CDG -- why the bad rep?
 

I made my first trip through CDG two weeks ago (T3), and was later surprised, when going through random FT searches (bored at work!) to see this airport turn up so regularly at the top of many "world's worst airport" lists. My own journey through CDG was pretty quick and uneventful, and seemed to have good access to public transit, SNCF, and taxi service. Can someone advise why CDG has such a poor reputation amongst travellers?

You must've not had the pleasure of being bussed through the endless maze only to be dropped off kind of close to the steps back inside while it's raining. CDG just plain sucks.

I have to admit it is my least favorite airport. Your clothes reak of smoke, screening is a mess and I really don't like their escalators. Good duty free though

CDG isn't that bad, when compared to the old terminals at JFK.... :(

Interesting replies! I suppose that I should be grateful that my own experience seems to be atypical of most travellers'.

Not to be unpatriotic, but I always thought that YYZ was simply terrible, and especially when it still had that horrible three-terminal layout. NAS also seems to have sanitation problems EVERY time I travel through it, and I can't think of anything more off-putting than the reek of overflowing toilets when I walk through a terminal. :eek:

Well, I really do not know why others have complained in the past about CDG but for me, I prefer other airports In Europe unless you are on AF for a domestic flight. VIE is pretty good, IMHO, as is MUC and AMS, but I am not enamored with FRAF. Of course, the real winners are SIN and HKG. :)

Having part of a newly constructed terminal collapse is a great way to ensure your placement on the worst airports around.

My experience in 1992 is that its overcrowded and cramped. Built for much less traffic than it currently serves. My Father flies there yearly and pretty much agrees.

Because it reminds me of "Howl"
 

I've been through CDG several times this year. It always induces a feeling reminiscent of the opening of Alan Ginsberg's poem "Howl": "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked".

Many, maybe even a majority, of flights involve going from gate to bus to a leisurely tour of the airport concrete to eventually arrive at your plane somewhere out there. On a recent flight from T2E both bathrooms were being cleaned at the same time for the fifteen minutes before boarding the set of buses to go to the plane. For many flights you have to transfer from building to building and leave/reenter security. Try finding the navette/bus zones for going to hotels near the airport if you have to stay overnight for a transfer. Many of the departure areas have fewer seats than passengers on the flight.

Paris is Paris, OK, but CDG is CDG...

davidcalgary29 - You flew through T3, which is a little terminal next to the RER station. That's not the vast majority of passengers use.

T1 is a crowded, dark place that is pretty much like a 3rd world country. Lines everywhere, the place stink, no seat to sit down, long elevator lines just to get up to the parking garage, and require a shuttle bus to get to the RER station, or a different shuttle to get to the TGV station at T2.

T2 is basically 6 terminals (or 7 if you count 2F1 and 2F2 as two seperate ones) with no airside connection among them. One either wait for shuttle bus or have to get into France (even if connecting non-Schengen to non-Schengen) and walk. Many planes, including widebodies, use remote gates that require busing between the terminal and the planes themselves. Immigration and security lines can be ridiculously long. The shuttle bus stop at the TGV station serve all terminals and hotels with JUST ONE SINGLE LANE for all transfering passengers. All that when the roof wasn't collapsing on you. During busy times, passengers who arrive at CDG 3 hours prior to an international flight often can barely make the flight, or the flight has to wait for them.

Another example. A month ago, my CO flight from 2A was delayed for near 40 minutes. Why? Because of the design of the terminal. An AF 744 pulled up at an adjacent gate to disembark its passengers. They have to block all the gates between that gate and the immigration hall during that time. It's absolutely ridiculous.

One of many bad experiences at CDG.
Did have broken toes so needed a wheelchair to make my connection IAD-CDG-MAD waited over 100 minutes on the plane :confused: till it showed up, seems they only have 2 of those to cover terminal 2.
Missed my connection as we did have to wait another 30 minutes for the special van to transfer me from 2b to 2c if my memory is correct.
Very bad service :td:
One thing i like to add the service at IAD AF was great ^

What a precise review of CDG. I agree with your comments! :)

Another reason:
CDG = (suit)Case Definitely Gone

Bag sorting machines seem to break a lot.

CDG is my home airport and I have to agree that all the assesments that lean towards calling CDG horrible are spot on. I can't count the times that my bags don't show up and I get them day(s) later. Sometimes it just easier. Having to fly out of there all the time is tedious at best.

Yes, that one terminal is close to the public transit but that's about the only thing that the whole airport has going for it.

I've only been to T2, but, except for bussing, I don't really have any complaints. Not the best airport in the world, but it doesn't bother me to use it either.

I've only been through CDG twice, but it immediately struck me as the ugliest place in the world. As you arrive on the bus, it's like you're being transported to some dark, dank nuclear reactor building. Then, doors/gates where choosing a wrong one, even by a single digit, will take you to a very wrong place. Everything sort of in a 1960's "this might be trendy and cool" design, but which rapidly came to look outdated. And, can you believe it, people working at money changing/ticket issue/transportation desks, who don't speak *any* English, at all? or care to try and help you?

ugh.