This airport is attached to the town of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance on the very southern tip of Germany, where Switzerland and Austria meet at the so-called '3-country corner'.
The airport is tiny, but is a good access point for skiing in the western Austrian resorts of the Arlberg region and even into western Tirol. Ryanair operate a daily flight there from London Stansted, from silly low prices (99p) up to about £59 each way (this is the highest I have ever seen).
The alternative airport to access this region is Zurich in Switzerland, but low cost carriers have been pulling out of there recently, leaving Friedrichshafen as the stronger offer for budget travellers from the UK.
The airport itself is tiny and other than Ryanair, handles just a handful of mainly domestic flights, plus some charters in the summer. Due to its size, there isn't much in the way of facilities. There's just a snack bar and a small shop, so you're not going to want to suffer a long delay here.
However, size isn't everything, and when I was there, the airport epitomised German efficiency in all the best ways. On arrival, you're processed through immigration very quickly, and baggage had started coming onto the carousel as soon as we arrived. There are just a couple of carousels so no getting lost here!
Passing through customs, there are car rental offices for Avis, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt, and a kiosk selling confectionery. Outisde, you just cross the main car park and there is the trainline, with a ticket machine on the platform. Trains into Friedrichshafen main station are regular (about eveyr 15 minutes) and cost about EUR2. From there, you may have to change at Lindau to get into Austria, but some trains go straight through. In the other direction, you head into southern Germany. The town itself is nice though, and is worth a visit if you have time, sitting right on the lake with lovely views.
The alternative for accessing Austria's ski resorts is a transfer direct from the airport. Several companies run these and costs vary, starting from around EUR30. These go to St Anton, Lech and Zurs among others. I haven't heard of a Ryanair bus link like they do at some of their airports, but it's not necessary here as travellers are well-provided for.
On arriving back at the airport for your return, there are just about 5 check-in desks, and on check-in for Ryanair flights you get a laminated ticket with a number on it which will be used to call boarding. These are then collected back in on boarding and resused over and over so better for the environment.
Once you go through security, there is really very little there so if you need food or a paper or drinks, buy them before you pass into departures.
When we were there, they checked the passport of everyone sat in the departure area, so when the aircraft arrived we could get straight on. Don't know if this is normal procedure or not!
All in all a neat little airport for accessing western Austria and southern Germany, and worht using if you get a low fare.
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