Charles de Gaulle Airport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

What happens if you do miss your flight due to something like this?!

[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.

As short of a time as possible. There is basically nothing to eat it’s bizarre.

[Anonymous]

The terminal where you arrive depends on the airline. United goes to the old terminal 1. Air France arrives at a different one.

You have to go through immigration control to leave. Our queue got stuck behind a man who had criminal court case problems. Every agent decided to work on that man rather than transferring him to a higher up office and continuing to work on the rest of the line.

[Anonymous]

FYI if you have status on Delta they have Sky Priority reserved lines for passport control at CDG. Saved us twice during strikes in France.

[Anonymous]

I had a layover there years ago and it was a disaster. I swore I would never transit through CDG again. This summer my family and I had a trip to Europe and it was like $500 more per ticket to go through LHR so we bit the bullet. It was lovely! The newer, EU terminal is bright and open (all windows, including the ceiling. I was worried about nothing. So much better and nicer than my last time through.

P.S. The amount of walking to get from Int'l gates to EU ones is hell of long.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster above. I remember really awful experiences in years before with CDG, but my most recent trip through, in 2022—flying Air France from US and transferring to smaller city with another Air France flight—was really nice.

[Anonymous]

Yes terrible.

We connected through their 2 summers ago & somehow I think ended up going the wrong direction so had to clear passport control even though we were staying in the EU for the next flight (and not leaving the airport). At the passport control spot we bizarrely ended up at they literally had 1 person; the guy in front of us had some major issue so we did not move for 20+ minutes.

Avoid it if at all possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The terminal where you arrive depends on the airline. United goes to the old terminal 1. Air France arrives at a different one.

You have to go through immigration control to leave. Our queue got stuck behind a man who had criminal court case problems. Every agent decided to work on that man rather than transferring him to a higher up office and continuing to work on the rest of the line.

OP is asking about departure from CDG, not arrival there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The terminal where you arrive depends on the airline. United goes to the old terminal 1. Air France arrives at a different one.

You have to go through immigration control to leave. Our queue got stuck behind a man who had criminal court case problems. Every agent decided to work on that man rather than transferring him to a higher up office and continuing to work on the rest of the line.

OP is asking about departure from CDG, not arrival there.

Still have to go through passport control to leave the Schengen Area. Adds a second step beyond the normal security line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The terminal where you arrive depends on the airline. United goes to the old terminal 1. Air France arrives at a different one.

You have to go through immigration control to leave. Our queue got stuck behind a man who had criminal court case problems. Every agent decided to work on that man rather than transferring him to a higher up office and continuing to work on the rest of the line.

OP is asking about departure from CDG, not arrival there.

Still have to go through passport control to leave the Schengen Area. Adds a second step beyond the normal security line.

I personally have never had trouble arriving at CDG, only departing. I’m the PP from the first page who had a very long wait because they only had one officer working at passport control during the busy mid morning hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Me too, happened about 2 years ago. We got on the flight with one minute to spare. They held the gate open for us. It was getting through customs then security that did us in. Lots of international folks at the airport for whom the concept of "a line" is quite different from yours and mine.

[Anonymous]

De Gaulle is largely dependent on the terminal. Flew United out of there a couple years ago and it was terrible. Our flight was delayed, we each had a voucher for food, and there was literally nowhere to use it except Starbucks (which had no sandwiches). There was only one other (crappy looking) place and it was out of food.

I do, however, love the duty-free shopping at De Gaulle. Good for high-end perfume (Guerlain, Chanel), Hermes scarves (IF you are in the right terminal), Longchamp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:De Gaulle is largely dependent on the terminal. Flew United out of there a couple years ago and it was terrible. Our flight was delayed, we each had a voucher for food, and there was literally nowhere to use it except Starbucks (which had no sandwiches). There was only one other (crappy looking) place and it was out of food.

I do, however, love the duty-free shopping at De Gaulle. Good for high-end perfume (Guerlain, Chanel), Hermes scarves (IF you are in the right terminal), Longchamp.

Thankfully Aeroports Paris did recently complete a significant expansion of the gate area used by United at CDG Terminal 1. Still issues with security and passport lines though, as the chokepoints of the design are still there.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2022/12/11/paris-cdg-terminal-1-reopens/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI if you have status on Delta they have Sky Priority reserved lines for passport control at CDG. Saved us twice during strikes in France.

This is great to know. Will this work if only one member of the family has priority (parent and kids traveling)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI if you have status on Delta they have Sky Priority reserved lines for passport control at CDG. Saved us twice during strikes in France.

This is great to know. Will this work if only one member of the family has priority (parent and kids traveling)?

Yes, as long as everything is booked on the same reservation, one person with status will give the perks to everyone.