Charles de Gaulle Airport

[Anonymous]

Is it a total nightmare? I normally avoid it like the plague so have not been through it in many years. Anyone go through it recently, especially with Air France?

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

If you’re not connecting then it’s not terrible. 2 hours is the standard buffer time for international airports and generally planning on a wide berth of transit time TO the airport allowing for transit strikes, etc.

Orly was the true nightmare airport for me because of the long lines and incompetent security but YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

We spent well over an hour in line before passport control at CDG one day last year. They had only one(!) officer working at about nine in the morning, and the line kept building up and building up.

Then, the airport workers started pulling out people who were running late for flights and bringing them to the front of the line- which was nice for them, and I totally get that it was not their fault that the airport only had one officer checking passports, but still frustrating for those of us who got to the airport ahead of time so had to stand even longer in line. I have arthritis in my knees and was very uncomfortable during this time.

All this to say, get there at least three hours ahead of your flight, just to allow for any possibility. We at first thought the holdup we experienced was unusual, but people on other travel forums have complained about exactly the same situation.

[Anonymous]

I'm French and hate CDG airport
Get there 3 hours early.

[Anonymous]

Ah, yes. Will never forget the time we arrived at CDG three hours early and were among the last people on the plane! Air France in their Gallic wisdom had three major US bound flights all checking in at the same time and in the same area using the same queue. It was a disaster.

[Anonymous]

Usually 2 hours is fine, but I almost missed a flight in 2021 and I got there almost 3 hours ahead of time. If I didn't have priority in security I would have definitely missed it.

Get there 3 hours in advance. Dont forget your detaxe paperwork if you bought stuff! You can do it electronically and skip the line. Also, by the time you get to the gates the food options are kind of minimal. your basic cafes. Just fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

Definitely two hours min.
We were just there. Air France stinks. UGH took forever to get through security.

[Anonymous]

When we were returning home from our trip to Paris, the car service insisted on picking us up from our hotel 4 hours early. The drive was only 40 minutes, and we thought that it was insane, but they were right. We needed extra time to get through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

We spent well over an hour in line before passport control at CDG one day last year. They had only one(!) officer working at about nine in the morning, and the line kept building up and building up.

Then, the airport workers started pulling out people who were running late for flights and bringing them to the front of the line- which was nice for them, and I totally get that it was not their fault that the airport only had one officer checking passports, but still frustrating for those of us who got to the airport ahead of time so had to stand even longer in line. I have arthritis in my knees and was very uncomfortable during this time.

All this to say, get there at least three hours ahead of your flight, just to allow for any possibility. We at first thought the holdup we experienced was unusual, but people on other travel forums have complained about exactly the same situation.

Just for another data point we had literally no customs line when we arrived over spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

We spent well over an hour in line before passport control at CDG one day last year. They had only one(!) officer working at about nine in the morning, and the line kept building up and building up.

Then, the airport workers started pulling out people who were running late for flights and bringing them to the front of the line- which was nice for them, and I totally get that it was not their fault that the airport only had one officer checking passports, but still frustrating for those of us who got to the airport ahead of time so had to stand even longer in line. I have arthritis in my knees and was very uncomfortable during this time.

All this to say, get there at least three hours ahead of your flight, just to allow for any possibility. We at first thought the holdup we experienced was unusual, but people on other travel forums have complained about exactly the same situation.

Just for another data point we had literally no customs line when we arrived over spring break.

Were you arriving or departing from CDG? We have never had any trouble upon arrival at CDG, we get through quickly. The problems we’ve had have only been upon departure from CDG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s not great. Allow plenty of time if you have a layover as travel between terminals is awful. Surprisingly few good facilities (cafes, restaurants etc) as well

No layover but wondering how long to plan to be there in advance for our flight home.

Definitely two hours min.
We were just there. Air France stinks. UGH took forever to get through security.

I am worried. We did Norse via Gatwick last time, pure nightmare. We had to run (I am not exaggerating) over 2 miles to our gate at full speed and got there as they were closing it, despite being there 3 hours early (could not earlier, had a previous flight). I hate how plane travel has become so horrendous, on top of being expensive! This is to see family so not a fun vacation.

[Anonymous]

We were there in July (so high season) and almost missed our flight even with arriving three hours early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were there in July (so high season) and almost missed our flight even with arriving three hours early.

To clarify, this was a departure from CDG.