Agreed. You had better not require much verbal assistance at CDG unless you speak French, IMHO. But of couse, the language issue could be an extensive, acromonious separate thread.

Is there any other airport that you can tell which terminal people are talking about simply by listening to what they are complaining about? I can go thru the posts and I know "that's T1" or "that's T2" even if the poster doesn't say.

I was thinking the same thing. The whole airport sucks but the problems with T1 are not the same as with T2. Must have been difficult for the architects/designers to come up with so many (and different) annoyances, but they did it.

CDG may be way up there, but I suspect that there are more complaints about IAD.

And the signs... the few that are vaguely point hopefully in the right direction and then vanish. Security was a nightmare before it was a problem at LHR - god knows what the Nov 7th changes will do to it :eek: Every plane is late (ok, maybe that is just my experience, but I am running at 100% late!), buses always go in the wrong direction (ie you want to go 2D->2C, but you have to go via 2E,F,A,and B), and if connecting there, you feel like you've toured the airport by coach by the time you depart. OTOH - I've got to say, parts of T2 are nicely designed, light and spacious. And other parts are not. And you can usually see the entire Airbus family while doing your coach tours of the furthest reaches of the airport, which is nice. Oh yes, did I mention the information boards bearing no relationship to what is going on?

Hee! Ok, I've got to admit that I was misled into taking the wrong shuttle bus, nonplussed by the bus-from-terminal-to-airplane "system", and puzzled by the lack of signage, but merely thought "what the heck? I'm in Paris!", and shrugged it off. If I was a bit more of a masochist, I'd book my next French vacation through T1 or T2 just so that I could see what the fuss was about. :D

I transferred from a MAA-CDG flight to a CDG-LHR flight at the end of August and walked (didn't realize there was an airside shuttle at the time.) The immigration officer didn't stamp my passport, and when I went back through immigration to get to my connecting flight, the officer there checked my name off a list. So it is possible to transit landside at CDG without entering the EU.

Still, it is a horrible, horrible airport. I needed to find the post office and a friendly information person told me it was right down in the next terminal—which ended up being about a 15 minute walk (and I walk fast.) Would've just held onto the letter if I knew that since I had a fairly tight connection!

Because of the attitude of many of the employees. I can accept rain, buses, lost luggage and even structural collapses, but arrogant rude employees are too much.

It's my considered opinion that it's the obnoxious service people at Charles de Gaulle Airport that give the French their unwarranted reputation for rudeness. I've seen such horrific attitudes on display there. But once you get into Paris, it's a different story, in my experience.

CDG is not exactly a model of efficiency, for sure. But the new train station is nice, although the automatic ticket vending machines never work for me.

And as far as the language thing--I love these comments such as, "Can you believe they didn't speak a word of English?" How about this instead: "Can you believe those tourists show up in our country and don't speak a single word of French?" I can sure imagine people here saying that about foreign tourists.

I've always found that attempting to speak a few words in French goes a LONG way. Just expecting that they should speak English can get you the cold shoulder.

We're talking about an AIRPORT, not about Paris. I don't think I should be required to learn French / Mandarin / Russian etc just to be allowed to transit through CDG, PEK, Moscow etc.

"Can you believe those tourists show up in our country and don't speak a single word of French?" Why not? I'd rather hear a sincere "Thank you" with smile instead of a quick insincere "Danke schön". It's the attitude that counts for me, not the language.

So what would you call the area between the terminals if it's not French or EU territory? I don't think you would have been allowed to transfer landside if you hadn't had the right credentials. Whether they stamp your passport or not is a different matter I think.

HTB.

True dat.

Okay, more specifically I transited through French territory but without officially entering the EU. That's practically what one does on an airside transfer anyways: you're obviously on that country's land, but not cleared into the country. Only difference here is that I was transferring through a non-secure landside zone that I could have potentially left instead of staying in a secure airside zone.

The first immigration officer told me that since I was in transit I would have to stay within the airport (of course I could've entered the EU if I wanted to, but there was no reason to at that point.) I assume that if I didn't show up at my connecting terminal and get checked off there, or ask immigration to process me into the country, the French police would probably have been out looking for me.

I had an almost identical experience at CDG. No stamp, was actually outside the terminal at one stage having a ciggie. I still say I've been to France though. ;)
I thought CDG was OK. Lost bag, missed flight but nothing that was too inconvenient. About the language thing, I was told that in France you'll get a better reaction if you ask in French "Do you speak English?". I tried it at CDG and it seemed to work. Even got a few smiles.

CDG is truly Europe's most hideous hub and (not the first time I've said this on FT) the only airport I know of where the Frenchness of the design was placed far and above the safety and comfort of its users!

That said, some aspects of CDG are wonderful! CDG1 is an architectural masterpiece that should be frozen in time and not used anymore!!!!! The whole 60s future "Jetsons" look of CDG1 is a joy to behold and I love the bit where I queue behind a couple of hundred SQ passengers to get on a BD flight to LHR while panicking CDG employees try to sort the queue out!

That's a real coincidence-I know a French guy who flew into ORD and was very upset that no one spoke French. What an ego-centric!