Take care everyone, it's been fun, but now's the time to go. I will pop back to read messages from ...
Take care everyone, it's been fun, but now's the time to go. I will pop back to read messages from time to time.
Member since:19.04.2002
Reviews:73
Members who trust:91
Probably your first question is, where??? Well as many of you are aware, my mother is Danish and I visit Denmark usually twice a year. The airport that I travel to in Denmark is Billund.
Why would you want to fly to Billund?
Billund is in central Jutland (the part of Denmark attached to Germany) – and it is located right next to Legoland. So if you would like to take your children to the Danish Legoland for a weekend, it is the ideal place to fly to. It is also a popular airport with businessmen who need to visit central Jutland. Or if you just want to visit Denmark to travel and go shopping (and not go to Copenhagen) this airport is in a great central location.
A bit of history (summarised from the Billund website and from my own experiences)
Billund Airport was opened on 1st November 1964 but the passenger terminal wasn’t opened until 1966 – passengers had to use the LEGO hangar in the meantime. SAS flew between Billund and Copenhagen on a daily basis (now 5 flights per day) and the first Charter flight was in December 1964, but didn’t become a regular occurrence until after the passenger terminal was opened.
In 1971 the runway was lengthened making it more accessible to more planes. And in 1984 international scheduled services commenced with Maersk Air flying to Southend. Scheduled services have now been vastly expanded and you can now fly with Maersk to London Gatwick (3 times a day) instead of Southend. In addition Maersk and SAS operate many domestic flights and international flights. Also British Airways fly to Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin.
For many years the passenger terminal didn’t have any passenger arms
going direct to the airport, so when you took off or landed you would have to walk to or from the plane and up stairs. Last year (2002) a new passenger terminal was opened which now means that the planes can be attached to the terminal and you no longer have to walk across the tarmac.
It is also a major cargo airport for Denmark.
Facilities
When you are used to flying from Heathrow or Gatwick the facilities at smaller international airports can seem quite bleak. But don’t panic, it’s a lovely airport!! I will explain where everything is in 2 sections – arrivals and departures.
Arriving in Denmark
When you arrive you are first greeted by Passport control sitting in enclosed boxes. Wait behind the yellow line until your turn. The immigration officers will quickly check your passport and assuming you are not an undesirable and your paperwork is in order, you will be waved into the country.
Then the next port of call is Baggage Reclaim. I’ve never had to wait more than 10 minutes to get my suitcase, they seem to operate with an amazing speed. As I hate waiting for my baggage, I am always very pleased with the service at this airport. Whilst waiting your 10 minutes for your luggage to arrive, please note that there are a few tourist brochures and leaflets available in the baggage reclaim area for you to pick up and peruse at your leisure. From here it is but a short walk to the customs declaration area and then the meeting area.
Buses and Limousine services As you walk outside the terminal building you will find the area where taxis, buses and the limousine area can be found. Airport buses travel to the following locations in Denmark :-
Buses to Aarhus, Esbjerg, Kolding, Vejle, Odense and Fredericia, Horsens, Hotel Legoland
Prices and times for buses can be found at the following link :-
Car hire The car hire is in the terminal building a little further along from where you have just passed through custom control – there are offices for the following car hire companies.
Eurocar, Budget, Hertz, Avis
If you find that you need to wait in the terminal for any reason, you will find that there is a cafeteria which looks towards the runway. It serves cold and hot food, hot and cold drinks, Danish pastry and ice cream. Prices are a little dearer than a High Street location, but that always seems to be the way in airports. Please note – thankfully McDonalds have yet to make it to Billund airport!
I would suggest that before leaving the airport, pick up one of their shopping brochures. It’s not big, but it may help you to decide whether to presents, perfume, etc in the Danish High Street or whether to wait until your return flight and purchase at the airport. I tend to buy in the High Street – there are always bargains to be had.
Departures
Which brings me back round to the subject of departures. By now you should be familiar with the links back to the airport. On return to the airport, you will check in. Check the check in monitors as you enter the terminal and you will immediately see where you can check in. Believe me, there won’t be a lot of choice and it’s very unlikely you will be wandering around lost in the airport!
On check in, please ensure that you are carrying the correct weight in your hand luggage – my hand luggage has been weighed on more than one occasion – fortunately not the times I’ve had beer bottles in it!
Once you have checked in you will find the departure lounge upstairs – there are lifts, stairs and escalators. Before entering the departure lounge you will be asked to show your boarding card and for your luggage and yourself to pass through security screening. Last time I had a huge lump of meat in my hand luggage and it made them smile as they couldn’t work out what it was on the scanner!!
As soon as you pass through the security screening you will find yourself outside the duty free shop – something tells me that it was planned that way! Before entering the shop, get yourself one of the neat Hand luggage trolleys. These are like tiny supermarket trollies and you can wheel your hand luggage and your coats around the departure lounge. I think they are a brilliant idea.
Shopping. If travelling to another EU country, choice is limited. You can buy perfume and cosmetics, but you can’t buy any duty free alcohol, including beer and no cigarettes. So passing swiftly through this area you arrive at the sweeties!! There is a limited choice at the airport – Anton Berg Chocolates (be warned, these are heavy on marzipan), liquorice in huge packets, Fazer mints, Liquorice Allsorts, Wine Gums and M & M. There is also a non duty free area where you can buy Danish Schnapps at full price.
There is another shop however. If you go back to the security area and turn towards your left, go as far as you can go and then turn right again, you will find another shop. This shop sells, toys (mostly Lego as Billund is the home of Lego after all), some items of clothing, books, sweets (exactly the same as in the duty free area), single packs of cigarettes, books and a few gift items. So not a huge choice – that’s why I suggested that you know what is on offer before deciding to leave the present buying until the airport!
There are also two cafeterias. One in the middle of the departure lounge and one next to the second shop. The one in the middle is more a bar and snack area, whereas the cafeteria next to the other shop, sells a greater variety – including the ice creams. You may wonder why I mention the ice creams, it’s because you ought to try them. In Denmark they make ice creams which you can’t buy here and I would suggest you buy either a Nuggi or an Eskimo!! I will let you look at them to see what they are – after all this is a review of the airport and not the ice cream!!
If you are like me and get bored at the airport and also are curious as to what has been happening on Ciao in your absence. Go upstairs in the departure lounge and you will find a seating area. Behind a huge pillar you will find two free internet connections. The keyboard is on the screen and can be cumbersome to use, but it whiles away the time and you can catch up with some alerts. But remember, make sure you log out before you walk away, keep your password secure.
Business lounges – they do exist, and I know they contain laptop connections and computer terminals – but I haven’t seen them, so I can’t comment
Toilet facilities – plenty!! They are dotted around all over the place. Also, on a note of hygiene – they always seem spotless.
Airport Accommodation
If you do decide that you want to travel to Denmark and you are keen to travel to Billund for Legoland or whatever – look at the following link for hotelaccommodation.
Funny thing about airports, you don’t really have much of a choice where you fly to most of the time. You know you want to travel to a country and you just pick the flight with the nearest connection to where you want to travel to. So recommendation isn’t really so relevant. But I hope my review will help you to see that Billund is a pleasant airport to fly from. It is a complete stress free experience and I can say that with some conviction – I have used this airport regularly for the past 10 years and have used the old and new terminals. I have never experienced any problems and the new passenger terminal greatly improves the experience.
Fly to Billund for a wonderful holiday to one of the best countries I know (yes I know I’m biased, but read my other ops on Denmark and I’m sure you’ll agree with me!)
UPDATED - Just remembered something that I meant to include in this op. Last time I flew back from Billund I read a newspaper on the plane. Nothing remarkable in that I know!! But the report explained how Denmark had decided to change their duty taxes. From October 2003 expect to pay around 1/4 less for spirits and that's in the High Street. So you won't be sick when walking through the duty free shop at Billund any more, as prices will be fairly matched in the ordinary shop.
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This sounds so much nicer than the Aarhus airport I flew into! At 10pm we couldn't get a drink anywhere! Actually I don't even remember seeing a cafe, but I suppose there must have been one!
JessL 07.08.2003 21:18
I am terrible at Geography - I thought Legoland was in France! Jess x
testcard 17.06.2003 21:03
Excellent opinion! Flew into/out of Billund a few months ago on business and was very impressed. UK airports have a lot to learn...
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