Visconti

LOL...BA's check in area is in the basement. I don't find CDG's staff particularly rude or friendly, and really never thought about it. They're certainly not any worse than, say, JFK's on the friendly scale.

DomP1

That’s what makes it a private environment.

OxyTrojan

Great analogy.

Wife kids and me never encounter rude people (toward us) in NYC either, but we don’t do stupid stuff like stand and look at maps in the middle of the sidewalk or street, start reading the posted menu only once we get to the front of the line, or get in the way of busy people doing life’s business.

QtownDave

It's exactly like those complaining that New Yorkers are rude.

As a traveler once you accept differences you should have no problems. It's also good to manage expectation - I for one never look for a gate agent to be my bestest buddy. Once they do their job correctly we are all good.

birdiedouble

Other than the retail worker at a shop on Rue de Rivoli exhaling a chest full of cigarette smoke directly into my wife’s face, the French are wonderful people. No really.

wanderingjock

Typically excellent replies from FTers! Thank you.

Lovely crew on BA319 and first time on a merc bus to the arrivals at A building.

APUBleed

“For some reason they don’t like to speak English?” This is France not England. The 31 Jan couldn’t come fast enough.

lhrsfo

I've found the staff to be fine there - the issue is that the check in area is difficult to find, is only sporadically open and is IME very ghetto.

moral_low_ground

CDG is the pits and also shows how utterly dumb the French security system is. When arriving into CDG you have to queue up, have your passport checked etc even from Schengen countries - but sometimes only between certain hours. Apparently this is for security reasons - but - you can arrive by train, car, bus with no checks or anything else from Schengen countries thereby assuring that, unless you are a really dumb terrorist, you will arrive by train, car or any other means than plane into CDG - and the security people wonder why we get pi**ed off at this stupidity.

LosRodeos84

Hi Wanderingjock...I agree totally with your comments!

I had a VERY bad experience at check in at CDG last Summer.

I made a complaint to BA with regard to the poorly trained and extremely rude and intimidating attitude of 2 Male employees...they are not BA staff it's all outsourced to a French handling agent. It was truly horrible...in all my years of flying BA and other carriers I have never had such disgusting service, they were determined to make things as difficult as possible with regard to carry on luggage despite my trolley bag fitting into the sizer and explaining to them that I had essential medication (with supporting Hospital Consultants letter) in my other small carry on item. They eventually allowed me to check in having humiliated me in front of other passengers...I proceeded to the Lounge but to my horror they pulled me up again at the gate just before boarding insisting that I check in one of my carry on bags, and humiliated me again in front of other passengers telling me to 'take your medication out of the bag and carry it separately'. Following a lengthy discussion they relented and I was allowed to board the aircraft...visibly shaken and very distressed by such an ordeal. I told the CSM (who recognized me from previous flights and is a lovely Man) he did a report about the situation on his ipad and I contacted BA to make a complaint. I was satisfied with the reply and apology I received, but it should never have happened in the first place.

Sam Bee

Just back from a day trip to CDG, and blown away by how amazing everything was.

It's a couple of years since I've flown BA (edit: to Paris I mean) , but getting in and out was simple. Airport was a joy, staff was brilliant, immigration machines easy, and security friendly and incredibly quick.

I'd really been expecting the worst, but honestly? Send MAN and LGW staff and management there to learn some basic hospitality. Will say I'd checked in and handbag only so didn't deal with BA check in staff. When I did pass it it was only opening 55 mins prior to departure which surprised me.

Those 321's are bloody tight though.

PUCCI GALORE

Actually Love, I think that accolade goes to the Milanese. For rudeness at check-in the Prix d'Or for 2019 went to the people at Catania check in who had taken off-handedness and indifference to a new level. Whilst checking in they were having loads of fun chatting to themselves. We the passengers could, as far as they were concerned, go to hell.

Since this thread seems to be discussing the manners (or lack of them) of France in general, and Paris in particular,, and rather shunting the the people at Roissy check-in to one side; I have to say that I have no problem whatsoever. I am certain that since BA put the staff at the door and hired ground agents, matters have not improved. All that said I speak French as a second language so I have no problem liguistically, and if I had attitude I would deal with it accordingly since conflict I do not seek, but do not shy from. I have not had to do that at Roissy since no one has actually given me cause. I can only speak as I find. Fruthermore, I find the CDG is one of the most hideous airports inside. It looks as though it was design for a Soviet Era showpiece with all that dreadful concrete. It makes T5 look positively warm, cosy, and inviting; which in itself is an achievement. Those flights where you got to the British coast in about 15 minutes and then spent another 30 spinning around Biggin Hill waiting to land.

What I want to know 13901 (is that a Bouches-du-Rhone postcode?) is which are the worst parts of the Ile-de-France. le 93? Aulnay? I was raised close to La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre, which is why I ask.

13901

Mmmh, fair point, but it's a restricted bunch of the Milanese. They can tell somebody who's saving their lives that they're idiots. Those who know how to dress, work in finance or fashion. The overwhelming majority of the others can't reach the level of my Parisian friends and relatives.

Bobigny, Clichy mostly

PUCCI GALORE

93 - I thought so. 92 for good measure. I have a friend in the police there - his stories are fairly scary!

rickg523

How shocking that many Brits just plain dislike the French.
Who would have thought?
Anecdote - took two young teens to France for their first trip. 10 days, rural France and Paris. On the way back, they asked me why so many of their friends and friends'parents had cautioned them about the French being despicably rude when they found them very outgoing and friendly. The obvious answer was "ridiculous stereotypes based on people who think their ways should be accepted by people everywhere, a prescription for being poorly treated overseas." (Yes, I taught them basic French etiquette before we left.)
Oh and we all preferred CDG to LHR. By a mile..