jpmcdonough

Yesterday, my wife and I came back home from a two week vacation in France. We went to CDG well in advance of our flight time. Usually, we visit France in midwinter and there's nobody at the airport, but I guessed (correctly) that it would not be like that in October.

Getting from the taxi to the AA checkin place was easy, once I started using the old Reggie White swim move to get past all the people standing around doing nothing.

AA has a pre-checker who makes sure you're in the right line. She sounded like a Yank. The AA check-in process was smooth. Went to passport control - no line!!! Smooth.

Then security. The line was not long, but there's no place to get yourself ready. There are bins but no work space. I took out my laptop, and was told to take off my belt, but not my shoes. Then they made me take the laptop out of the sleeve, and the sleeve had to be in a different bin from the laptop. My wife got sent to a different line and breezed on through.

When I got to the scanner, my 21" bag came through (with a corkscrew, got away with something there) but they got hung up on my shoulder bag. They had me walk back through the WTMD, separated from my other belongings - and I had already put my belt on and put my phone in my pocket - and take out my iPad, and camera from my shoulder bag. I also took out the case with connectors and charger wires just for grins. There was just about nothing left in the stupid bag at this point (except my wallet and a plastic bag with US money).

They also picked up my liquid bag and looked at everything in it. Fortunately they didn't open it, because something in there was leaking!

My wife had basically the same stuff, but nothing like that happened to her.

At CDG they also have screening at the gate, but not enough for every passenger. Thank goodness. I'm not due for another colonoscopy yet.

Smaug

Went through CDG Terminal 2E two weeks ago. My only irritation was the security "pre-interview" before you get to the DL check-in counter to get a sticker on your passport. (Yes, I packed everything myself. No, I did not have any electronics repair done. No, I do have any toner cartridges. etc)

Short line for passport control.

Everything else was a breeze. No nude-o-scopes. I asked about my shoes before the WTMD, and the guy said try it. Walked through, no alarm. I forgot if took my bag o' liquids out, but I had no issues. I had a bunch of power cables, my digital camera, and my phone in my backpack, but it went through fine without any extra scrutiny.

At the gate, I saw some people being questioned, but when I got my BP scanned, the agent saw I had the right sticker on my passport, and I just waltzed on through.

I had heard some CDG horror stories so I got to the airport over 2 hours before my flight ensure I had enough time, but thankfully I didn't need it.

NotaCriminal

Sorry about your luck, OP.

I went through CDG on October 6th. Arrived 3 hours early because I couldn't check myself in online (could check in my travel partner, though) and Air France couldn't find the reservation and Delta kept sending me to Air France (both through the telephone and the website).

It was my best experience through CDG ever. The only "hassle" was the pre-interview before I could go to the check-in counter, because the interviewer was kind of an aggressive jerk regarding the print-outs I'd obtained from the Air France/Delta office by Invalides. Evidently, that was suspicious, when the agent at the Invalides Air France office just wanted to make sure I didn't have a hassle at the airport with locating my reservation.

Anyway, like Smaug, everything else was a breeze this time, when I normally end up with an experience like the OP's trip. No NOS, no gropes, no shoe removal, no one yelled at me. And I had a nice coffee and croissant on the other side and no one tried to test my food for fumes or what not. I didn't get selected for a search at the gate, either, but they were searching bags at the gate. Overall, a much more pleasant experience than any U.S. airport. And nicer than AMS too, since I didn't get groped.

G_Wolf

Love it! If the Minister of Defense was running the TSA, you know things would be operating a little more smoothly...

musicsic

I left CDG yesterday morning as well and thought security was also kind of cramped knowing that there isn't much room to remove my belongings.

gobluetwo

Never had any issues with passport control, security, etc at CDG. The closest thing I had to a horror story was almost missing my flight home (CDG-ORD). I left the hotel 2 1/2 hours before my flight. Thought that would give me plenty of time. Of course, I get stuck on the A1 for almost 2 hours due to a fatal accident. I made it to the UA counter just as they were closing up shop, but convinced them to check me in. They had a little sympathy for me as there had been people trickling in for the last half hour, also having been stuck on the A1. Made it to the gate just after they had started boarding seating area 1.

jpmcdonough

Always a little skittish about CDG. We were there in August 2006 (the liquid plot happened while we were in France) and came through on, unknown to us, a very busy travel weekend, with several key unions on strike. It took a good 3 hours to get through security, and we at least did not miss our flight because AA took a delay on account of passengers (such as us) who were checked in but were not on the plane! We were among the first to get aboard that time.

So my first question to the AA priority access checker was whether anyone was on strike today.