Originally Posted by Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM
From a quick scan of this CO / USA discussion thread, I took away one interesting observation:
It seems that if you are fluent in the increasingly obscure language which used to be the world's "lingua franca" and/or you have lived in France and therefore have been initiated into the various rites and rituals of acceptable French business and social interaction, CDG can be survivable and even ok, especially if you have a sense of adventure and have had 200 trips in which to finally figure it all out. Otherwise, you are likely to be in for a tough, uncompetitive, consumer-unfriendly experience.
I would not fully agree with this observation, as the thread is an interesting one which combines diverse and diverging opinions. In the case of the OP of that thread, the fact that he has had 200 trips through CDG, which is not his home base, it's Dallas, also allows him to have a good benchmark for comparing other international airports, such as LGW, EWR, FRA, AMS or GIG over his last decade of travels.
Originally Posted by LawFlyer
It is a massive airline hub operation, and my opinion after all these years of using it is that it is certainly no worse than -- and is in many respect better than -- other large EU hub airports, such as AMS, FRA, and LGW/LHR.
Regarding the need for being
Originally Posted by Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM
initiated into the various rites and rituals of acceptable French business and social interaction,
the only specific recommendation quoted by various posters, except for one, who was more general in his assessment, was being able to say "Hello" or "Bonjour Monsieur" or "Bonjour Madame", which does not strike me as being overly stringent.
Finally, the opinion about French being "an increasingly obscure language" does not seem to be related to the topic at hand.