Originally Posted by
scosprey
My wife and I headed back through UA/CDG last month on the 19th. The ride out at 8:30 AM or so from central Paris--Boulevard Malesherbes--was fine, about an hour or so. The check-in area was also fine. A first passport/customs exit check was ok. The long tunnel up to the gates area reminded me of something out of a bad Woody Allen movie. The gates area is horrible. Maybe 40 seats per gate, with five or six gates, with an airport police official or two "guarding"--"papers/passports, please"--the entryway to each gate waiting area. Each gate waiting area has fencing like a cattle pen. (Remember, most of these gates seemed to be for 200+ pax widebodies.) My wife and I waited in a more open seating area, down from our gate near a bar and Internet cubicles. I drug her one hundred feet or so from this area back to our gate after the boarding announcement for BusinessFirst. Had to cut a line of seventy or so people leading to the officials in front of our gate waiting area, most of whom I assume were Econ Plus or E-. We couldn't wait to get out of there!
You describe the CDG gate experience perfectly. And that's the real problem with CDG. It can sometimes be a mess getting there and getting through it, but you really don't want to spend any more time there than you absolutely have to. The queues are ridiculous; things just bunch up without benefit of lines. Not enough Britts heading through that terminal I guess; they'd show people how to do a proper queue!
Part of the issue is that most parts of the world don't have the "personal space" needs of Americans. That was the biggest eye-opener for me, first time I visited Paris. I have since grown used to it, and gotten over my distaste for crowded big cities and actually have come to embrace them for their vibrance and energy.
If you do get to CDG early and get checked through quickly, don't head up to the gate area. Walk around, take photos of the bizarre tubes in the middle of the terminal (until security tells you not to, at which point you suddenly speak zero French), and help out those confused, of which there will be many. If you have lots of extra time, take the new train that goes between the terminals and maybe get off someplace interesting. The stop for the hotels looked like a nice place to get out for some fresh air.