Originally Posted by dthernandez
1) Three times, when I've arrived at CDG to meet a pre-arranged car, the driver could not find me and vice-versa because the arrivals hall is so choked with people that it takes 20 minutes of jostling just to get across the 30' room.
Well, I usually have no problem and it usually takes me 2mn to cross an arrival hall. Any specific terminal in mind ?
Originally Posted by dthernandez
2) It seems virtually impossible to transfer by walking through the airport (I've asked too) and I am directed downstairs to wait for yet another crowded bus to take me the long way around the airport to get to my new terminal. Fighting for space, holding heavy lugagge, unpleasant.
You can easily transfer between terminals by walking, actually this is my preferred transfer method, landside. You cannot do it airside, but it is a problem only if you are connecting in CDG from a non-Schengen destination to another non-Schengen destination. If you are connecting between a Schengen destination and a non-Schengen destination, you need to clear immigration at some point, anway. And if you are connecting between Schengen destinations, it is not an issue.
Originally Posted by dthernandez
3) Finally, passport control is a joke. I arrived from Johannesburg in August to CDG only to find that there was one control agent waiting for an entire widebody of passengers. Total wait time: 1 hour and 15 minutes. Yes, Heathrow is bad, but no where near as bad as this. There was no other line to go into, just one long hallway and one, slow, disgruntled immigration officer.
Well, even though the queues are disorganized, especially in 2A and 2C, going through immigration doesn't take me more than 15mn. The queues are indeed better organized in the US, but it usually takes me from 45mn to 1h45, except in the past in LAX when I could use the Inspass. So 1h15mn definitely seems to me like an unusual occurrence.