Suggestions for improvement to CDG operations
 

Well, let's have them in this thread, at least for the airport part, as there is already a thread about suggestions for improvement to AF operations.

As to airports that are comparable to CDG in scope, here are the latest stats from another thread:

01 ATL *************** 82 137 145 (+5,47% - 11 months)
02 ORD 76 182 025 (-0.15%)
** LHR 67 855 100 (+0.8%)
** HND
05 LAX 61 896 075 (+1.4%)
06 CDG 59 922 177 (+5.4%)
07 DFW 59 786 476 (-0.7%)
08 FRA 54 167 817 (+2.5%)
09 PEK 53 583 664 (+10.5%)
10 MAD 52 143 275 (+13.8%)
11 DEN 49 863 152 (+5.4%)
12 JFK 48 977 858
13 AMS 47 794 994 (+3.8%)
14 HKG 47 783 000 (+7.5%) rounded to the nearest 1,000
15 LAS 47 728 414 (+3.1%)


keeping in mind that :
- HND is mostly domestic operations
- CDG could overtake LAX and DFW in the next few years
- PEK will probably overtake LAX, DFW, CDG and FRA in 2008
- MAD will probably overtake FRA soon
- an airport that is well regarded such as SIN is only about 60% the passenger traffic of CDG

In Europe, the situation that is closest in terms of scope and problems to CDG's would be, IMHO, LHR, although the premium travel market, second in Europe, is only about 1/3 of LHR's.

Recommendations 1-17
 

@JOUY31 et al:

OK, let's go through the list of things that could be/should be improved at CDG.

However, in order not to get bogged down in a discussion about size of CDG relative to other airports, let me list a couple of things that have strictly nothing to do with size:

1. Clean the airport. Right now, it's a pigsty, some terminals more than others.
2. Maintain the building infrastructure. Right now, it's in a sorry state (broken doors, broken elevators, broken walkways, etc). Newer terminals of course are in a better shape, but overall it fits the cliché that we in France are great at building things but bad at maintaining them.
3. When building new terminals, do the work properly. Finish in time to allow for simulation of pax flows (look at Munich T2 compared to CDG 2E), and make sure roofs don't collapse.
4. Make sure passenger information systems (departure boards, baggage arrival information boards, etc.) work and display correct information
5. Make sure staffing of security lanes is in line with pax flows (more at certain hours)
6. Have fast lanes for premium pax at all terminals
7. Don't place boarding pass/ticket control BEFORE check-in counters (defies the purpose of electronic tickets)
8. Avoid duplicate, triple, quadruple and quintuple checks of the same docs
9. Install biometric immigration control system (Admittedly, Ministère de l'Intérieur has to cooperate)
10. Make sure immigration lines are properly staffed
11. Enforce separation of EU/Swiss and other passport holders at immigration
12. Train handling staff and make sure they work less sloppily. No more waits for buses and stairs upon arrival of aircraft, no more trolleys/carts/van blocking aircraft stands, etc
13. Install a baggage handling system fit for the 21st century. Again, it's a big airport, certain bag transfers do take time, that's OK. But right now even the delivery of "destination CDG" baggage at Terminals takes ages
14. Allow for taxi pick-ups at T1 to pick up pax at arrivals level, not departure levels
15. Plan for a sufficient number of de-icing trucks in winter. One per departure runway in the morning rush-hour simply isn't enough (delays 30-90 minutes)!
16. Make sure staff at security check and airport information know they're doing a service job. I.e. they should work not laze around, they should be friendly and patient with pax, not push them around.
17. Allow for "sterile" transfers, e.g., from Schengen 2D to Schengen 2F (I guess that will change when the terminal transfers are complete)

All of these things are unexcusable, and have nothing to do with the number of pax going through CDG. They are a mess now, and they were a mess when CDG was smaller than FRA.

I am realistic, there are certain handicaps due to size: pax flows will be slower at certain rush hours - but they can be faster than now. There are many planes coming to CDG, so there will be bus gates - but busses should be ready when planes arrive and bus drivers should know where they go.

All of this was just the ADP bit. Air France also can do a better job, but as JOUY31 pointed out, that was discussed in another thread.

JOUY31, thanks for giving me and others the opportunity to turn this post from a ranting start (which I admitted right in the beginning ;) ) into a discussion and constructive criticism of an airport that has no reason to be such a sh**thole. It has far more space than cramped LHR, it's in a country that has all the means to do things well. It's just poorly managed.

Maybe we want to turn that into a sticky in the same way as we have the sticky on Suggestions for AF improvements (after deleting the first couple of posts).

I know that ticket control you're talking about, and it is irritating. Especially since the checkers seem not to recognise e-tickets much of the time.

Is the taxi thing at T1 temporary due to the construction work? The last time I came through there the taxis were on the arrivals level.

Yes, they're a bit - forgive my language - "monkey-trained". For instance, at T1, if you have a LH internet boarding pass, you're fine. If you have an internet boarding pass for that same LH flight but printed through the Swiss online check-in system (because of connecting flight), they don't accept it.

The taxi rank is still at arrivals levels. But if you order a cab on the phone (Taxis Bleus, Taxis G7), the pickup point is at Door 18 on the departure level. I.e., you have to use the elevators against the flow (go down, whereas most poeple go up to the parking) and then trek through the departure level. I manage to have them pick me up at door 26 or 28 which is closer to the lifts, but still I need to change levels. Why ADP doesn't allow them to wait on the arrivals level is a mystery to me, it did work before. Perfect example of unnecessary hassle.

Agreed with most said above...It's making connections that is not realy pleasant in CDG. As depurture and arival airport it is pretty good.
However, I can't say much about LHR....but from the car park to the gate never takes me more than 15 minutes in AMS....but...I hold a privium pass and that may make the difference.

This is a rather "strange" point. It implies that the engineers who built the 2E terminal had it planned to collapse, as they will also plan to have all roofs collapse in the future. Bringing the argument ad absurdum, to prevent a related accident (Merriam-Webster: an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance from happening) ADP should build roofless terminals or build no terminals at all making absolutely sure nothing will collapse!

You are arguing like the engineers and architects would argue.

However, I don't "accuse" them of planning to build roofs that collapse, but to work hastily and sloppily. This "not doing things right and doing them well" can be seen all over the airport. The collapsing roof is just the most blatant and tragic example. One of the things that came up in the investigation was the bad quality of execution of the entire terminal, not just that part of the roof (remember how the opening of the terminal had to be postponed because on the night before the opening, when the inspectors from some authority walked the premises to check it, a part of the ceiling lightning crashed in front of their feet.)

Which brings it all back to my point that overall at CDG there is no culture of quality and diligence in execution, be it from parking ground handling carts (blocking aircraft stands) to maintaining and building terminals.

As pointed out by LeFrancaisVolant, it turns out this was not a ranking. But still I think the world agrees that CDG is among the worst.

Bienvenue!

err right... depending on which terminal you use for check-in, you face a somewhat disorderly layout of CKI desks: at 2B and 2D, you have to have your ticket or boarding pass BEFORE going to the CKI desk. Then it's sometimes one desk per destination, sometimes per region, often the descriptions on the screen are wrong or don't correspond to the departure board, you may have to go through some ID check before lining up (2F), and (also in 2F) it's not quite clear where status pax should check in. Why not do what other airports do: one bank of CKI desks for Economy, one for business and status pax, one for First and status pax.


...which takes longer than it needs to because of its anarchical organization and the useless repeated checks of the same papers over and over again.

...which may be the wrong gate, because they've changed it but the info screens don't work; you may be too early or too late because they don't properly display actual boarding times...

... with bus drivers often losing their way, or planes can't be accessed because ground handling material blocks the way. When you get to the plane by bus, you find that ADP hasn't bothered to invest in roofed stairways, so you stand in the rain...

The distances are what they are, and I am glad CDG is so big - only with a runway system like this can all the traffic be handled. However, taxi times get significantly longer if you wait 30-90 minutes for one of the two de-icing machines.

Arriving is a combination of: wait on board for the plane to park (stand blocked), wait for the bus or the jetty (not ready), wait for someone to open the connecting door to the terminal, wait at immigration in the line manned by 1 immigration officer, wait ages for your luggage... there's hardly a trip where none of these things happen, usually two to three.

The RER is a nightmare. Slow, shabby, dirty... A Heathrow Express-like service would be the thing to have. Fast, reliable, clean.

Numerous of them, and many of them easy to avoid, but still occuring because the place is poorly managed.

Agreed.

creber, thanks for the welcome first of all :)

OK, most of your points may well be valid and unfortunately some are unique to CDG but my simple point was that it really is not the worse (or even 5th worse) airport in the world. But I see now that this has been addressed by LFV's post ;)

As for the specific issues, yes, I agree on the check-in desks chaos situation. However, 3 things:
1) if you're a frequent user it really should not confuse you as much as you'd have got the hang of it after a while;
2) why not check in online? It's available for most destinations these days, certainly on AF etc;
3) there are worse offenders: try GRU or JNB at peak times (e.g. every evening - you can hardly walk through the terminal) or try CAI etc.

Re gates, boarding, distances, etc, well, whilst this is not the ideal situation, again, CDG is not much worse (or, alas, better) than many other major airports in Europe (think LHR, MXP, even FRA) and around the world.

I think we agree on most points. Re: check-in desks... well, I rarely use 2F and then it's hard to find out whether as an FB Platinum traveling to GVA you're supposed to use the "Europe" counters or if there's a GVA-only counter, or whether there is a separate desk for Plats, and if in fact there is, does that cover all of Europe or is there a separate Plat counter just for GVA... and so on. As for 2D, the desks change all the time. All I am saying is: it doesn't take a lot to make this simple, nice and easy. Only partly an ADP issue, it's also Air France that's at fault there.

Online CKI: I try to as much as I can. Trouble is, 1 out of 3 times it doesn't work. See also some other posts I made re: that in this forum.

For boarding, distances, gates: you may have noticed that I never criticize the size of CDG. I think it's actually one of its great strengths, at least it's the magic bullet for its future development. Bus gates are a reality in continental Europe, I can live with them. Just look at FRA, it's even worse (although as a loyal customer of Swiss/Lufthansa I get a Mercedes S-Class or Porsche Cayenne private limo ride to/from the plane and never have to take the bus ^ ). But: at CDG, it's more the execution than the concept which is a pain.

All in all I agree, there are worse airports. Although I'd have to think hard about a worse airport in Europe. LHR probably is on par.

I think the thing that gets me angry at CDG all the time is that it doesn't have to be that way! It's not like LHR, which (on top of being not so well managed) is space-constrained; or like some of the US airports which go crazy because of security; or certain airports which are in anarchic countries. CDG has the space and the means to do things well. So why torture us?

That is my exact thought.

Btw, thank you for your input.

In this particular case 2B mostly handles non Schengen flights. The check before entering the CKI in area is a police check. Once you have cleared it, you are not, AFAIK, subject to another check before accessing the CKI desks. 2D is different. It is not clear to me why ADP and/or PAF (the french "Police aux frontières") have recently implemented this preliminary ticket check before entering the CKI area. Since it is not a police check, my understanding is that it acts as a filter and prevents the small CKI area from being invaded by non passengers (relatives, tourism agencies staff...)

As far as 2F, 2E and 2C are concerned, the ticket checks by AF agents before the CKI lines have been precisely designed for those who find CDG's layout confusing. ;)

The purpose is also to encourage eligible passengers to use the CKI machines and avoid long lines at the desks. You also have certainly noticed that some of the agents manning the lines for long haul CKI use PDAs in order to perform last minute yield management and anticipate potential IDB.

I was told by an AF CKI agent at 2B that this was not possible due to the architecture of luggage belts behind the CKI desks (not all the luggage belts converge to the same collection belt and EDS / tomographs). We don't know but checked luggage to ALG are likely to go through more stringent scrutiny than luggage to GVA or PRG.
Agreed, but not under ADP's control. Except at 2A (EY flight), my recent CDG arrivals haven't involved ages of wait at luggage delivery.

Agreed that the RER is not exactly a thrilling experience. Non stop trains between Gare du Nord and CDG are not that slow though.

Re: 2B. Surely ADP and the airlines can discuss with PAF to either re-locate their desk to somewhere it makes sense, or alternatively ask PAF to reduce their role to what their duty is: check passports for people leaving/entering the country. It's none of their business to know whether or not I have a ticket. After all, when I'm crossing the border on the motorway in Basel, I don't have to show a ticket either, do I?

Re: the people at 2F. It's interesting to have a unnecessarily complex layout/pax flow, and then to add another layer of complexity (=the people checking papers) to resolve the first complexity. Why not simply reduce complexity? Have one area for shorthaul flights (2F-1), one for longhaul flights (2F-2). Have kiosks all over the place. When lines get long, employees can still roam the lines and suggest to people to use the kiosks. That can be done without systematically checking everyone who wants to access a queue.

As for 2B, I don't buy that counter-to-gate-because-of-bag-belt restriction. For instance, the Swiss CKI counter is always at the same place. However, flights can leave from any gate between B20 to B27. So there seems to be a way that bags can go from any counter to any gate.

Interesting to learn about the PDA to yield management approach, I didn't know that.

Thanks for pointing that out JOUY31.

I weakens my argument a bit, but I am glad to learn that things are moving that way. Actually, the best that could happen would be if all my argument was redundant ^

And this improvement shows how easy some things can be to fix.

On the topic of the "Access no 1", while I do welcome the addition of these lines, I do think that ADP could make them slightly more comprehensible to non-frequent users of CDG.

I was traveling with a colleague recently, FB Gold, and he had no clue at all what this line could mean ... and since we were in transit, no one to tell him about it either ...

I know that the argument has been brought forward that since it's an ADP sign, it couldn't be AF/KL specific, but I think something along the lines of "Business/First/Elite Flyers" would be quite airline neutral.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

I mentioned this in another thread but got shot down for it.

Sorry, I'm a geneticist, but I'm very well aware of the fact that one cannot plan not to have an accident. And it's not only engineers and biomedics: as the most famous barber says to a doctor who thought that he could plan everything, "Ecco che fa un' Inutil Precauzione".

Recommendation 18
 

Just another survey, which does seems to look at big airports countries, which places Paris CDG as worst: http://www.zagat.com/downloads/pdf/IntAirline07ALL.pdf

One can always refute the statistical validity of these surveys, and the sample selection may be doubtful, but CDG comes up among the worst in every survey, whatever sample and method is chosen. One can debate whether is the worst or just #2 or #3, but clearly the world thinks that it is terrible.

After this morning's experience at Terminal 2B I'll edit my list of suggestions to add "change location of CKI desks and improve pax flows in 2B (basically: separate easyjet from the rest)".

I agree, you can't plan to to have an accident. But you can at least strive for quality and diligence in planning and execution. Neither of which is done at CDG, be it for the construction of 2E or anything else. In other words: are we suprised that it is at CDG that a roof collapses?

If this had happened at Singapore, people would say "that's in stark contrast to the high standards of the airport". At CDG it's "no wonder, look at how they run their building infrastructure. Now let's start worrying about the other terminals, how safe are they?"

Dear all,

I have split the original thread into two different ones, this one, along the lines of the existing sticky about "Suggestions for improvements to AF operations", which is focused on recommendations for CDG and discussions of recommendations, while the original thread, about CDG being "one the world's five airports that make travelling hell" is here.

I have also added a number to new recommendations so that we can discuss them more easily. Thanks for your understanding.

19-20
 

OK, I've transferred in the new CDG S3 terminal five times now, and every time I have the same reactions:

1) Wow! What a neat building!
2) It's pretty fun to watch the big jets coming and going through the great windows!
3) Cool! Free Playstations (and some of them are working)!

then I think:

19) Why the heck are the men's bathrooms in this huge new airport terminal so tiny? There's barely enough room to squeeze by the line of guys waiting. What were they thinking? Is there anything they can do to fix this?

20) Why are the food selections so bad and expensive? There are three understaffed counters that sell shrink-wrapped cold sandwiches and pastries at huge prices. (I know that the dollar is weak, but these are "airport prices" if I've ever seen them, like almost four Euros for a coke.) I mean, this airport is in FRANCE for Pierre's sake! We have better dining options in Newark, Boston, or Pittsburgh.

And yes, although I am a Continental Gold Elite (aka "SkyTeam Elite") and a member of CO President's Club, no, I am not entitled to use the lounge.

21 : loudspeakers in the boarding area in 2D
 

The loudspeakers in the boarding area of 2D, designed for the initial configuration that can currently be seen in 2B (2 gates per boarding zone) are not well suited to a unified boarding area. Announcements are heard with difficulty. It would be useful to enhance the current audio system.

CDG's future :

http://corporate.airfrance.com/fr/me...ash=daa0ab42a7

After a moratorium of suggestions to CDG - they would have looked out of place in times where there is the LHR T5 disaster happening across the channel - here are some points that might improve service quality at CDG. Maybe somebody at ADP reads them:

• In Terminal 2B, be flexible on the immigration channels of passengers without luggage. If you only have hand luggage, why be sent from immigration 1 (right end of terminal) to immigration 2 (left end of terminal)? This may mean the difference of having noone in front of you or the entire population of the just landed easyjet, Air Algérie, Aeroflot and Swiss flights. Resulting in at least a 30 minute wait. (nice anecdote: a couple of weeks ago this happened as well. So people just walked out by the counters where people usually ENTER the sous-douane area. THe one immigration officer didn't realize what happened when suddenly a mass of people passed by him from behind his back. Plenty of uncontrolled entries into France, but that's their own fault)
• In Terminal 2F, install clear signage for which CKI counters are to be used by L'Espace pax. The departure board only lists the counters to be used for Eco pax.
• In Terminal 1, train security agents at the bottom of the escalators from the departure hall that web-printed boarding passes are OK and do not require any further check of ID (if they don't require them in Terminal 2, why require them in Terminal 1?)
• In Terminal 1, for the satellites which aren't "renovated" (sic) yet, install power plugs around the satellite for pax to be able to charge their phones, laptops, etc. Currently, only four plugs at one end of the satellites without any benches to sit on next to it. So the choice is to charge PC and work sitting on the floor, or not to work whilst PC is charging.
• Allow for baby pushchairs to be used until plane door rather than checked-in (difficult for single parent to carry own piece of hand luggage, one bag with baby food/clothes/medicine/etc. and baby through the labyrinth of "security" checks up to gate)
• When arriving at Terminal 2E on a Schengen flight, don't lead people through the jetty to the terminal, as the terminal doors are closed (2E is non-Schengen only). Instead, make sure somebody opens the door to the staircase leading to the bus waiting below and block access to the terminal building.
• Train staff manning the X-ray machines to clear plastic bins from the belt rather than allow for pile-ups of bins, leading to passengers' belongings (jackets, computers, phones, money, bags) to fall on the floor and be damaged. Should be doable, as it would be at the expense of time chatting rather than at the expense of something else productive.
• Train staff at the security lines that checks (boarding passes, ID) are done for security, not for their individual company. Showing a boarding pass twice within the same confined space only because people work for two different companies (one ADP, the other one Brinks) is silly and does not enhance security.
• As a gentle reminder: clean the airport. Still and always looks like a pigsty.

Oh, well, I had thought the moratorium would last until the successful completion of the move of most of BA's long-haul flights from T4 to T5 ;)

RER B turnstiles at CDG@
 

A nice and welcome improvement from SNCF. The entry and exit turnstiles at the CDG2 RER station have been removed. A lot less hassle when travelling with one or several pieces of baggage. ^

RER and mainline SNCF automat in the baggage carousel area in 2F
 

Nice idea that saved me a long queue at the CDG2 railway station ^

It looks like a temporary situation. My understanding is that they are working on a new generation of turnstiles that will replace the old ones, hardly compatible with bulky suitcases. It would make sense to fight the massive ticket fraud going on between CDG and Paris Nord. An old style ticket stamping machine has been installed at the mezzanine level overhanging the platforms. I don't see many people using it though.

It seems that you're right. I noticed today that they have installed some new turnstiles that are not operational yet.

they should have a running track going from one end to the other as that's what most people have to do

Creber's posts pretty much sum up my experiences and views, except that I find the bus transfers interminable.

The crux is that it doesn't have to be that way, as creber says. Some of the problems really are low hanging fruit to solve, and they are things that function perfectly well in other major EU airports but not at CDG where getting the basics right seems an impossible task. Things like checking your boarding pass 5 times is just as unneccesary as it is irritating for example....

There is no need for this torture, someone (or something) just needs to grasp some of these issues warmly and deal with them.

Sim

One more, specific to T1:

change the information screens to show expected departure time for delayed flights. Currently, when a flight is delayed it only says "delayed" - without saying whether it's 10 minutes or 4 hours late.

Quite a hassle, and easy to avoid as well.

Some timely and appropriate recommendations with regards the inadmissible « embarquement/desembarquement effectué par bus » service:

A.Dismiss the person in control of all the bus drivers and hire someone competent
B. Dismiss the vast majority of the current drivers on the grounds of “incompatibility with the job” (see below) and hire new ones who want to do the job professionally
C.Install a compulsory “dress code” for drivers much as exists at other airports
D.Issue all the new and remaining old drivers with the following “10 Commandments”

1.You are an important part of the service provided to paying passengers by ADP and AF. We expect impeccable behaviour and professionalism in carrying out your duties because this directly impacts customer perception and the overall customer experience by which AF and ADP are judged.
2.Don’t eat/drink/ play on your computer/play computer games/read the newspaper in the cab/spit out of the door/window of the cab at any time and especially whilst picking up pax from the terminals. They can see what you’re (not) doing, it looks slovenly and lazy, gives completely the wrong impression, spitting is revolting, and all of the activities herein are considered unprofessional
3.Remember that you’re transporting members of the public, that you have a duty of care, and that you’re providing a customer service.
4.Have some basic pride in your appearance. Don’t turn up to work unkempt, dirty or (if you don’t have a beard) unshaven. It looks sloppy and it’s unprofessional
5.Wear the PPE issued to you. Pax have to abide by the rules of the airport, so do you
6.If a passenger speaks to you and wishes you a “bonne whatever time of the day it is”, have the common courtesy to reply. Don’t just grunt, or (even worse) ignore tha pax by saying nothing at all. It’s unprofessional. Alternatively, make the effort and wish the passenger a “bonne whatever time of the day it is” yourself when they get on/off the bus.
7.When transporting pax to and from the plane, don’t chat up the attractive AF ground services dollybird sitting next to you in the cab. The pax can see you paying more attention to her than you are paying towards their own safe transportation and wellbeing, and it’s unprofessional.
8.If you do get into a remonstration with a pax, remember that the customer is always right even though the customer may well be wrong. Don’t be aggressive and confrontational, it’s unprofessional.
9.When dropping off the pax at either the plane or the terminal, don’t play games with the pax, deciding to have a little giggle as to which door you are going to open to let them out. Always use the door in the front/middle/rear. Remember that the pax are not on the bus for your personal entertainment, if anything you are driving the bus for theirs.
10.Smile! It costs nothing, counts for a lot, and goes some way to creating a positive impression.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8310/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/130)

True, true.

May I add two for the bus wishing list:

1. Know where you're going. Don't drop off Schengen pax at a non-Schengen door or vice versa. Hell for them to get their luggage afterwards or having to stand in line at immigration for nothing.
2. When it's raining, drive the bus as close to the aircraft stairs as you can, instead of dropping pax at the rear end of the plane only to let them walk to the front end through the pouring rain.

Other than that, Sim, I believe that all our calls for professional and polite behaviour will be perceived as fundamental changes to the "conditions de travail". Implementing them will cost us at least six days of strike for each one of the points you make.

So I guess we'll have to stick with "Favela Tours".

Would you mean through the door?
This is financial crisis, but don't be afraid. At CDG, you will not have to walk through the poors waiting for you to take your money until some couple of days:D:D

Oops, I of course meant to write "pour", as in pouring rain. Edited my post. Thanks for pointing it out.

CDG needs to dramatically improve the way it deals with handicapped and reduced mobility pax.

I have posted a trip report where I compared by experience at several European (and one Middle Eastern) airports and airlines.

Whilst most airports can make sure that a pax actually reaches its flight without too much complication, at CDG passengers risk missing their flights because of poor organization.

Read here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ferrerid=59414

I flew out of 2D on Monday of this week, arriving at 06h35 for a flight leaving at 07h25 so one would normally assume with enough time to get to the boarding gate for an 07h05 last call for boarding, especially as a Plat with access to the "Acces No1" line

It transpires that Sim was indeed Simple Sim that day. What I totally forgot to take into account (since I have been doing my best to avoid spending any money whatsoever with AF by using *A where possible) that terminal 2 is of course ADP and AF territory at its' most bumblingly incompetent.

What I encountered was the bordel of the century (or in the case of 2D probably no more that the bordel of the day). Around 300+ people trying to scrum their way through security to get to the boarding gates. No problem I thought, I'll saunter down to Access No 1.

Er, no. Some bright spark had decided that Access No 1 had to be used for a flight to Athens due to increased security. Now, I'm all for increased security but, dear friends at ADP and AF: How about having a contingency plan that a) deals with such occurrences without throwing the entire landside operation of 2D into a complete shambles and b) manages to get 300+ people through security quickly and efficiently so that it does not knock on to airside operations to the extent that aircraft can't depart on time?

Again, I'm writing this again ignoring that this is ADP and AF. Dealing with what I've written in the paragraph above has so far proven to be way beyond their capabilities. So as with much if not most of the well intentioned advice we write on this forum designed to help improve things, it'll get ignored. The recommendation therefore is simple: where possible, avoid 2D, and certainly on Monday mornings.

Allez~

Sim

P.s. On getting airside I also then had the dreaded "embarquement par bus" and the delightful bus driver chappie chose not to adhere to numbers 1,2 or 10 of my suggested driver code of conduct....I'll leave that there........

I was there, too, on Monday. A bit later though, for a 09h50 departure no "because of Athens screening here we create chaos elsewhere" bordel, I guess I just missed that. Still long waits including at Accès No. 1. Much better on Tuesday morning though, for an 08h15 departure.

But thanks for reminding me of this thread, because I have a point that starts driving me nuts, and I would like to phrase it in the same terms as your "bus driver wish list":

A. Dismiss the person responsible for security controls at T1.
B. Dismiss all the staff working at security control at T1 whose manners are insufficient for being in contact with civilized members of the human race and/or whose IQ is below 60.
C. Open all three tunnels leading from departure level to "satellite access" level, not just one.
D. Always open all security lanes in satellites. It doesn't need a queue of more than 50 people to justify opening of a new lane. Worst that could happen would be security agents having some idle time, but they don't seem to eager anyway, so that should be a win-win

For those employees that meet the criteria set in B (no-one working at the entrance of the tunnels leaving from departure hall to satellite access level meets them; a fair number at the security filters in the satellites actually do), the following things should be taught:

1. Make it as least unpleasant for pax as possible. We all understand you are just fulfilling a legal obligation, but there are ways to make this pleasant and fast for pax, and there are ways to make this lengthy and unpleasant. There's no reason to go for lengthy and unpleasant. It will not improve security.
2. Speed up your overall pace of work and processing. Passengers pass through here because they have a plane to catch. If they have spare time, they'll want to spend it doing something pleasant or useful, in the lounge, in the shops, at the bar. But not at security control. Some of you may come from cultures where "time" has a different meaning and "hurry" doesn't exist, but few people here will care.
3. Speak English when needed. Shouting at a pax in French and threatening to call the police if he doesn't obey doesn't get you very far. It's stupid and impolite.
4. Do some basic line management. Some pax are not frequent users of airports, so ushering them to un- oder under-used lanes may speed the overall process. Don't just stand there and stare idly at them waiting. Also, when there's a line that says "reserved for people requiring special assistance and those departing within 20 mins", make sure it is respected. The entrance of that line would be a good point to make your BP checks, since you do them anyway.
5. Be sensible, ask only for things to be taken out of bags that make sense. "PC" is standards, "and all cables" is bullocks.
6. Be respectful of people's needs. Asking a wheel-chaired passenger with a casted leg to take off the cast is inappropriate. Sure, he could be hiding something in his cast, but he could also have swallowed an explosive. You are not going to rip out his stomach to check, so you can just as well use your sophisticated material to check whether there's something dangerous hidden in the cast.
7. Wash. You are in close touch with people. Basic hygiene such as showering before coming to work and using deodorant should be normal.
8. When discussing with a passenger, behave. Immediately shouting at him, pushing him, using "tu" instead of "vous" - completely inappropriate, especially if the pax is calm.
9. If you are frustrated because your life is a failure, don't prep up your ego by showing to pax all the powers that you have, including strip-searching them for no reason, unpacking all their luggage at slow speed, making them miss their flight, talking to them in a brash manner. If your life is a failure, it's not pax' fault. Get drunk, jump down a bridge, beat your wife or listen to Cliff Richard - whatever. But leave the pax out of the game.
10. Clear away empty bins from the X-ray line rather then having them pile up at the end of the "conveyor belt". Pax are 100% busy getting re-assembled after having taken off their shoes, belts, jackets and having unpacked their belongings. Hearing you complaining loudly that none of the pax put away their bins is unprofessional. All over the world security staff take the initiative to clear away the bins so as not to have them pile into each other and sandwich handbags and briefcases lying between them.
11. Be respectful with people's belongings. Some people have handbags, briefcases or other pieces of hand luggage that they care about and/or that are fragile, for instance made of leather. They are built to resist normal usage, but not being thrown on the belt or squeezed between bins (see 10.). When a gentleman asks for permission to put his bag into a bin, don't take it out. There's no reason why ladies' handbags should be put into bins, but gentlemen's briefcases are not allowed to.
12. Don't try to be smarta$$es. When you are again taking 15 minutes just to open a zipper or spending time showing to all your colleagues this bizarre thing you have never seen in your life and organizing a little trivia game about what it could be (it's a shoe tree) and pax reminds you that he actually needs to go on and take his plane, don't give responses like "You just need to get up earlier" or "Just take a train". No, you just do your work swiftly and understanding that even security control is a service job. Smarta$$ answers never work from you, because, as the word implies, it takes smartness. See criteria B for a minimum IQ requirement.

I understand the need for security and I am all for security. But I do not follow the reasoning of these people that the way they're working is required by European law or improving security. Numerous examples from other airports working under the same rules are living prove.

creber, you've made my day!:D

My favorite one:Thanks again,
Malonda