FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - CDG Airport in Paris Experience Terminal 2D to 2E
Old Nov 15, 2016, 1:20 am
  #3  
Mountain Trader
 
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Denver CO
Posts: 3,682
Originally Posted by TowardsTheSky
If you ever have to go to CDG - don't.

An hour layover on CDG in Paris, enough time? Regarding the airline 'no problem' .

Arriving on time, knowing which terminal to go to I asked for a front row seat before landing. From the door opening - a sprint starts - along long corridors with only a few information panels. To change terminals you need to leave the airport and check in again. Arriving at the connection terminal on my paper, I get the information that it changed. Running outside, crossing a parking lot to the new terminal, the checkin line I find is the longest I have ever seen, keep sprinting past it. (yes, I am skipping it, total chaos left and right nobody even notices). Getting through a prior check gate, keep sprinting past the line as my request for help replies 'everyone's late, fly tomorrow'. Arriving at the last part of the line I can't skip further and wait another 45min. People here tell me they've been waiting for 3-4 hours. The security check notifies me that I have to get on a train to the gate - sprinting there and jumping in just before the doors closed. Next, luggage check, another (though much shorter) line. They open my carry-on bag and empty everything. At this point my flight is 30min late, but I have only 5min to departure. Pack the bag back up, keep sprinting. Reached the gate and got in at the last minute.

I made it in 1,5 hours. Without skipping lines and constant sprinting it could have been 5.
While posting this rant might have felt good, it provided little usable information. What airlines? What time of day? Which airline provided 'no problem' answer? 3-4 hour lines are not SOP at CDG, so what was the cause of that (if actually true)? Why didn't OP read data points here or elsewhere that almost always suggest need for plenty of connecting time at CDG, especially on 2 tickets or between airlines? Why rely on a phone agent who may be on another continent for local airport knowledge?

Sorry OP had a tough time.
Mountain Trader is offline