenient but not very "international", can only get a coffee from 08h00.

Really enjoyed my first departure from here on KLM to Amsterdam. This is how airports where meant to be experienced - physical and psychological space for us, not just surrounded by boozy Brits early in the morning like in many other regional airports in the UK. Ban the alcohol before 1700 in transport hubs!

Two years ago my review would have been a one. But this November the airport worked just like it should. Efficient and friendly. We went though all areas quickly, no ques. Then on return the same. Really was much better. Well done guys.

Very small airport but so relaxing too.

Nice and cool Airport with beautiful scenery. Ample parking space with less crowd. Staff are friendly with adequate security check point

Limited hot food choices, only allowed four alcoholic drinks, no Prosecco unless you pay extra, plus side staff are very good. A gentleman tried to purchase a glass of wine outside of the limited four drinks and was told he would have to purchase at the main bar. Don’t use unless you get free access through loyalty programs as very poor value for money.

Linda and Katie gave us a very warm welcome and excellent service while we were waiting for our KLM flight to Amsterdam. Even though we were only with them for a short amount of time, they made sure that we had whatever we needed. Nothing was too much trouble. Thanks very much both!

small, functional and fast airport

Lovely airport no issues going through it

Took an hour to unload our baggage. No staff around or updates and no seating Couldn't cope with 2 flights arriving. Shambles

Friendly staff in coffee shop and departures although was disappointed liquids equipment not installed yet and so still have to be separated. Boarding was quick and efficient and departure on time and arrival early.

What a crappy location for an airport... never again. Busses to the closest train station to Cardiff run once every 2 hours. The chance to get an Uber is very rare and then there's the taxies which there might be one there by chance. No comments on the airport itself because the location trumps anything good I can say about it.

Quiet airport especially after morning rush so no delays through security and no crowds in the departure area. Facilities in departure a bit limited but adequate.

From start to end, the whole process of getting away on your holidays are made so easy via the quite excellent standards that Cardiff Airport uses. All meet with above and beyond expectations. Very efficient and user friendly. Especially compared to other international airports. 👍

Expensive, relatively speaking.

Quick service. Pleasant and attentive staff. Table service with a smile A special mention to Max who looked after us very well

Nice airport, i like the shops.

Cardiff airport has to be the single most useless airports when it comes to ground handling and baggage carousel - ten mins stuck behind the “iron curtain” aka carousel C

Lovely staff but food choices minimal and VERY

Smooth check in, fast security Good exec lounge.

Very nice and clean environment

Nice and chilled environment, and the food was really nice and fresh. The staff go above and beyond. Our sun really enjoyed the fresh fruit and snacks available

Visited a lot of lounges in a lot of airports and this is really one of the best (good enough to review). Staff make it worth a visit if you get chance. Good Welsh produce and locally produced food, etc. Always look forward to visiting here when I get chance.

Pretty good overall for an airport, quick though security. Everything was clean.

Arrival is quick. Also, picking up the luggage is quick and organised. I guess few people arriving on this airport or it was just in my time to travel that few people. The exit is easy to find. Bus stop is near the exit. Depending on the schedule of the bus you can choose any bus going to the city centre. You can choose bus 905 from Cardiff Airport going to Rhoose station. Then from Rhoose take train and it will go to Cardiff Central.

It's ok not much fly's out from there

Great Airport currently undergoing renovations. It's a bit quiet compared to other airports in the UK.

I think it's disgusting how they can charge £3 for dropping off,I was there for 3 minutes.no wonder people prefer Bristol or Heathrow

The Sun newspaper TODAY advertised Cardiff to Iceland for £53 RETURN. I just checked website for PLAY AIRLINES. It was £93 to fly out and £87 to fly back. The CRAZY thing is, on there website after end of October there are NO FLIGHTS advertised. MADNESS!

If I farted there they would probably want to change me for that , very expensive there ,

Greatly improved and a lot cleaner than last time we flew from there, but the prices being charged for food and drink are exorbitant. Costs families a fortune before they get to their resort.

The small but nice aeroport. Profesional staff.

Awful place.. New pay as you leave System not working so expect a wait. They get it working soon though won't want to lose money...taking money off people who use the airport .

Has had a refurb. Very lovely. The lounge serves lovely food. Checking in stress free and security very smooth.

Working more efficiently these days. Some improvements in security and passport checks. Handy airport if you're local because there aren't enough flights for it to get too busy......

The ongoing refurbishment is making the airport more presentable, however, I agree with comments by a previous review. We had a 3 hour delay from Kos and on arrival were kept almost an hour waiting for baggage. There was no one from the airport staff in arrivals to discuss the issue with. With stiff competition from Bristol airport it needs to be a bit more professional or will loose customers.

Parking was close easily walkable to the terminal. The airport is small so easy to navigate around with good facilities. I must give a special note to all the special assistance crew .For a small airport outbound and inboard they couldn't do enough absolutely brilliant way better than any other airport so thanks very much for being so helpful with my wife .An overall good experience compared to other UK and overseas airports will use again and again .highly recommended

Quite a pity they're going to be adding further charges to pick up / drop off. Due to the overall low demand of the airport I can't see this being overly lucrative for them in the grand scheme. They should probably work on making the airport more attractive to people rather than less?

Always support Cardiff Wales, parking facility and staff always helpful reception and security efficient and the departure room and bar facilities are clean and staff overall great. Biggest issue with return to UK early morning is limited baggage crews meaning a 55min wait this is a regular occurrence and baggage staff are quite rude and could not give a damn, probably short staffed and no job satisfaction. Big shame as i embrace the small airport feel, will continue to use this airport however any future early morning flights will use Bristol.

Very comfortable airport. It's just a shame there's not enough flights out of here

I have never seen a smaller and emptier airport than Cardiff. When I arrived, my plane was the only one on the entire runway and when I returned to Spain it was the same. The hallways were all empty. There are plenty of seats at this airport because there are hardly any flights or people taking planes from there. My return flight was the only one that left all afternoon and in the morning there had been only one flight to Amsterdam. Not many Spaniards come to Cardiff. On my Ryanair flight, I was the only one Spanish. The others were all English and there in Cardiff I didn't hear anyone speaking Spanish either

Not at £50 to park at Cardiff last saturday. Twh hours twenty one minutes for £50 outrageous.id rather drive to bristol. Ripped me off.

Enjoy using Cardiff airport, no fuss (because it is never very busy). There was quite a delay in the baggage reclaim upon arrival, and I don't know what the problem was. I will continue to try and support the airport.

Nice airport shame there's not more flights and destinations

The passenger assistance team were absolutely brilliant. I Required assistance outbound but no wheelchair was necessary but on my return I needed it & the team were so kind. They even took myself & Husband on a bus to the long stay car park. You are all an asset & thank you.

Fantastic place. VERY easy to use and great staff

Sofar everything going smoothly, check inland security was seemless.

I didn't actually use the airport myself just dropped my wife off however, I have to say that it's so much nicer to drive to CWL than Bristol and the fact that you're not charged to drop someone off is brilliant. C'mon guys let's get behind this airport and make it great again.

Took an age to get through security, but that's probably because of the work going on to improve things. Had food and drink in Y Castell and in fairness, considering the amount of people in there the waiting time to be served and our food to arrive was quite impressive

Had to wait over 30 mins for our cases to be available to us. The walk from the plane to baggage collection was up and down stairs, not good for people with mobility issues, however there are lifts available .

Parked on long stay car park OK found access ramp concrete breaking up made it difficult to push trolley/suitcase Checking was smooth,no issues going through security quite fast Duty-free,ok cafes food OK

Friendly small airport. Always quick and friendly staff. This is the perfect blend of functionality, friendliness and size. There are buses going there, and it's easy to get to by car too.

Have had really good experiences at this airport in the past but recently it seems to be pot luck on how long the baggage takes to arrive after landing. Is it a lack of staff? Either way this issue is impacting the reputation of an otherwise amazing airport to fly from!

needed special assistance and the staff were lovely very helpful and attentive

Straight through and no delays.

Actually very comfortable, but we had to wait an hour for the taxi and until then we were more tolerated than given any service, which was due to an after-work request, as we noticed when the taxi arrived. By the way, we had to look for and order the taxi ourselves. Something strange. But otherwise very polite staff and nice little airport.

Pleasant experience flying from here. It should be used more.

Cardiff airport needs to expand and have more airlines with more routes. The Welsh government needs to get a move on with the airport before it's closes down

Cardiff Airport is a small airport which is disappointing as it is the only Airport in the Welsh capital. You can get some flights to destinations in Europe and it also offers some connecting flights to destinations in Africa and so on. Sometimes, flights tend to be more expensive compared to, let's say, Bristol airport. Dropping off is free here and picking up is a pound for the first few minutes.

Flown to and from here a few times over the years. It’s local to me, organised, not massively busy, car park easy to use. Much prefer this airport to some of the other I’ve used in the past.

Not enough destinations every day.

Cardiff airport was great, small, with limited flights a day

It's a very small airport. Don't expect to find everything

Well what can I say absolutely superb Cardiff Airport! Meet and Greet increbible two minutes walk to the entrance thank you very professional! Check in staff very knowledgable and efficient . Security went through in 2 minutes then straight into the executive lounge staff very freindly and super efficient.

Great little airport but could be so much better with some tweaking. As well as getting more varied flights in Cardiff Airport could do with having less extortionate parking fees and a pharmacy based shop such as Boots or Superdrug, also we suggest having a decent Costa with better opening hours serving decent coffee for passengers on early morning flights, ideally get a Starbucks in like Bristol. We all know coffees on planes aren't great and uncaffeinated early fliers are happier with better coffee in them. Let's improve Cardiff Airport and bring in more / happier customers

Very small, easy to pass through security etc however, I personally would never fly from here again! We got to the airport on time our flight was delayed but we were never told it was delayed. Just kept telling us the gate will be opening shortly which was a big fat lie as we later discovered it was still on it's way from wherever it was coming from! This happened to us on the way back too! For a small airport that hardly has any flights running I was expecting a smoother journey! Absolutely nothing to do here, duty free was smaller than my back garden (which really isn't big)! Never flying from here again no matter how much cheaper it is. This was on a painful experience!! Lesson learned next time just pay a little extra because this airport just isn't an airport!

A very small airport and very rigorous controls that sometimes even piss off...

Helpful staff if you're not sure of the procedures. Shops quite expensive. They do have water dispensers so..take an empty bottle to fill b4 your flight. Nice clean loos.

Soooo easy and efficient!!! Cardiff airport has been ongoing some major expansion and renovations. This gives me hope that they will start to introduce more flights so us Welsh don't have to travel all the way to Bristol and get ripped off with the congestion and drop off charges!!! Bristol airport is a logistical nightmare!!! Please open Cardiff airport to all budget airlines and long haul flights!!! We can only 🙏❤️

Last week I took flight from Cardiff airport and it was smooth experience

What a pleasure it is to fly from Cardiff Airport. The airport is clean and very well sign posted. The security staff are absolutely brilliant and so helpful. Nothing was too much trouble. Plenty of food and drinks are available before your flights as well. This is by far the best airport to fly from. It's not too busy and comfortable. I can't wait until Qatar Airways starts flying from there again soon. A lovely experience again at Cardiff Airport, so calm and well organised, so much better than Bristol Airport by far. Well, after my experience today, 18th July 2024, I would say it was a total disaster getting through security. They were completely and utterly useless and so slow, and if being honest, ridiculous. They pit my bags through security and decided to pull me to one side for extra checks, which I don't mind at all as it is for security of us all after all. But they decided to use a new guy to security on me with a supposedly supervisor explaining what to do. I appreciate that we are all at some point in life new to something and need training, but this was a joke beyond jokes. I have used the same manbag for the past 10 years or so for travelling and its never been so stripped of it contents like this previous and I never empty it after previous trips as I just add my wallet and phone to it when going away, my book and pens etc just stay in the bag all the time. Well it was that bad that they were even taking the tops off my pens, they took 90% of the contents out of my bag and then sent it back through a scanning machine and then bring it back and empty the other 10% of the contents out. They found absolutely nothing to stop me going through security. Now if they were doing their job properly, why did they leave a small tube of toothpaste go through and also a small tube of spray aftershave, these realistically should have been put into a clearing with the rest of the 100ml liquids. They were totally inadequate and just wasting my time and there's and for what, training, well that was a waste of time really as they did not do the job properly and it was a total joke. I did always prefer Cardiff over Bristol, but now I will have a serious rethink as this has never happened to me in many trips flying from either Bristol or Cardiff. We then wonder why Cardiff is on the decline. We'll if people get treated like that and waste 20 to 25 mins and not do the job properly after all, why do it. To say I am very disappointed in Cardiff Airport and the way I was treated is an understatement.

By far the friendliest and most convenient airport I have ever been to. Everything seems well-organized and all staff are very helpful.

Only fly from here for work. Airports nice and clean and tidy staff are all helpful. Shame it's out the way and not closer to M4 .

Disappointed there is not an easier way for dissabled pick up

Very nice , spacious and spotlessly clean. Food lovely and service great, comfy seating and cool atmosphere, table service a nice touch

Dropped in before our holiday to Zakynthos with my daughter and grandson. This was his first flight and he was very nervous. Have to mention Steve who welcomed us and went out of his way to put my grandson at ease. Food and customer service was excellent.

Nice Airport.not far from Cardiff central.little More busy will be nice. Drop off and pick up free for 20 minutes.

Table service fab. Lovely food too. Steve and Lesley were brilliant hosts and "entertainer" . Thoroughly enjoyed our pre flight drinks and relax. Thanks to all staff who work really hard to make sure we had a great experience. Would definitely book lounge 51 again

Spot on great service was brilliant Couldn't do enought for what we asked, Food was really good and hot, nice and quiet area to relax before your flight

Small but nice . With very friendly staff who try very hard to make the start of our journey as pleasant as possible for foreign passengers.

A fantastic pre holiday experience. Plenty of Welsh premium products on offer and in my opinion,excellent value for money! This was made all the better by the outstanding customer service we received from the staff they were truly amazing, and set the tone for our forthcoming holiday. Thank you Steve, Katie, Lesley and Honika for your fantastic hospitality x

Went to Cardiff to fly with Vueling. The airport is small, has two security scanners. The staff are so rude, really strict on how many liquids you take through. When questioned I had too many, the security man stated mascara was a liquid. He almost had pleasure telling me to sort it out and in one bag. Really petty 🤣 The only good thing about the airport is that it has as a Greggs, hence 2 stars and not 1.

The Welsh airport is better than any others I think, bit pricey but is what it is in airports friendly staff very clean place

Nice airport, shame it's cheaper to fly from everywhere else than your local airport

Quick check in,and shoet time to pass security

Easy to book in. Helpful staff.

Why do they bother to run this vanity project. We arrive back on a delayed holiday flight at 1.30am, get through passport control after an endless walk and then wait half an hour before the baggage carousel begins to deliver the luggage. Kids tired and crying, adults totally frustrated. I was informed that the delay was because the plane had been parked at the furthest point from the terminal so there was a long way for the vehicles to travel with the luggage and there were only three men working at that time. Is there no planning at all for the convenience and comfort of customers or is the airport run only for the convenience of the airport itself? One plane lands in the early hours of the morning and the airport management is unable to cope. Far from making Wales appear a sophisticated, modern country to visit, it makes us look the complete opposite.

We flew from and back to here recently and had a smooth experience on both occasions. A little bit of a wait going through security on the way out as only one scanners were operating, but other than that it was flawless. Our return in particular was brilliant was we were home within one hour of landing.

Seems to be keen on making improvements to the look of the airport, but baggage is so very slow. Need to get sorted

Easy airport to find and park, see long stay parking review. Terminal clean but with lots of renovations and changes going on . Check in a bit slow but have come to expect that these days with more staff trying to sort out automatic bag drop than staff managing the checking. Security a bit slow with the older style scanners. Duty free lounge spacious and clean, perfume prices similar to fragrance shop uk. Booze much cheaper . Bar and Kitchen expensive for food and drinks £3.45 for a cuppa, £9 for a pint. We took our own sandwiches and bought water from WHS. This served us well on our flight too. Nice airport but needs more flights to give it a chance.

I loved my flight to Alicante. Easy to know where you were going, clean, and I loved the panoramic view of the gates in the Cafe part.

Soooo much better than Bristol. And nice to see it busy. Hopefully this will continue.

On a recent trip, the Cardiff airport experience was easy, relaxed and pleasant. Was very impressed from the help at 'check in' weighing machine, through security and onto plane. Walkway onto plane and off plane when I came home. It was a pleasant start to a holiday, stress free and easy!! More flights from Cardiff please!!!

Nice and quick through arrivals and passport control.

Easy and quiet airport to maneuver. Under some minor construction right now, but there are signs everywhere in Welsh and English. Had a morning flight at 945am to Amsterdam, so I had to be in the airport for 745am. There is one main terminal for all check-ins. Staff were pleasant, and check-in was easy to drop off bags. Because we had a connecting flight to Bergen, our bags were going all way thru to our end destination. I would suggest checking with attendant to make sure and ask if that is the way for your connections because some do require to collect your bags and then re checkin if you have seperate tickets. Suggestion -all small liquids, toothpaste, hand sanitizers should be in a small ziploc. You have to pull them out seperately from your hand luggage. I saw a gentleman who had a walking cane which had to go thru the security scanner and they provided him with one so he could continue to have standing support. Before going theu to security there is a cafe called Gregg's with pastries and already made omlettes bacon and sausage. Coffee/decaf and tea avail as well.  However there are other options when you go thru security check such as Tap + Brew, WH Smith, Duty free shopping with great souvenirs. Gates are identified about 15-20 mins before boarding.

Small, efficient, friendly and the car rental centre is a one minute walk away

Food was good. Expensive but usual airport prices. Customer service was poor on this occasion.

Great airport needs better road links we travelled by train then bus

The greatest attribute that Cardiff Wales Airport has is that it is never busy but has all the facilities any other airport has. Bar facility, coffee shop, duty free, general shop and a huge lounge. No queues ever. One downside is that sometimes you get off a plane and if it is raining you are going to get wet. It also involves a little forward planning to get to. This airport has everything going for it. How long the Welsh Government can sustain what is a money pit I do not know but the staff need better senior management to get more business to this corner of Wales. Take advantage of it while you can. Everything is quick here.