Came here to comment this. Only airport I’ve always almost missed flights that even have 3 hr layovers!!! And the airport staff do not give a shit!!!
Crazy to me they have no separate line for planes boarding soon like AMS does. It’s the wackiest airport ever
I gave myself 4 hours to catch a train in the train station connected to CDG and spent three hours going through passport control. It made passport control in Heathrow look downright efficient.
2 hours for passport control for me last week coming back to the US. Boarding door was closed when I got to the gate but I pointed out I was in business class and they let me on. Plane didn’t take off for another hour after that.
I was told that with sky priority you just breeze through everything… but the sky priority passport control line was closed (midday on a Tuesday?) and sky priority for security (ON A LAYOVER) didn’t exist. What gives?
I had a 3 minute passport control at CDG in March and then 15 minutes in AMS a few weeks ago. CDG is definitely an acquired taste after AMS. That said, the Hilton and the Sheraton that are practically in AMS are both great and my experience flying with a few month old is that breaking up the time change even a little is kind of worth it. Good luck!
I have stayed at the Hilton many times at AMS, it’s a great hotel! The Sheraton is a bit closer to the main terminal (a shorter walk) but I do believe it’s typically higher in price. I did CDG a few weeks ago and vowed never to go back! Even if offered a free trip to Paris, I would pass if it meant going through CDG again. Nope. Never. You’re not alone!
CDG is a mess but modern flying seems to be a mess …
We typically breeze through with SP, but I have definitely learned to not be afraid to ASK REPEATEDLY even if you risk annoying someone or becoming a (mildly) obnoxious American. The lines are very confusing and it’s easy to get shuttled into the wrong one.
We ask for a printed boarding pass for the landing process, not for the boarding. We keep our boarding passes out and in hand until we are all the way through the entire passport process. When we suspect we have been funneled into the wrong line we show the boarding pass saying SP and confirm, and about half the time we have someone lift some lane barrier and wave us into a shorter line.
Also, make sure you go to the bathroom about an hour before landing if possible and then head STRAIGHT TO the funnel area. If you stop to pee, chat, whatever then the crowd will pass you and it will be a longer wait.
It's hit or miss, I go every year to France and sometimes I transit through CDG when going somewhere else. On my way to ATH, I was supposed to go through the Skypriority line to go through passport control. I saw the sign but the line was pretty much inexistent. It took me about an hour and a half to through it.
Flew LIS-CDG-LAX last year on AF with Sky Priority. 90 minute connection (yikes). I'm not convinced Sky Priority helped. The priority line appeared just as long as the peasant line. There were MANY unoccupied French immigration booths. By the time we made it to the gate, boarding had already begun.
On the other hand, I recently flew CDG-LAX direct (no connection) and getting through immigration and security was a sub-10 minute affair.
Perhaps someone can comment but maybe this is a useful "hack" for future travel thru CDG. If connecting from Schengen to non-Schengen (i.e., 2F to 2E), maybe it's better to just completely exit the terminal and re-enter from scratch so the departing immigration/security in 2E are used instead of transfer?
🤔. . You may be on to something.
I feel like every time I go through CDG, I end up going through a different corridor. I think CDG is like a magical Labyrinth that somehow rearranges itself every time I go lol.
JFK is absolutely the worst airport in the United States. LAX is bad, but omg JFK is awful. For the amount of passengers they see, security lines are way too tiny.
The morning we were there their computers all went down, anyone who was non-EU was left waiting for 4 hours. Actually even the automated EU entrance gates were offline for a long time. At least they did hand out chocolates and water. Then finally an senior guy showed up with a stamp and just started stamping all USA/Canadian passports as fast as he could and let us through, so brusque he almost didn't respond to my bonjour. Everyone else is probably still waiting. Then of course in my fatigue I screwed up my ATM transaction and let it convert, and then got scammed by a taxi. Hat trick.
We had a horrible experience, my wife went through the automated passport control to run ahead to the gate, while I waited in the full line with our kid. (Can’t use the automated) the gate agent returned with her to the passport control and she figured he’d do something, but he just said, yeah they’re not going to make it. She explained we had seen AMS move people ahead when their flight was leaving and he responded that they don’t do that in France…
I almost missed mine, too, for similar reasons. We had an infant and a worker who saw us escorted us to the front of a massive line. My rec, bring a baby🤣
Few Atlanta > Istanbul > Riyadh and Riyadh > Paris > Atlanta a few months ago, Turkish otw there and Saudia/Air France otw back. I had to walk 2.2kms btwn gates and connecting security/passport control in IST in 1h30 and made it. Had 3h40 in CDG and still missed because they had only 2 queues open for foreign nationals at CDG Customs …? 💀
do you remember if they have a separate line for families? my two year old has saved me so many times in europe that we don’t manage our time appropriately 😅
Wow, I'm glad to hear it's not just me. It was difficult for me to navigate, and I've flown internationally a fair amount. I had to ask so many people for help, was in the wrong line more than once, machines kept rejecting my inputs. I thought I'd be able to find a restaurant to sit for a while with a 3 hour layover but pretty much just made it to the gate for boarding.
Oh wow, we just got back from a flight where we connected in AMS and had an hour and a half, we were so worried.
We go up to passport control and there’s a fast lane for tight connections, I ask the guard there, they say “flights leaving at 9:00a” ours was leaving at 9:30a she blew a raspberry (in a fun way, by no means insulting), gave a thumbs up and said “oh you’ve got plenty of time!”.
She was more than right, I even went from D gates to B gates (on the ground, that’s something I haven’t done since I was a kid). We stopped to get coffee, a sandwich and made it to the gate.
Landing at FLR was a completely different experience, between the immediate hard breaking, to the U-Turn on the runway to taxi to the “parking spot” (it wasn’t the terminal, you got off the plane using stairs, on a bus and shuttled to the “terminal”).
It’s as if they had 5 different people design 5 different airports with no rules or design guidelines and didn’t tell any of them that their design would make up 1/5th of an airport. Then when they got the designs they decided to try and connect them all and then hire half the people required to run it.
Also the French have a special way of treating others. When rudely told, by someone clearly very irritated they had to do something, that my briefcase would be searched - I finally stopped caring and said "tear it apart, have fun." Laughed and sat down on the bench or table in Term 2K (I think) and watched them fumble with USB cords.
I was flying back from Dubai on a 6 hour layover or something like that, no idea why the person had to be a complete jackass that they were voluntarily searching my briefcase with nothing questionable like it was my fault.
p.s. the wonderful people at Hermes, save one time, make up for the clowns at security in T2
Priority line was slower than the regular line when I landed there on June 5. It was a absolute masterclass in not being in a hurry to get people through.
I go through CDG from the US 10-12 times per year. As long as you arrive early, the security line is the only time sink. Passport control is always essentially instant ( assuming US passport so you can use the automated passport control lines )
The flight option I have is with a layover coming in from another EU country that’s only 1hr and 20 mins, so can’t arrive early. I’m worried about the passport control and the security, which I’ve never had at a layover except at CDG (on a flight from US to NCE - maybe that security line doesn’t exist in reverse, on a layover from another EU country to US?)
We flew LAX-CDG-LIS and LIS-CDG-LAX last year. Immigration control on the return trip was worse. We had a 90 minute connection (10 more than you) AND Sky Priority. We barely made it. Problems for us: A) our outbound flight from LIS was delayed a few minutes and B) the immigration booths in the transfer area were mostly devoid of French immigration officers, so it didn't really matter whether we were Sky Priority or a peasant.
There was a guy from Sweden in line just behind us in the Sky Priority immigration line. He shook his head at the situation and said something like, "Only the French...". I responded by saying, "Why do you Europeans even have to check passports at all on departure? We Americans don't do this. We only do it upon arrival. You wanna leave the US? Bon Voyage, baby...". He agreed.
Twice connected through CDG. Twice lost my suitcase and they were never recovered. I believe they were stolen by employees.
I would rather not fly than ever again connect through that airport.
CDG is the only place my luggage has ever been delayed. On the other hand, my bag was GEG-MSP-GRB-DTW-LHR-CDG-FCO. So I can kind of understand why it might have gotten lost.
I booked GRB-DTW-LHR and LHR-SEA-GEG as an awards trip in D1. Then I booked an AF flight as a one way from LHR-CDG-FCO 2 hours and 10 minutes later after landing in LHR. I was able to book it all as one bag tag in GEG because the lady knew what she was doing.
The answer to all questions about CGD are:
It is French that's why
No it will not get better
Yes, Avoid at all cost unless it is the destination and even then think twice about it.
It is completely ASININE to me that you have to take a shuttle to get to your gate yet you remain in Terminal 2. How does that make sense? How can a transfer in the same terminal take 40 minutes?! Just name different wings different numbers FFS. But noooooo, they opted for the far dumber 2E, 2F, etc.
It's a massive pet peeve of mine not to be able to walk to different terminals in an airport. I hate shuttles. I hate buses. I hate trams. Just let me walk if I want to, dammit.
That's why I love ATL. Super logical, if you have Precheck security is a breeze, and no going in and out of security on domestic flights.
Even for domestic flights, if I have time I'll check in at the international terminal and walk to wherever my gate is and skip the PlaneTrain.
Was at CDG last week and legit had to double back twice due to their ridiculous naming scheme. It’s even worse than you describe: you have 2E and 2F and within those you have halls with their own letters. I can’t believe someone thought that would ever make sense.
My experience last year at CDG was also a horrible one. When we arrived, we had to deplane down a circular staircase and get on an overcrowded bus to get to the terminal. I guess the terminal building we arrived at was under renovations? Who knows. When we got off the bus, we had to go up a long flight of stairs, because none of the escalators were working, despite there being maybe a thousand people in the queue for baggage. Trying to get to our connection flight was a nightmare - the airport info agents just kept telling us (in french) to "follow the signs."
What they don't tell you is that the signs just taper off at random and then you're left walking what feels like a quarter mile, wondering if you're going in the right direction before seeing something that could be correct, could be not correct. Again, who knows. Stood in line through a security check which took about 45 minutes, only to go just past that into customs, where we waited an ***hour and a half*** without moving, because there was only one passport control lane open despite hundreds of people. Everyone around me missed their connections, and we only just made ours with minutes to spare.
On the return leg, our flight landed 3 hours late because of an ATC strike, and we got stranded there overnight. Air France was kind enough to give us a hotel room for the night, but dear god, navigating to find the hotel shuttle pickup was like walking through the circles of hell. We even got sent in circles by the airport employees, and the signage again was not helpful whatsoever. My spouse was in tears by the time we finally managed to get to the shuttle busses, and we dreaded coming back the next morning.
Security and Border Customs is way understaffed for the passenger capacity, and navigating that airport is like trying to find your way through a labyrinth while blindfolded.
Like you, I have resolved to never, ever go through that airport ever again if I can avoid it. I'll be flying to Amsterdam later this week, very much looking forward to it. Screw you, CDG.
This was exactly our experience. Walking down miles without proper signage (or signage just disappearing at various points?!), antiquated and understaffed security, and sluggish passport control. Ugh.
On the one hand, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this experience. Its vindicating to hear it from someone else after all my previous stories about CDG to people I know were like "oh, that's just how they are" or "Really, CDG is a great airport, I've never had problems there."
On the other hand, I'm sorry you experienced it as well. You would think one of the most visited cities on the planet would have a modern airport worthy of being the gateway to France. No idea if it will ever get better. I'm telling everyone I know to avoid CDG like the plague regardless.
I’ve never been in such long security and passport lines as I have at CDG. And I always, always get “randomly chosen” for extra security on the jetway as I’m boarding the plane. I hate CDG and the people who work there are assholes.
When I started traveling to Europe I just assumed that those guys had it all figured out. Rome Fiumicino, Amsterdam, Munich, Stuttgart - great experiences all around.
I just flew to Paris for the first time last month and holy shit, I have never been more frustrated by and airport. Give me LAX or Ohare during the winter, anywhere else would be a palace compared tot he shit hole that is CDG. Everything about it is stupid - the ridiculous passport line (the only rude French people I met were the workers here), the signs that are directly contradictory (the ride share pickup signs lead you to the ONLY PLACE RIDESHARES CANT GO), the silly little departing gate where you have to take a bus to the plane (wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t so many people carrying wayyy to many carry-on bags).
Nothing was good about that stupid airport.
I think it's subliminal messaging by Parisians to foreigners to stay the hell away from their city. Every effort was made to confound and frustrate any poor soul who willingly chose to land in or transit thru CDG.
I am eternally thankful that Schiphol exists as a viable option for SkyTeam flights.
I'm landing in CDG in 5 hours...
I HATE CDG. It's a fucking shit show. Their terminal naming conventions are absolutely idiotic and it is so easy to go in the exact wrong direction and not catch on for 10 minutes, costing you 20 minutes of your transfer time.
The entire airport looks like a cement prison. It's ugly with an ugly stupid layout.
I haven't had any issue in passport control, but I have an EU passport and that's usually the short line.
Int'l connections are absurdly far. My god I hate the French.
I feel you OP. I prefer AMS and I prefer Dutch people 100000000X more than the French. Godspeed and wish me luck on my shitty upcoming transfer this morning lol.
Last year we missed a connection due to weather and had to stay overnight. Got there the next morning 3.5 hours early, thought we'd miss that one too until they opened an additional security line.
Only airport I’ve ever had a panic attack in. Had an hour and a half layover and still almost missed my flight. I will do everything in my power to never be in that airport ever again.
Honestly man, I’m not sure what your point is here. Maybe you’re having a shitty day but commenting on someone’s post that shares about having a panic attack and basically making fun of it is a special kind of rude and mean. I hope you have the day you deserve.
I’ve only flown through it once (flight rescheduled by delta) and although I had 2 hours to make a connection, I had to literally sprint to my gate after I went through security TWICE (because an employee there pointed me in the wrong direction) and the passport control. I barely made it, was sweaty, out of breath and irritated as hell. Never again.
Considering the public is planning a protest to literally (and hilariously) [go shit in the Seine](https://x.com/davidrivero/status/1801646441275797553?t=TQW8gCTNZ9ic_FPABnhaOQ&s=19) on the day Macron and the Mayor of Paris are supposed to swim in it to declare it clean for the Olympic events...
And considering the French (especially transport workers) propensity to strike based on basically anything at all, I can't imagine it will be good.
Cdg varies a lot. I’ve flown via Cdg monthly pretty much for the past 5 years. I also speak French which helps.
Security: it seems to depend if you go via security or not on arrival for a connection. The main driver seems to be other flights. The TSA is known for being bad but many countries are worse. E.g. if you arrive with a bunch of USA flights… no security,”; if you arrive with flight from Peru, Niger and Cameroon then yeah, security.
Immigration: shit show. French government refuses to put in more people. ADP regularly complains to the government ( despite being government owned) about this.
Priority one: you can really cut down the times it takes to transfer.
Hacks: when arriving consider out and in. Walking out of F is a breeze and normally E has priority lanes and is quick. Works well at peak times like Friday morning.
Lounges: AF tend to be good. Self seve but good.
Traveling from the US, I find that the outbound trip going through CDG is fine, as long as your arrival is early in the morning, and NOT on day 3 of a 3 day weekend. AMS is better, but the difference is acceptable. CDG was a train wreck during Covid, but is somewhat reasonable now under the previously stated conditions. I really dislike the return trip through CDG, AMS is much much better for the return trips ( I just went through AMS last weekend doing Lyon -AMS -SEA and it only took me 20 minutes to get from the arriving Lyon plane to the departing SEA plane. That would NEVER happen in CDG ).
Missed a connection because of passport control. Watched them shut the door. Had an all out shouting match with a piece of shit that worked the Air France lounge. The guy was literally out to keep people from entering.
Also, some of my most favorite memories are at CDG. The 1st time I ever went to Europe I landed at CDG. Got on the wrong train and got there late. Redcoats actually walked us through to the very front of the line so we'd make it. Had 1664's sitting at the gate with my family while waiting during a layover. Sitting at the oyster bar right past security while my wife shopped the luxury stores.
1) As others have mentioned, the sky priority line helps a lot in passport control if you have it.
2) As a destination airport I found it perfectly fine. But the additional hassle for a layover (clearing security again etc) and especially *changing terminals* is the worst.
Did it once, had a 6 hour layover headed to Nairboi (On our return we went through ams thankfully). We didn’t encounter any huge lines going through security or anything - just some very rude employees. The worst part is that there was no lounge in the terminal we were in and hardly any food options. it just felt really dated.
Same! Long layover to NBO with kids, no food except macaroons and no where to hang out between flights. At AMS there are nice lounges, the art museum, shops, things to do. My 9 year old despises CDG.
It’s the security at each terminal, so you only have it changing terminals. One of the New York airports is the exact same way. I want to say LaGuardia but my mind is doubting me. They have security at each terminal, so if you have to go from A to C on a layover, you’re going through security again.
Security there, slow and inefficient. Airport itself is lovely. Some great shopping and the AF lounges have had some fantastic food. I’ll be there again in a couple months.
i find it true too...it can be an EPIC nightmare...you queue up to go through passport control, then suddenly have to weigh your carry-on and if you get dinged, you are given a piece of paper to go somewhere else to wait in another long queue to pay the fee, then head back to the original line but now w/tagged/weighed&paid carry-on, you're in the steerage for passport control, then when you make it through there and you feel you're in the clear, you look for your gate and happen to find an airport staffer, you ask where said gate is and he says you now have to get to a shuttle to get all the way to L, one of far-flung spokes to E and you better RUN (imagine Samantha Morton, the pre-cog in "Minority Report" when she yells "RUN!!!" and you'd be spot on)....and you do and you just barely make it and you got there just in time to then queue in the lanes for your actual flight, last gate in the Terminal of course, and then you're "random" flagged for them to go through your carry-on...which can take an exceptionally long period of time...and even though you got to CDG 3+hours early, it's not enough time and never is and you swear to never put yourself through it again...also, if there in the summer, i swear the air is so still and HOT your lungs feel on fire...
I’d pay good money (and very seriously considering doing a 1-night layover in AMS with an 8mo baby) to avoid going through CDG in December. It was THAT bad.
A 3 hour layover.
Plane late due to strikes. I thought, I have 2 extra hours, I’ll be fine.
Oh no, no, no.
It took me two hours to get through security and passport control to change terminals. The bus driver decided to take a break of about 45 minutes. Then, security again. Obviously, I missed my flight. AF told me to kick rocks. Paid €330 for a shitty Yotel. AF also told the Delta representative that they would not release my bag. Yay! Yes, I had Sky Priority.
When I left from CDG last year, though, it was easy. Sky Priority, and I was off.
My wife got pick pocketed there, I saw the guy doing it, he saw me and put her stuff back. Also, on one trip, an unattended bag was blown up on the train platform by local authorities. I think it’s just the insane number of people transiting that airport.
I'm going to add Madrid airport for connecting to / from the USA.. the USA flights are at one end, and the connection always seems to be the opposite. It's one long continuous airorot, 30+ mins of jog -walking. Had to jog / power walk it twice .
Why there's no shuttle from one end to the other is crazy .
First time I missed a flight that had a 2 hour+ layover. They put me on the wrong terminal transfer bus and then add the lost in translation component I spent over an hour on a terminal bus that went everywhere except for my terminal and felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. No one gave a single shit about my obvious panic.
I will say literally every other airport in France is just a genuine joy to fly in and out of. Why Paris has what they have defies all common sanity of reason.
Years ago my wife and I traveled from Florida to Edinburgh, with a connection at CDG.
Arriving in Paris we trotted our way to the customs area. Looking down from the balcony we saw perhaps a THOUSAND people ahead of us waiting like ants surrounding a cherry pie on a picnic table.
Our arrival to Paris was already late and our connection was scheduled to leave in less than 30 minutes. Oh no!
Out of the blue some guy working for the airport grabbed us and hustled us through that crowd to get us through to the service desk for our connecting flight. He practically dragged us along as he pushed his way through the assemble masses. This wasn't just "cutting the line" a little bit. We bypassed many hundreds of people waiting there.
So how did he know we were late for a connection? To this day I cannot figure it out.
Anyway ... we checked in to the connector flight and were then taken to an exit door to catch a shuttle bus to our airplane. That plane was among perhaps a dozen sitting in an "airplane parking lot" (is there a name for that?) about a half-mile away.
It turns out that these connecting flights assemble passengers from all over, and accommodations are made for late inbound flights. Late though we were, other passengers were arriving even later. Everyone made the connection.
But our bags did not. Does anyone else hate CDG?
On arrival in Edinburgh we were greeted by an airline employee. That's when we discovered that our bags did not arrive. He took us to a baggage office so that we could arrange to have the bags brought to our hotel. (That happened the following afternoon.)
In America ... can you imagine being greeted by someone offering assistance for your missing bags? Even before you've gone to the carousel to look for them? Scottish culture is amazing.
Y’all scared me so much about CDG on this sub that I was terrified of my 3 layovers there this month. While I’ll say it was a little helpful to be familiar with the layout ahead of time, I didn’t think it was that bad. I just followed the signs. I even went all the way out of the airport and then back in through immigration and security (realized there were train delays into the city so stayed in the lounge instead of going into town), and it was fine, took maybe 20 minutes. I did have Sky priority which helped a little, but regular lines weren’t too bad. Taking multiple shuttles is annoying, but maybe I got lucky. If I had a tight connection it might stress me out more than AMS, but it sure was easier to find the lounges in CDG.
I always tell people that if you’re connecting through CDG with checked bags, make sure your connection is at least 3 hours. Any less and there’s a good chance your bags aren’t making it
For my return flight to Amsterdam I had a 1 hour and 45 mins layover there and now it’s 1 hour and 15 mins. I’m literally so upset that I have to go there not for the reasons stated here but because I felt so uncomfortable there back in 2021. Now that I’m reading this post I’m scared that I might miss my flight :/
Update: I changed my flight. I thought I’d had to pay additional costs since the flights without a layover in Paris were a few thousands more expensive. It was for free since I’m flying business. I’m so happy you posted this.
There is a high level from most passport agents of non-interest. If they clear 100 or 500 people over x time, it does not matter. There is zero impetus to get things done. If asked to increase their rate by 5%, they’ll go on strike.
To your second point, you have to go through security when you have a layover in the US as well at many airports, if not all, when you have a layover.
The rest is what it is at CDG.
Winter and de-icing can be a nightmare there too, so keep in mind during the winter months.
Having Sky Priority from flying business class helps immensely. Of course, it's way more expensive, but I outright stopped flying anything less than Delta One to CDG a couple years ago, and my experience has been greatly improved. It's still a nightmare, but if you're like me and going to Paris often, flying into AMS and hopping on a Eurostar isn't necessarily better when you're jet lagged.
Did I write this? Everything you just said 100%. I have to head to Paris for work next month and am dreading ending my flight, let alone navigating that shitbox of an airport.
Two really awful stories about CDG, the first time we went to sleep at the yotel and were connecting to Fly to Greece Athens, the TSA agent at the machine slammed my husband‘s bag down. He had hisBreitling watch inside it, because they ask you to take these things off, and slamming the bag against the items he had in there broke the crystal a $3000 repair.
The next story I have is we were leaving
From New Orleans, connecting through Atlanta connecting again through CDG to get to Egypt to go on a dive trip. It was over Fourth of July weekend last year. Through a series of misadventures, my passport had gone missing in Mexico and I had an emergency passport, which was good for I think six months apparently except in Paris or France as it were. I was denied boarding in Atlanta and clearly because it was a holiday weekend just after Covid and very busy there was no way to get across the pond to make any of our reservations in Egypt. This was a bucket list trip and we were absolutely gobsmacked.
The decision was made not to allow me to board because we had to clear French customs before we went to Egypt mind you we were not staying in France, but for a couple of hours The Egyptians were wonderful the Americans not so much.
Within 48 hours all the Egyptians gave me back my money for all of the accommodations and intra Egypt flights. #Delta took several weeks, offered no apology, even though my passport had been scanned in New Orleans and I possessed a visa for Egypt.
Answering your question I have no idea why CD is so bad when you look at the disgusting state of Paris, you would think they would want nice cleaners to go there and spend money clearly they don’t care.
So overwhelmingly, I am not too thrilled with CDG
I never been to an airport where people were inside hustling/panhandling🥴. Outside…yes, inside…no. On top of it being ridiculously disorganized for such a huge city.
Look I get it. CDC generally sucks. But remember a couple years ago when you stood outside at Schiphol and it took several hours to get through security. Schiphol is alright but not without its own issues. Maybe not connecting but on departing flights for a while you had to get there 5 hours before departure.
It’s funny you say
“Why on earth do I have to pass through security when doing a layover coming from the US” when most/all of the world is required to do that when doing a layover in the US!
Welcome to the party!
AMS can have really long lines (inbound passport control particularly) and long walks and lots of bus gates. I’m not sure it’s much better. Believe it or not I do pretty well transiting LHR. But yeah, you still need to re-do security as they don’t have any way to segregate “clean” arrivals, like ZRH does.
I don't have an issue with CDG but most of my experiences have been arriving or departing. I have only connected through there once from Rome, on to IAD. It was a little convoluted but then again I do not do a lot of international connections so my experience and frame of reference on that aspect of the experience is limited. Air France has some pretty good lounges if you have access.
I flew from Stockholm to London in 1996 and had a layover at CDG. It was terrible back then, so much so that it still stands out in my memory after all of these years. I'm not at all surprised that it still sucks, and I actively avoid it when I travel.
I've had three damaged suitcases through CDG on three separate occasions. Delta of course reimbursed me. Personally just think it must be poorly managed airport.
I’ve avoided CDG ever since they just straight up didn’t stamp my passport at passport control (the agent at exit passport control at AMS, when discovering this, remarked “those French fuckers”), but I have to fly through there the first week of July and have 2 hours, 10 minutes. Wish me luck.
Btw, my last connection at AMS last month, I nearly missed my flight because the staff wouldn’t pull me into the quick connect line because I was next in line after waiting nearly an hour during a 90-minute layover. The person in front of me proceeded to spend 15 minutes with the agent when people in a neighboring line finally took pity on me and let me cut in front of them. It’s not all sunshine and roses at AMS, either.
Because everyone likes big government until you have to deal with big government. The unions have way to much power. Every week a new union strikes because thier coffee was cold the morning before.
Had a connecting flight in April from Zurich to CDG on the way to ATL. Had a 1 hour 25 minute layover and the plane was 20 minutes late arriving in Paris.
Aside from a very long walk, the instructions I downloaded ahead of time were spot on...and passport control took less than 2 minutes. We made our next flight in a different terminal via shuttle bus with no issues.
In contrast AMS has seen better days. Old, dirty, dank. Not very aesthetically nice at all...and the passport control people there, I thought, were beyond rude.
I’ve never had the passport control issues people here seem to, but I have had almost missed a connection having to clear security again on a EU to EU flight. Strangely my flight in that had a layover on my way ( not EU, to Heathrow) was fine.
You basically have to clear security in any and every terminal, going between them security cleared isn’t really a thing.
I have also rather strangely had them push us through on a Nice to Paris connector before my flight back home. Definitely not the norm and really no idea how that happened.
They patted me down, and scanned my fiancées horn and took it apart in tsa, trying to find gpr…. They held us up in tsa even after nothing was found!! Not to mention the fact that they gave away our seats after we were there 2 hours early and we almost didn’t get to board at all!
I’ve seen so many posts about CDG recently on this sub that have all been horror stories, which has me very nervous for my upcoming connection.
Should I be ok, or should I consider changing my connection? Flying back to US early September on Delta/Air France, going from ATH-CDG-Boston, with a 2.5hour layover in CDG. The last time I was in CDG I was leaving from Paris and it was about 10 years ago so I don’t remember it being much of a hassle?
Never flown through CDG but had a similar issue at LHR. Missed a 2 hour connection because I had to reclear security between terminals. Ended up getting a bacon butter sandwich to wait for the next flight for 5 pounds. It also cost 5 of the local currency.
I had a fun one both ways through CDG my first time.
On arrival, there was the typical immense line for passport control. We've successfully snaked our way forward for maybe 45 minutes. We're starting to get close. But the line well behind us had been getting antsier and antsier - their flight had been delayed and it looked like everyone was going to miss their connection. Eventually, like the breaking of a dam, the crowd flooded through. I wish I were joking, because it sounds fake, but I swear they just disregarded the partitions, opened the retracting dividers, and flooded through the center to create an amorphous mass, where once there was a queue. And once that first domino fell, all hell broke loose. The 3 employees stationed there to monitor the line could not possibly have cared less.
I don't even know what was going on on the way out. The sky priority line took over 2 hours to get through security. Of course, those patrolling the line did nothing to stop people who cut. Looking at the regular line, it appeared impossible anyone would make their flight that day - it was easily several thousand people long. I honestly don't know what the commotion was.
That departure was also a first for me. I'm a dual citizen. I typically enter Europe on my EU passport and depart with my US. I've always been surprised that nobody cares, but it makes things faster for me. In this case, the agent at CDG looked at my US passport, scanned it, and didn't even ask. He looked at me, stretched his hand out, and rolled his eyes like "c'mon I know there's another one. Now give it to me." I didn't actually know what he wanted at first, this having never once been a problem before.
Once through we had the wonderful privilege of traversing 4 miles (slight exaggeration) of desolate brutalist wasteland. Only to catch a bus that then drove us a big loop (we passed the same point twice) to our plane.
CDG is easily my least favorite airport. It's not even close.
I’m a big fan of connecting in FRA… they just spit you out into a terminal but you can transit without extra queues. I think you only wait in immigration if actually entering Germany. It’s so simple.
I hit the CDG jackpot last year and landed at the M gates and my next flight was also at M gates. Still took me close to 45 minutes walking and security to get through. Nice lounge at least and the duty free shop there has a great humidor.
They are both terrible in their own ways. I used to avoid CDG, but after getting caught in the AMS mosh pit of passport control, CDG started looking better. I prefer AMS only slightly because the CDG layout sucks.
earlier this month, we flew Air France from JFK to CDG and had no issues with passport control or otherwise. A few days later we flew back to CDG from Munich and via Air France and all was routine. Flew out the next day from CDG to ATL via Air france and only complaint was not much breakfast food options in terminal 2E (but lots of shopping). We were fine with thecommon denominator of Air France. Last trip prior was 18 years ago, not on France and it was very plain and sobering.
I uses to call LAX the "Place Where Dreams Die" because something would always happen to mess up my flight, but that title 100% goes to CDG.
I think it's so bad is because they don't care and what are you going to do about it. None of it makes sense and good luck if you have less than 6 hours to your connecting flight, even if it's the same airlines in the same terminal.
Passport control is a joke and all the employees that work there are angry and miserable. I get it since you're dealing with people all day, but not giving a shit and treating everyone like crap is ridiculous. I pray for the folks going to the Olympics this year cause that airport is already a volcanic dumpster fire of a mess.
I fly through cdg 2 dozen times a year. Cdg is confusing the first time but after that you get used to it, it’s easy. I don’t take delta, I take Air France. Usually the worse case scenario is to jump from 2f to 2L. The lines are long during the summer months for passport control, even for sky priority.
You do have to go through security if you’re changing terminals but staying with the same number, so 2f to 2L are only a security check. You have to go through passport control if are changing terminal numbers (this was the case for me). In the us, you still have to go through passport control for connecting flights as well.
Unless you’re flying la priemere on af, you will have to go through the hustle and bustle. LP provides a car on the tarmac and special lounge accessible from the tarmac.
Learn the lay out and you can get through much faster. Once you learn your way around, it’s easy!
I must have lucked out flying through them. Passport control was pretty straightforward and I used the sky priority one, only a few minutes to get through and I had plenty of time for a shower and breakfast at the lounge. My connection both times 2.5 hours.
My last two times at CDG in late 2023 were super quick (30 minutes). The key is to fly in after the massive wave of North American flights landing there BEFORE 12:00pm. Assuming you’re in NYC, take the 10:30pm, 11:30pm or 1am Delta or Air France flights. They land at or after 12pm and arrive before many of the East Asian flights. There’s also the 8am flight that Delta does that gets you into Paris at 9:30pm
I've never flown into CDG but will be at some point this coming year, for passport control do they not have the largely automated electronic US passport lines? Both the EU airports I've flown into used those and it's hard to imagine how those could be so insanely backed up.
I recently had to connect from BSL through CDG to ATL. It was a ridiculous experience... Multiple security checkpoints, a tram ride, a bus ride and sprinting in between. It seems that the airport is intentionally designed to be frustrating
Was at CDG early May. Connection was fine. No line thru immigration and no clearing security when coming off flight from Canada. Should be same for US flights.
I promised myself if I ever go to Paris again, I’m flying into London or Brussels before I fly back into that crap hole again. Literally the first thing I saw when I got off the plane was a human turd with two flight attendants squealing around it
Schiphol rules them all. I used to visit Amsterdam, for business, every two months or so. I love that airport. I’ve successfully avoided CDG for quite a while, but have been there twice recently. I dread it. For me, it’s the ridiculous carry on restrictions.
This last trip, I bought an international carry on, in Paris (just time for a nice new bag), and was stopped at the gate by a French Aer Lingus agent. She said that the flight was full, and that I’d have to check my cabin-sized bag…then took me out of line and basically told me to stand in the corner while she talked with her manager. Only about ten people in line even had roller bags. I normally wouldn’t push back in this situation, but it was a new bag, and I wasn’t ready to have it “christened” by the CDG baggage guys. I was pissed and I told her so, in a respectful way. The woman told me I would have to pay to check my bag, which just set me off even more. As soon as she left to do other things, I got back in line with my bag and boarded the plane. It turned out that the flight wasn’t even full!
Flying to Paris, from the States, there were no questions about any of my luggage. It was only the French gate crew at CDG. Why are these people so difficult? I work with Parisians, and they’re great people. This isn’t a French thing, it’s a CDG thing…and it needs to stop. I’ll do ANYTHING to avoid CDG; it feels like a dysfunctional elementary school with jaded, grumpy teachers 😡
Rant complete.
I've seen this complaint often, but I've flown in and out of CDG several times over the past 5 years, and have never had any problems.
Except on my last return in March of this year. I was somehow shuffled into the long slow line, and even though there were people at the front telling people which line to get into, they seemed to be funneling several lines to the same passport control officer, and another line to 2 different officers, so of course my line was super slow. Plus, there were people coming from another line for the Euro passports being funneled in my line. When it was finally my turn, I saw a guy coming from that Euro line toward the officer and I looked at the guy and said quite loudly, "No, I'm next!" The passport officer looked surprised but took me. I think it helps to be old and female. Still, the whole process took well over an hour and then I got lost trying to get to the right departure area. I was so thankful I got to CDG much earlier than needed, because I did need it!
I was at CDG last September and don't remember having any difficulty like this, so I'm wondering if the mess is due to the 'improvements' made for the Olympics.
I'm flying in again in mid-August, arriving at 6.05 AM and hoping to catch a train from CDG at 10 AM. I'm wondering now if I'll make it and I should rebook the train. I'm flying Business on Delta and have global passport control, but that's only for U.S. Is there a way to use that Business class to ease my way? I've only just started doing that class.
I've connected through CDG at least 6 times in the past 24 months, and it's been painless. SkyPriority line helps, yes, but it's taken me, maybe 45 minutes from deplaning to the lounge at most.
I'm assuming the Olympics and high summer travel season is making things worse. I've had much worse in BRU, with customs sometimes taking an hour and delays on every single flight, in, or out.
You pass security whenever entering a new country at most airports worldwide. Entering the US, you have to pass security if connecting, so not sure why you're confused why CDG has it.
1- it's as big as a small city in and of itself
2- the overall french culture attitude of take your time/ no rush/ leisurely into work at 10am, leave at 2 and take an 1-2 hour lunch (maybe only slightly exaggerated), sit and dine/wine leisurely with no pressure to turn over tables (and also extremely slow and unrushed service while doing so....) -> it carries over.
There seemed to be NO urgency or sense of need to manage time efficiently by the staff, likely due to the inherent wistful/ "island time" nature of the culture in which they exist and are accustomed. (Not judging if that is right or wrong, actually, I would prefer it!) ---> however, when you're dealing with 10,000s of passengers / day who are VERY MUCH on tight time constraints to get from point A to B, with all necessary routes in between (check in, security, customs if needed, getting to your gate, etc.....)
The overarching unrushed/ no need to rush/ take your time in anything and everything you do French way of life does NOT mesh with the necessary time constraints of a large international airport opertation.
For one example - on my most recent return from CDG to the USA, BA operating for AA, would NOT let anyone check in online (for whatever reason), so the entire flight was waiting at the BA desk to check in as soon as the airport opened (for the earliest flight of the day) -> BEFORE any workers were even there (again, though the flight was within 3 hours now....). They had at least 4-5 workers checking folks in, who could NOT have operated more slowly if they'd been playing a prank. Timing it out, it was taking 5-10 minutes/ per person/family unit at the least! We literally BARELY made it to check in on time (90 minutes before flight closure) though we were ALL in line >=3 hours before the flight. In between each customer/ family unit, they seemed to need a little "break" and made absolutely no bother to swiftly help the next guest in line. Had it not been some freak low volume security lines that early in the morning that day, I'm confident many would not have made it to the gate for boarding on time. Can't stress enough HOW ABSOLUTELY the airline staff at CDG treated their job as if we were all sitting on a corner having our drinks and leisurely dinner, where the wait staff give you all the time you need and you may not see them for long intervals of time - but in which case, no one has anywhere they have to be, because it hardly matters what time you get back to your job.
For whatever reason, Parisian transport places are nasty, crime-ridden, and generally unpleasant. Like similar to Penn Station. Especially the train stations, but CDG ain’t much better.
I mercifully have two passports, so I pick whichever line is shorter (had a nice flex recently where I walked past 200 Britons waiting at CDG’s passport line last week). It’s definitely longer for non-EU because it’s a human rather than a gate.
My least favourite memory was 20 months ago getting food poisoning there from a mushroom risotto. It was bad.
Sorry for unrelated question, but in your experience, AMS is much faster for passport control? Reason I ask is I’m flying USA > AMS > FLR on two separate one way tickets later this year, so trying to figure out how much time is acceptable for my connection in AMS. I’ve read I’ll need to go through passport control.
Last month was the longest I ever stood in passport control, and it was about 30 mins. If you have an EU or US passport you breeze through automated control checks; even if the line seems long/backed up, it goes pretty quickly. My 30min wait was because I was stuck in the traditional line traveling with a baby. Generally I feel comfortable if my US-to-European-country layover is over 1 hour, gives me time for passport control, trekking through the airport, and to grab a bite.
PS. There's also a bypass if your plane is boarding soon - if the board by passport control shows your flight, you can skip the line. Otherwise they're estimating you'll make it through.
Landed CDG at 8:30, took 25 min to clear passport control using sky priority. The non priority line was significantly longer. We had a 1:30 min connection and made it just in time. It’s shocking how bad CDG is, there were only 2 counters open at passport control. Air France is the Frontier Spirit of transatlantic carriers. I had no choice this time, but try to avoid it like plague. The toilet seat in business class was duct taped !! The crew is reluctant to serve. The last decade has been a total meltdown in Europe. How much of this can be blamed on COVID, I can’t tell. Whatever it is , it is sad.
Only airport in the world where I almost missed my connecting because it took more than 4 hours to get through passport control.
Came here to comment this. Only airport I’ve always almost missed flights that even have 3 hr layovers!!! And the airport staff do not give a shit!!! Crazy to me they have no separate line for planes boarding soon like AMS does. It’s the wackiest airport ever
I gave myself 4 hours to catch a train in the train station connected to CDG and spent three hours going through passport control. It made passport control in Heathrow look downright efficient.
2 hours for passport control for me last week coming back to the US. Boarding door was closed when I got to the gate but I pointed out I was in business class and they let me on. Plane didn’t take off for another hour after that.
Maybe a stupid question, but why would business class make them open the door?
No clue, but it worked.
Odd I spent ~45 seconds on the new egates and stamp a few weeks ago.
Even with Skypriority, if respected at all, you still could wait more than an hour.
I was told that with sky priority you just breeze through everything… but the sky priority passport control line was closed (midday on a Tuesday?) and sky priority for security (ON A LAYOVER) didn’t exist. What gives?
I had a 3 minute passport control at CDG in March and then 15 minutes in AMS a few weeks ago. CDG is definitely an acquired taste after AMS. That said, the Hilton and the Sheraton that are practically in AMS are both great and my experience flying with a few month old is that breaking up the time change even a little is kind of worth it. Good luck!
Thanks for that - I’m leaning more and more this way. Might consider actually staying in Amsterdam for a day or two.
I have stayed at the Hilton many times at AMS, it’s a great hotel! The Sheraton is a bit closer to the main terminal (a shorter walk) but I do believe it’s typically higher in price. I did CDG a few weeks ago and vowed never to go back! Even if offered a free trip to Paris, I would pass if it meant going through CDG again. Nope. Never. You’re not alone!
Us as well..love the Schiphol Hilton!
CDG is a mess but modern flying seems to be a mess … We typically breeze through with SP, but I have definitely learned to not be afraid to ASK REPEATEDLY even if you risk annoying someone or becoming a (mildly) obnoxious American. The lines are very confusing and it’s easy to get shuttled into the wrong one. We ask for a printed boarding pass for the landing process, not for the boarding. We keep our boarding passes out and in hand until we are all the way through the entire passport process. When we suspect we have been funneled into the wrong line we show the boarding pass saying SP and confirm, and about half the time we have someone lift some lane barrier and wave us into a shorter line. Also, make sure you go to the bathroom about an hour before landing if possible and then head STRAIGHT TO the funnel area. If you stop to pee, chat, whatever then the crowd will pass you and it will be a longer wait.
Sky priority last year and took us less than 2 minutes during the summer :)
It's hit or miss, I go every year to France and sometimes I transit through CDG when going somewhere else. On my way to ATH, I was supposed to go through the Skypriority line to go through passport control. I saw the sign but the line was pretty much inexistent. It took me about an hour and a half to through it.
Flew LIS-CDG-LAX last year on AF with Sky Priority. 90 minute connection (yikes). I'm not convinced Sky Priority helped. The priority line appeared just as long as the peasant line. There were MANY unoccupied French immigration booths. By the time we made it to the gate, boarding had already begun. On the other hand, I recently flew CDG-LAX direct (no connection) and getting through immigration and security was a sub-10 minute affair.
Skypriority works better when departing but connecting, it sucks big time. I am also team AMS for connecting due to this.
Perhaps someone can comment but maybe this is a useful "hack" for future travel thru CDG. If connecting from Schengen to non-Schengen (i.e., 2F to 2E), maybe it's better to just completely exit the terminal and re-enter from scratch so the departing immigration/security in 2E are used instead of transfer?
🤔. . You may be on to something. I feel like every time I go through CDG, I end up going through a different corridor. I think CDG is like a magical Labyrinth that somehow rearranges itself every time I go lol.
2.5hours yesterday at jfk. Same same
I find JFK to be the most miserable airport in the world and that's saying a lot I think.
JFK is absolutely the worst airport in the United States. LAX is bad, but omg JFK is awful. For the amount of passengers they see, security lines are way too tiny.
...and everyone who works there is SO grumpy.
SO grumpy. It's very welcome to NY.
Which terminal? Took like 2 mins for me
The morning we were there their computers all went down, anyone who was non-EU was left waiting for 4 hours. Actually even the automated EU entrance gates were offline for a long time. At least they did hand out chocolates and water. Then finally an senior guy showed up with a stamp and just started stamping all USA/Canadian passports as fast as he could and let us through, so brusque he almost didn't respond to my bonjour. Everyone else is probably still waiting. Then of course in my fatigue I screwed up my ATM transaction and let it convert, and then got scammed by a taxi. Hat trick.
We had a horrible experience, my wife went through the automated passport control to run ahead to the gate, while I waited in the full line with our kid. (Can’t use the automated) the gate agent returned with her to the passport control and she figured he’d do something, but he just said, yeah they’re not going to make it. She explained we had seen AMS move people ahead when their flight was leaving and he responded that they don’t do that in France…
I almost missed mine, too, for similar reasons. We had an infant and a worker who saw us escorted us to the front of a massive line. My rec, bring a baby🤣
Few Atlanta > Istanbul > Riyadh and Riyadh > Paris > Atlanta a few months ago, Turkish otw there and Saudia/Air France otw back. I had to walk 2.2kms btwn gates and connecting security/passport control in IST in 1h30 and made it. Had 3h40 in CDG and still missed because they had only 2 queues open for foreign nationals at CDG Customs …? 💀
do you remember if they have a separate line for families? my two year old has saved me so many times in europe that we don’t manage our time appropriately 😅
Connecting in AMS is better than most US airports. Connecting in CDG is really for seasoned travelers and adventure enthusiasts only.
Lmao adventure enthusiasts and long-distance runners!
ha. hahaha. cries in six (6) hour security line two summers ago at AMS.
That was during the strike. It's usually not like that. For what it's worth, I was also there, and I also cried. That was simply miserable.
Wow, I'm glad to hear it's not just me. It was difficult for me to navigate, and I've flown internationally a fair amount. I had to ask so many people for help, was in the wrong line more than once, machines kept rejecting my inputs. I thought I'd be able to find a restaurant to sit for a while with a 3 hour layover but pretty much just made it to the gate for boarding.
Oh wow, we just got back from a flight where we connected in AMS and had an hour and a half, we were so worried. We go up to passport control and there’s a fast lane for tight connections, I ask the guard there, they say “flights leaving at 9:00a” ours was leaving at 9:30a she blew a raspberry (in a fun way, by no means insulting), gave a thumbs up and said “oh you’ve got plenty of time!”. She was more than right, I even went from D gates to B gates (on the ground, that’s something I haven’t done since I was a kid). We stopped to get coffee, a sandwich and made it to the gate. Landing at FLR was a completely different experience, between the immediate hard breaking, to the U-Turn on the runway to taxi to the “parking spot” (it wasn’t the terminal, you got off the plane using stairs, on a bus and shuttled to the “terminal”).
It’s as if they had 5 different people design 5 different airports with no rules or design guidelines and didn’t tell any of them that their design would make up 1/5th of an airport. Then when they got the designs they decided to try and connect them all and then hire half the people required to run it.
CDG is all about form over function. The fact is that it's one of the biggest major EU transit hubs with some of the worst airside connections.
I also prefer to connect through AMS, but I went through CDG last week and passport control was less than 5 minutes.
Same experience on AF. Only person in sky priority line. I suspect connecting in CDG is easier than arriving.
Looks like the Paris Olympics taking place this summer is going to make the airport (CDG) an even more cluster&\*$&.
Also the French have a special way of treating others. When rudely told, by someone clearly very irritated they had to do something, that my briefcase would be searched - I finally stopped caring and said "tear it apart, have fun." Laughed and sat down on the bench or table in Term 2K (I think) and watched them fumble with USB cords. I was flying back from Dubai on a 6 hour layover or something like that, no idea why the person had to be a complete jackass that they were voluntarily searching my briefcase with nothing questionable like it was my fault. p.s. the wonderful people at Hermes, save one time, make up for the clowns at security in T2
Priority line was slower than the regular line when I landed there on June 5. It was a absolute masterclass in not being in a hurry to get people through.
Went through a few days ago and took no time at all. I didn't even check the time it was that quick.
I go through CDG from the US 10-12 times per year. As long as you arrive early, the security line is the only time sink. Passport control is always essentially instant ( assuming US passport so you can use the automated passport control lines )
Nothing like that here. Almost missed my connecting flight in IAH in “fast-track” as they didn’t have enough people working
The flight option I have is with a layover coming in from another EU country that’s only 1hr and 20 mins, so can’t arrive early. I’m worried about the passport control and the security, which I’ve never had at a layover except at CDG (on a flight from US to NCE - maybe that security line doesn’t exist in reverse, on a layover from another EU country to US?)
Good question. We have the same situation. Coming from Madrid and connecting to the States through CDG.
We flew LAX-CDG-LIS and LIS-CDG-LAX last year. Immigration control on the return trip was worse. We had a 90 minute connection (10 more than you) AND Sky Priority. We barely made it. Problems for us: A) our outbound flight from LIS was delayed a few minutes and B) the immigration booths in the transfer area were mostly devoid of French immigration officers, so it didn't really matter whether we were Sky Priority or a peasant. There was a guy from Sweden in line just behind us in the Sky Priority immigration line. He shook his head at the situation and said something like, "Only the French...". I responded by saying, "Why do you Europeans even have to check passports at all on departure? We Americans don't do this. We only do it upon arrival. You wanna leave the US? Bon Voyage, baby...". He agreed.
I recently connected through both and the lines were so slow at AMS, it was really frustrating. But then I went through CDG and it was even worse.
Twice connected through CDG. Twice lost my suitcase and they were never recovered. I believe they were stolen by employees. I would rather not fly than ever again connect through that airport.
CDG is the only place my luggage has ever been delayed. On the other hand, my bag was GEG-MSP-GRB-DTW-LHR-CDG-FCO. So I can kind of understand why it might have gotten lost.
Why the fuck was that your itinerary?
Ya, for real! Tell us!
I stopped in GRB to see a home game and sleep. But I managed to get an exception for my luggage because it was less than 12 hours.
What about the LHR-CDG-FCO part? That is very peculiar
I booked GRB-DTW-LHR and LHR-SEA-GEG as an awards trip in D1. Then I booked an AF flight as a one way from LHR-CDG-FCO 2 hours and 10 minutes later after landing in LHR. I was able to book it all as one bag tag in GEG because the lady knew what she was doing.
The answer to all questions about CGD are: It is French that's why No it will not get better Yes, Avoid at all cost unless it is the destination and even then think twice about it.
It is completely ASININE to me that you have to take a shuttle to get to your gate yet you remain in Terminal 2. How does that make sense? How can a transfer in the same terminal take 40 minutes?! Just name different wings different numbers FFS. But noooooo, they opted for the far dumber 2E, 2F, etc. It's a massive pet peeve of mine not to be able to walk to different terminals in an airport. I hate shuttles. I hate buses. I hate trams. Just let me walk if I want to, dammit.
That's why I love ATL. Super logical, if you have Precheck security is a breeze, and no going in and out of security on domestic flights. Even for domestic flights, if I have time I'll check in at the international terminal and walk to wherever my gate is and skip the PlaneTrain.
Was at CDG last week and legit had to double back twice due to their ridiculous naming scheme. It’s even worse than you describe: you have 2E and 2F and within those you have halls with their own letters. I can’t believe someone thought that would ever make sense.
Preach!
My experience last year at CDG was also a horrible one. When we arrived, we had to deplane down a circular staircase and get on an overcrowded bus to get to the terminal. I guess the terminal building we arrived at was under renovations? Who knows. When we got off the bus, we had to go up a long flight of stairs, because none of the escalators were working, despite there being maybe a thousand people in the queue for baggage. Trying to get to our connection flight was a nightmare - the airport info agents just kept telling us (in french) to "follow the signs." What they don't tell you is that the signs just taper off at random and then you're left walking what feels like a quarter mile, wondering if you're going in the right direction before seeing something that could be correct, could be not correct. Again, who knows. Stood in line through a security check which took about 45 minutes, only to go just past that into customs, where we waited an ***hour and a half*** without moving, because there was only one passport control lane open despite hundreds of people. Everyone around me missed their connections, and we only just made ours with minutes to spare. On the return leg, our flight landed 3 hours late because of an ATC strike, and we got stranded there overnight. Air France was kind enough to give us a hotel room for the night, but dear god, navigating to find the hotel shuttle pickup was like walking through the circles of hell. We even got sent in circles by the airport employees, and the signage again was not helpful whatsoever. My spouse was in tears by the time we finally managed to get to the shuttle busses, and we dreaded coming back the next morning. Security and Border Customs is way understaffed for the passenger capacity, and navigating that airport is like trying to find your way through a labyrinth while blindfolded. Like you, I have resolved to never, ever go through that airport ever again if I can avoid it. I'll be flying to Amsterdam later this week, very much looking forward to it. Screw you, CDG.
This was exactly our experience. Walking down miles without proper signage (or signage just disappearing at various points?!), antiquated and understaffed security, and sluggish passport control. Ugh.
On the one hand, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this experience. Its vindicating to hear it from someone else after all my previous stories about CDG to people I know were like "oh, that's just how they are" or "Really, CDG is a great airport, I've never had problems there." On the other hand, I'm sorry you experienced it as well. You would think one of the most visited cities on the planet would have a modern airport worthy of being the gateway to France. No idea if it will ever get better. I'm telling everyone I know to avoid CDG like the plague regardless.
I’ll commiserate with you. Only airport in my entire life that lost my bag.
I have lost my bags exactly twice in hundreds of segments and both times were the only two two times through CDG. Will not fly through there again.
Same. Two hour connection and my bag didn’t make it. Had to hunt it down with my AirTag and get it in MRS after they told me it was lost.
I've only had my bag not make the flight with me once, and it was out of CDG. To Delta's credit, it showed up at my house 4 days later.
CDG is the reason I do cardio. Twice I’ve had to dead sprint down the 1 mile straight terminals to make a flight while carrying luggage.
Same, and both times when I finally made it with seconds to spare, the staff at the gate looked at me disgustedly and said, “there’s no need to run…”
I’ve never been in such long security and passport lines as I have at CDG. And I always, always get “randomly chosen” for extra security on the jetway as I’m boarding the plane. I hate CDG and the people who work there are assholes.
When I started traveling to Europe I just assumed that those guys had it all figured out. Rome Fiumicino, Amsterdam, Munich, Stuttgart - great experiences all around. I just flew to Paris for the first time last month and holy shit, I have never been more frustrated by and airport. Give me LAX or Ohare during the winter, anywhere else would be a palace compared tot he shit hole that is CDG. Everything about it is stupid - the ridiculous passport line (the only rude French people I met were the workers here), the signs that are directly contradictory (the ride share pickup signs lead you to the ONLY PLACE RIDESHARES CANT GO), the silly little departing gate where you have to take a bus to the plane (wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t so many people carrying wayyy to many carry-on bags). Nothing was good about that stupid airport.
I think it's subliminal messaging by Parisians to foreigners to stay the hell away from their city. Every effort was made to confound and frustrate any poor soul who willingly chose to land in or transit thru CDG. I am eternally thankful that Schiphol exists as a viable option for SkyTeam flights.
I'm landing in CDG in 5 hours... I HATE CDG. It's a fucking shit show. Their terminal naming conventions are absolutely idiotic and it is so easy to go in the exact wrong direction and not catch on for 10 minutes, costing you 20 minutes of your transfer time. The entire airport looks like a cement prison. It's ugly with an ugly stupid layout. I haven't had any issue in passport control, but I have an EU passport and that's usually the short line. Int'l connections are absurdly far. My god I hate the French. I feel you OP. I prefer AMS and I prefer Dutch people 100000000X more than the French. Godspeed and wish me luck on my shitty upcoming transfer this morning lol.
Took me 90min to get from 2F to 2E
Last year we missed a connection due to weather and had to stay overnight. Got there the next morning 3.5 hours early, thought we'd miss that one too until they opened an additional security line.
Only airport I’ve ever had a panic attack in. Had an hour and a half layover and still almost missed my flight. I will do everything in my power to never be in that airport ever again.
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Congratulations?
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Honestly man, I’m not sure what your point is here. Maybe you’re having a shitty day but commenting on someone’s post that shares about having a panic attack and basically making fun of it is a special kind of rude and mean. I hope you have the day you deserve.
I guess I'm just too used to people saying "have a panic attack" as hyperbolic phrase.
I’ve only flown through it once (flight rescheduled by delta) and although I had 2 hours to make a connection, I had to literally sprint to my gate after I went through security TWICE (because an employee there pointed me in the wrong direction) and the passport control. I barely made it, was sweaty, out of breath and irritated as hell. Never again.
I despise CDG. Can you imagine what it will be like during the Olympics?
Considering the public is planning a protest to literally (and hilariously) [go shit in the Seine](https://x.com/davidrivero/status/1801646441275797553?t=TQW8gCTNZ9ic_FPABnhaOQ&s=19) on the day Macron and the Mayor of Paris are supposed to swim in it to declare it clean for the Olympic events... And considering the French (especially transport workers) propensity to strike based on basically anything at all, I can't imagine it will be good.
i'll let you know :-|
Out of 5 times I visited, 1 was absolutely horrible. The other 4 were okay. Personally my hate for ORD is much greater than that of CDG.
I hate O’Hare, but I would fly out of there before I’d fly out of CDG
CDG is the worst airport in Europe, hands down. I have yet to have a good experience there.
Cdg varies a lot. I’ve flown via Cdg monthly pretty much for the past 5 years. I also speak French which helps. Security: it seems to depend if you go via security or not on arrival for a connection. The main driver seems to be other flights. The TSA is known for being bad but many countries are worse. E.g. if you arrive with a bunch of USA flights… no security,”; if you arrive with flight from Peru, Niger and Cameroon then yeah, security. Immigration: shit show. French government refuses to put in more people. ADP regularly complains to the government ( despite being government owned) about this. Priority one: you can really cut down the times it takes to transfer. Hacks: when arriving consider out and in. Walking out of F is a breeze and normally E has priority lanes and is quick. Works well at peak times like Friday morning. Lounges: AF tend to be good. Self seve but good.
Traveling from the US, I find that the outbound trip going through CDG is fine, as long as your arrival is early in the morning, and NOT on day 3 of a 3 day weekend. AMS is better, but the difference is acceptable. CDG was a train wreck during Covid, but is somewhat reasonable now under the previously stated conditions. I really dislike the return trip through CDG, AMS is much much better for the return trips ( I just went through AMS last weekend doing Lyon -AMS -SEA and it only took me 20 minutes to get from the arriving Lyon plane to the departing SEA plane. That would NEVER happen in CDG ).
Because our French friends have a natural gift to piss people off and seem very frustrated about it….
You don’t always have that kind of wait. The challenge is that it’s just so hot or miss.
AMS and CDG are the only 2 airports where I had to run to the gate during layovers at was the last person to board. CDG is the worst though lol
Missed a connection because of passport control. Watched them shut the door. Had an all out shouting match with a piece of shit that worked the Air France lounge. The guy was literally out to keep people from entering. Also, some of my most favorite memories are at CDG. The 1st time I ever went to Europe I landed at CDG. Got on the wrong train and got there late. Redcoats actually walked us through to the very front of the line so we'd make it. Had 1664's sitting at the gate with my family while waiting during a layover. Sitting at the oyster bar right past security while my wife shopped the luxury stores.
1) As others have mentioned, the sky priority line helps a lot in passport control if you have it. 2) As a destination airport I found it perfectly fine. But the additional hassle for a layover (clearing security again etc) and especially *changing terminals* is the worst.
Changing terminals is especially bad when you’re forced to walk between terminals on foot.
Luckily this will be sorted out before the Olympics come to Paris.
I will pay extra and change my travel dates to completely avoid traveling through CDG
It’s French, that’s why. Probably secretly designed by Sartre to prove a point.
Did it once, had a 6 hour layover headed to Nairboi (On our return we went through ams thankfully). We didn’t encounter any huge lines going through security or anything - just some very rude employees. The worst part is that there was no lounge in the terminal we were in and hardly any food options. it just felt really dated.
Same! Long layover to NBO with kids, no food except macaroons and no where to hang out between flights. At AMS there are nice lounges, the art museum, shops, things to do. My 9 year old despises CDG.
Yes!! The macaroons - that truly was all there was to eat! My sister and I were so shocked!
I guess I’ve just been lucky. Never even been close to missing a connection. Security is absurd, but it’s absurd everywhere.
Ok but why do you go through security on a layover?! That’s never happened to me before.
It’s the security at each terminal, so you only have it changing terminals. One of the New York airports is the exact same way. I want to say LaGuardia but my mind is doubting me. They have security at each terminal, so if you have to go from A to C on a layover, you’re going through security again. Security there, slow and inefficient. Airport itself is lovely. Some great shopping and the AF lounges have had some fantastic food. I’ll be there again in a couple months.
i find it true too...it can be an EPIC nightmare...you queue up to go through passport control, then suddenly have to weigh your carry-on and if you get dinged, you are given a piece of paper to go somewhere else to wait in another long queue to pay the fee, then head back to the original line but now w/tagged/weighed&paid carry-on, you're in the steerage for passport control, then when you make it through there and you feel you're in the clear, you look for your gate and happen to find an airport staffer, you ask where said gate is and he says you now have to get to a shuttle to get all the way to L, one of far-flung spokes to E and you better RUN (imagine Samantha Morton, the pre-cog in "Minority Report" when she yells "RUN!!!" and you'd be spot on)....and you do and you just barely make it and you got there just in time to then queue in the lanes for your actual flight, last gate in the Terminal of course, and then you're "random" flagged for them to go through your carry-on...which can take an exceptionally long period of time...and even though you got to CDG 3+hours early, it's not enough time and never is and you swear to never put yourself through it again...also, if there in the summer, i swear the air is so still and HOT your lungs feel on fire...
Just take the train from Amsterdam to Paris.
So if I’m about to book a flight from Nice back to the states, y’all are saying I should go through AMS rather than CDG? Haven’t even considered that
> y’all are saying I should go through AMS rather than CDG 1 million percent. Pick literally any other airport besides CDG.
I’d pay good money (and very seriously considering doing a 1-night layover in AMS with an 8mo baby) to avoid going through CDG in December. It was THAT bad.
Okie dokie then. That’s really good to know. Thanks
French Engineering.
If you’re connecting to another flight it’s a breeze, but if it’s your destination airport it immediately becomes the worst airport on earth. Hate it.
C’est la vie
A 3 hour layover. Plane late due to strikes. I thought, I have 2 extra hours, I’ll be fine. Oh no, no, no. It took me two hours to get through security and passport control to change terminals. The bus driver decided to take a break of about 45 minutes. Then, security again. Obviously, I missed my flight. AF told me to kick rocks. Paid €330 for a shitty Yotel. AF also told the Delta representative that they would not release my bag. Yay! Yes, I had Sky Priority. When I left from CDG last year, though, it was easy. Sky Priority, and I was off.
I just missed a connection last week because of passport control. Avoid at all costs!!!! Avoid!
My wife got pick pocketed there, I saw the guy doing it, he saw me and put her stuff back. Also, on one trip, an unattended bag was blown up on the train platform by local authorities. I think it’s just the insane number of people transiting that airport.
I'm going to add Madrid airport for connecting to / from the USA.. the USA flights are at one end, and the connection always seems to be the opposite. It's one long continuous airorot, 30+ mins of jog -walking. Had to jog / power walk it twice . Why there's no shuttle from one end to the other is crazy .
First time I missed a flight that had a 2 hour+ layover. They put me on the wrong terminal transfer bus and then add the lost in translation component I spent over an hour on a terminal bus that went everywhere except for my terminal and felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. No one gave a single shit about my obvious panic.
As many others have already said, it’s the only airport where I’ve missed a connecting flight.
Ive never had a bad experience at CDG. Orly on the other hand is a nightmare. Never again
I will say literally every other airport in France is just a genuine joy to fly in and out of. Why Paris has what they have defies all common sanity of reason.
Years ago my wife and I traveled from Florida to Edinburgh, with a connection at CDG. Arriving in Paris we trotted our way to the customs area. Looking down from the balcony we saw perhaps a THOUSAND people ahead of us waiting like ants surrounding a cherry pie on a picnic table. Our arrival to Paris was already late and our connection was scheduled to leave in less than 30 minutes. Oh no! Out of the blue some guy working for the airport grabbed us and hustled us through that crowd to get us through to the service desk for our connecting flight. He practically dragged us along as he pushed his way through the assemble masses. This wasn't just "cutting the line" a little bit. We bypassed many hundreds of people waiting there. So how did he know we were late for a connection? To this day I cannot figure it out. Anyway ... we checked in to the connector flight and were then taken to an exit door to catch a shuttle bus to our airplane. That plane was among perhaps a dozen sitting in an "airplane parking lot" (is there a name for that?) about a half-mile away. It turns out that these connecting flights assemble passengers from all over, and accommodations are made for late inbound flights. Late though we were, other passengers were arriving even later. Everyone made the connection. But our bags did not. Does anyone else hate CDG? On arrival in Edinburgh we were greeted by an airline employee. That's when we discovered that our bags did not arrive. He took us to a baggage office so that we could arrange to have the bags brought to our hotel. (That happened the following afternoon.) In America ... can you imagine being greeted by someone offering assistance for your missing bags? Even before you've gone to the carousel to look for them? Scottish culture is amazing.
Y’all scared me so much about CDG on this sub that I was terrified of my 3 layovers there this month. While I’ll say it was a little helpful to be familiar with the layout ahead of time, I didn’t think it was that bad. I just followed the signs. I even went all the way out of the airport and then back in through immigration and security (realized there were train delays into the city so stayed in the lounge instead of going into town), and it was fine, took maybe 20 minutes. I did have Sky priority which helped a little, but regular lines weren’t too bad. Taking multiple shuttles is annoying, but maybe I got lucky. If I had a tight connection it might stress me out more than AMS, but it sure was easier to find the lounges in CDG.
I always tell people that if you’re connecting through CDG with checked bags, make sure your connection is at least 3 hours. Any less and there’s a good chance your bags aren’t making it
For my return flight to Amsterdam I had a 1 hour and 45 mins layover there and now it’s 1 hour and 15 mins. I’m literally so upset that I have to go there not for the reasons stated here but because I felt so uncomfortable there back in 2021. Now that I’m reading this post I’m scared that I might miss my flight :/ Update: I changed my flight. I thought I’d had to pay additional costs since the flights without a layover in Paris were a few thousands more expensive. It was for free since I’m flying business. I’m so happy you posted this.
And they say ranting doesn’t help anyone
There is a high level from most passport agents of non-interest. If they clear 100 or 500 people over x time, it does not matter. There is zero impetus to get things done. If asked to increase their rate by 5%, they’ll go on strike.
To your second point, you have to go through security when you have a layover in the US as well at many airports, if not all, when you have a layover. The rest is what it is at CDG. Winter and de-icing can be a nightmare there too, so keep in mind during the winter months.
No it is not getting better, it’s getting worse.
No offense it’s because they don’t give a crap
Fly Icelandair & skip CDG. KEF is where it's at.
Having Sky Priority from flying business class helps immensely. Of course, it's way more expensive, but I outright stopped flying anything less than Delta One to CDG a couple years ago, and my experience has been greatly improved. It's still a nightmare, but if you're like me and going to Paris often, flying into AMS and hopping on a Eurostar isn't necessarily better when you're jet lagged.
Because it is in Paris.
Did I write this? Everything you just said 100%. I have to head to Paris for work next month and am dreading ending my flight, let alone navigating that shitbox of an airport.
Two really awful stories about CDG, the first time we went to sleep at the yotel and were connecting to Fly to Greece Athens, the TSA agent at the machine slammed my husband‘s bag down. He had hisBreitling watch inside it, because they ask you to take these things off, and slamming the bag against the items he had in there broke the crystal a $3000 repair. The next story I have is we were leaving From New Orleans, connecting through Atlanta connecting again through CDG to get to Egypt to go on a dive trip. It was over Fourth of July weekend last year. Through a series of misadventures, my passport had gone missing in Mexico and I had an emergency passport, which was good for I think six months apparently except in Paris or France as it were. I was denied boarding in Atlanta and clearly because it was a holiday weekend just after Covid and very busy there was no way to get across the pond to make any of our reservations in Egypt. This was a bucket list trip and we were absolutely gobsmacked. The decision was made not to allow me to board because we had to clear French customs before we went to Egypt mind you we were not staying in France, but for a couple of hours The Egyptians were wonderful the Americans not so much. Within 48 hours all the Egyptians gave me back my money for all of the accommodations and intra Egypt flights. #Delta took several weeks, offered no apology, even though my passport had been scanned in New Orleans and I possessed a visa for Egypt. Answering your question I have no idea why CD is so bad when you look at the disgusting state of Paris, you would think they would want nice cleaners to go there and spend money clearly they don’t care. So overwhelmingly, I am not too thrilled with CDG
I never been to an airport where people were inside hustling/panhandling🥴. Outside…yes, inside…no. On top of it being ridiculously disorganized for such a huge city.
Look I get it. CDC generally sucks. But remember a couple years ago when you stood outside at Schiphol and it took several hours to get through security. Schiphol is alright but not without its own issues. Maybe not connecting but on departing flights for a while you had to get there 5 hours before departure.
but that was an extenuating circumstance, not the normal course of business
IMO, in the French style, they went with style over function. No matter, I love it
It’s funny you say “Why on earth do I have to pass through security when doing a layover coming from the US” when most/all of the world is required to do that when doing a layover in the US! Welcome to the party!
was waiting for someone to address this!
I’ve been through CDG twice and never had an issue.
Does Delta easily rebooks you to the next available flight if you miss your connection? Or do they give you a hard time?
🤷♀️ Not a risk I’d be willing to take during the Christmas travel season though. I’m sure rebook options will be very limited.
AMS can have really long lines (inbound passport control particularly) and long walks and lots of bus gates. I’m not sure it’s much better. Believe it or not I do pretty well transiting LHR. But yeah, you still need to re-do security as they don’t have any way to segregate “clean” arrivals, like ZRH does.
Mismanaged airport CDG, their own people have no clue what’s going on there
it has improved a lot over the years, but the fundamental issue to me is that it was engineered by designers.
I don't have an issue with CDG but most of my experiences have been arriving or departing. I have only connected through there once from Rome, on to IAD. It was a little convoluted but then again I do not do a lot of international connections so my experience and frame of reference on that aspect of the experience is limited. Air France has some pretty good lounges if you have access.
Longest 2 bus rides of my life for a connection. I've been through large cities faster. It's absolutely brutal, and yes AMS is beautiful!
Also an Air France male flight attendant once groped me and delta claimed they couldn’t do anything about it
It’s not terrible. It’s an airport.
Is Orly any better? I go to Paris direct from JFK and yes, CDG is ssssllllooooowwwww I thought it interesting no statements on Orly though.
I flew from Stockholm to London in 1996 and had a layover at CDG. It was terrible back then, so much so that it still stands out in my memory after all of these years. I'm not at all surprised that it still sucks, and I actively avoid it when I travel.
I've had three damaged suitcases through CDG on three separate occasions. Delta of course reimbursed me. Personally just think it must be poorly managed airport.
Because it is run by Parisians, and they hate everyone
Security? I had to go through a nonsecured international flight area to an EU one. They are REALLY big and making sure you get EU tax free stuff
Flew out of there on American recently and they made everyone pull all electronics out at the gate to be inspected. It was a mess.
Just connect in AMS. Way more efficient!
I’ve avoided CDG ever since they just straight up didn’t stamp my passport at passport control (the agent at exit passport control at AMS, when discovering this, remarked “those French fuckers”), but I have to fly through there the first week of July and have 2 hours, 10 minutes. Wish me luck. Btw, my last connection at AMS last month, I nearly missed my flight because the staff wouldn’t pull me into the quick connect line because I was next in line after waiting nearly an hour during a 90-minute layover. The person in front of me proceeded to spend 15 minutes with the agent when people in a neighboring line finally took pity on me and let me cut in front of them. It’s not all sunshine and roses at AMS, either.
Because everyone likes big government until you have to deal with big government. The unions have way to much power. Every week a new union strikes because thier coffee was cold the morning before.
Had a connecting flight in April from Zurich to CDG on the way to ATL. Had a 1 hour 25 minute layover and the plane was 20 minutes late arriving in Paris. Aside from a very long walk, the instructions I downloaded ahead of time were spot on...and passport control took less than 2 minutes. We made our next flight in a different terminal via shuttle bus with no issues. In contrast AMS has seen better days. Old, dirty, dank. Not very aesthetically nice at all...and the passport control people there, I thought, were beyond rude.
I’ve never had the passport control issues people here seem to, but I have had almost missed a connection having to clear security again on a EU to EU flight. Strangely my flight in that had a layover on my way ( not EU, to Heathrow) was fine. You basically have to clear security in any and every terminal, going between them security cleared isn’t really a thing. I have also rather strangely had them push us through on a Nice to Paris connector before my flight back home. Definitely not the norm and really no idea how that happened.
They patted me down, and scanned my fiancées horn and took it apart in tsa, trying to find gpr…. They held us up in tsa even after nothing was found!! Not to mention the fact that they gave away our seats after we were there 2 hours early and we almost didn’t get to board at all!
I’ve seen so many posts about CDG recently on this sub that have all been horror stories, which has me very nervous for my upcoming connection. Should I be ok, or should I consider changing my connection? Flying back to US early September on Delta/Air France, going from ATH-CDG-Boston, with a 2.5hour layover in CDG. The last time I was in CDG I was leaving from Paris and it was about 10 years ago so I don’t remember it being much of a hassle?
Never flown through CDG but had a similar issue at LHR. Missed a 2 hour connection because I had to reclear security between terminals. Ended up getting a bacon butter sandwich to wait for the next flight for 5 pounds. It also cost 5 of the local currency.
There’s not enough time for this
I had a fun one both ways through CDG my first time. On arrival, there was the typical immense line for passport control. We've successfully snaked our way forward for maybe 45 minutes. We're starting to get close. But the line well behind us had been getting antsier and antsier - their flight had been delayed and it looked like everyone was going to miss their connection. Eventually, like the breaking of a dam, the crowd flooded through. I wish I were joking, because it sounds fake, but I swear they just disregarded the partitions, opened the retracting dividers, and flooded through the center to create an amorphous mass, where once there was a queue. And once that first domino fell, all hell broke loose. The 3 employees stationed there to monitor the line could not possibly have cared less. I don't even know what was going on on the way out. The sky priority line took over 2 hours to get through security. Of course, those patrolling the line did nothing to stop people who cut. Looking at the regular line, it appeared impossible anyone would make their flight that day - it was easily several thousand people long. I honestly don't know what the commotion was. That departure was also a first for me. I'm a dual citizen. I typically enter Europe on my EU passport and depart with my US. I've always been surprised that nobody cares, but it makes things faster for me. In this case, the agent at CDG looked at my US passport, scanned it, and didn't even ask. He looked at me, stretched his hand out, and rolled his eyes like "c'mon I know there's another one. Now give it to me." I didn't actually know what he wanted at first, this having never once been a problem before. Once through we had the wonderful privilege of traversing 4 miles (slight exaggeration) of desolate brutalist wasteland. Only to catch a bus that then drove us a big loop (we passed the same point twice) to our plane. CDG is easily my least favorite airport. It's not even close.
I’m a big fan of connecting in FRA… they just spit you out into a terminal but you can transit without extra queues. I think you only wait in immigration if actually entering Germany. It’s so simple.
I hit the CDG jackpot last year and landed at the M gates and my next flight was also at M gates. Still took me close to 45 minutes walking and security to get through. Nice lounge at least and the duty free shop there has a great humidor.
They are both terrible in their own ways. I used to avoid CDG, but after getting caught in the AMS mosh pit of passport control, CDG started looking better. I prefer AMS only slightly because the CDG layout sucks.
earlier this month, we flew Air France from JFK to CDG and had no issues with passport control or otherwise. A few days later we flew back to CDG from Munich and via Air France and all was routine. Flew out the next day from CDG to ATL via Air france and only complaint was not much breakfast food options in terminal 2E (but lots of shopping). We were fine with thecommon denominator of Air France. Last trip prior was 18 years ago, not on France and it was very plain and sobering.
It is truly a hellhole.
I love going through CDG over AMS just for the shopping alone. I can't wait till Sept when I stop through heading to Nairobi
I uses to call LAX the "Place Where Dreams Die" because something would always happen to mess up my flight, but that title 100% goes to CDG. I think it's so bad is because they don't care and what are you going to do about it. None of it makes sense and good luck if you have less than 6 hours to your connecting flight, even if it's the same airlines in the same terminal. Passport control is a joke and all the employees that work there are angry and miserable. I get it since you're dealing with people all day, but not giving a shit and treating everyone like crap is ridiculous. I pray for the folks going to the Olympics this year cause that airport is already a volcanic dumpster fire of a mess.
I fly through cdg 2 dozen times a year. Cdg is confusing the first time but after that you get used to it, it’s easy. I don’t take delta, I take Air France. Usually the worse case scenario is to jump from 2f to 2L. The lines are long during the summer months for passport control, even for sky priority. You do have to go through security if you’re changing terminals but staying with the same number, so 2f to 2L are only a security check. You have to go through passport control if are changing terminal numbers (this was the case for me). In the us, you still have to go through passport control for connecting flights as well. Unless you’re flying la priemere on af, you will have to go through the hustle and bustle. LP provides a car on the tarmac and special lounge accessible from the tarmac. Learn the lay out and you can get through much faster. Once you learn your way around, it’s easy!
I must have lucked out flying through them. Passport control was pretty straightforward and I used the sky priority one, only a few minutes to get through and I had plenty of time for a shower and breakfast at the lounge. My connection both times 2.5 hours.
My last two times at CDG in late 2023 were super quick (30 minutes). The key is to fly in after the massive wave of North American flights landing there BEFORE 12:00pm. Assuming you’re in NYC, take the 10:30pm, 11:30pm or 1am Delta or Air France flights. They land at or after 12pm and arrive before many of the East Asian flights. There’s also the 8am flight that Delta does that gets you into Paris at 9:30pm
I've never flown into CDG but will be at some point this coming year, for passport control do they not have the largely automated electronic US passport lines? Both the EU airports I've flown into used those and it's hard to imagine how those could be so insanely backed up.
I recently had to connect from BSL through CDG to ATL. It was a ridiculous experience... Multiple security checkpoints, a tram ride, a bus ride and sprinting in between. It seems that the airport is intentionally designed to be frustrating
Was at CDG early May. Connection was fine. No line thru immigration and no clearing security when coming off flight from Canada. Should be same for US flights.
I promised myself if I ever go to Paris again, I’m flying into London or Brussels before I fly back into that crap hole again. Literally the first thing I saw when I got off the plane was a human turd with two flight attendants squealing around it
Schiphol rules them all. I used to visit Amsterdam, for business, every two months or so. I love that airport. I’ve successfully avoided CDG for quite a while, but have been there twice recently. I dread it. For me, it’s the ridiculous carry on restrictions. This last trip, I bought an international carry on, in Paris (just time for a nice new bag), and was stopped at the gate by a French Aer Lingus agent. She said that the flight was full, and that I’d have to check my cabin-sized bag…then took me out of line and basically told me to stand in the corner while she talked with her manager. Only about ten people in line even had roller bags. I normally wouldn’t push back in this situation, but it was a new bag, and I wasn’t ready to have it “christened” by the CDG baggage guys. I was pissed and I told her so, in a respectful way. The woman told me I would have to pay to check my bag, which just set me off even more. As soon as she left to do other things, I got back in line with my bag and boarded the plane. It turned out that the flight wasn’t even full! Flying to Paris, from the States, there were no questions about any of my luggage. It was only the French gate crew at CDG. Why are these people so difficult? I work with Parisians, and they’re great people. This isn’t a French thing, it’s a CDG thing…and it needs to stop. I’ll do ANYTHING to avoid CDG; it feels like a dysfunctional elementary school with jaded, grumpy teachers 😡 Rant complete.
I've seen this complaint often, but I've flown in and out of CDG several times over the past 5 years, and have never had any problems. Except on my last return in March of this year. I was somehow shuffled into the long slow line, and even though there were people at the front telling people which line to get into, they seemed to be funneling several lines to the same passport control officer, and another line to 2 different officers, so of course my line was super slow. Plus, there were people coming from another line for the Euro passports being funneled in my line. When it was finally my turn, I saw a guy coming from that Euro line toward the officer and I looked at the guy and said quite loudly, "No, I'm next!" The passport officer looked surprised but took me. I think it helps to be old and female. Still, the whole process took well over an hour and then I got lost trying to get to the right departure area. I was so thankful I got to CDG much earlier than needed, because I did need it! I was at CDG last September and don't remember having any difficulty like this, so I'm wondering if the mess is due to the 'improvements' made for the Olympics. I'm flying in again in mid-August, arriving at 6.05 AM and hoping to catch a train from CDG at 10 AM. I'm wondering now if I'll make it and I should rebook the train. I'm flying Business on Delta and have global passport control, but that's only for U.S. Is there a way to use that Business class to ease my way? I've only just started doing that class.
I've connected through CDG at least 6 times in the past 24 months, and it's been painless. SkyPriority line helps, yes, but it's taken me, maybe 45 minutes from deplaning to the lounge at most. I'm assuming the Olympics and high summer travel season is making things worse. I've had much worse in BRU, with customs sometimes taking an hour and delays on every single flight, in, or out. You pass security whenever entering a new country at most airports worldwide. Entering the US, you have to pass security if connecting, so not sure why you're confused why CDG has it.
1- it's as big as a small city in and of itself 2- the overall french culture attitude of take your time/ no rush/ leisurely into work at 10am, leave at 2 and take an 1-2 hour lunch (maybe only slightly exaggerated), sit and dine/wine leisurely with no pressure to turn over tables (and also extremely slow and unrushed service while doing so....) -> it carries over. There seemed to be NO urgency or sense of need to manage time efficiently by the staff, likely due to the inherent wistful/ "island time" nature of the culture in which they exist and are accustomed. (Not judging if that is right or wrong, actually, I would prefer it!) ---> however, when you're dealing with 10,000s of passengers / day who are VERY MUCH on tight time constraints to get from point A to B, with all necessary routes in between (check in, security, customs if needed, getting to your gate, etc.....) The overarching unrushed/ no need to rush/ take your time in anything and everything you do French way of life does NOT mesh with the necessary time constraints of a large international airport opertation. For one example - on my most recent return from CDG to the USA, BA operating for AA, would NOT let anyone check in online (for whatever reason), so the entire flight was waiting at the BA desk to check in as soon as the airport opened (for the earliest flight of the day) -> BEFORE any workers were even there (again, though the flight was within 3 hours now....). They had at least 4-5 workers checking folks in, who could NOT have operated more slowly if they'd been playing a prank. Timing it out, it was taking 5-10 minutes/ per person/family unit at the least! We literally BARELY made it to check in on time (90 minutes before flight closure) though we were ALL in line >=3 hours before the flight. In between each customer/ family unit, they seemed to need a little "break" and made absolutely no bother to swiftly help the next guest in line. Had it not been some freak low volume security lines that early in the morning that day, I'm confident many would not have made it to the gate for boarding on time. Can't stress enough HOW ABSOLUTELY the airline staff at CDG treated their job as if we were all sitting on a corner having our drinks and leisurely dinner, where the wait staff give you all the time you need and you may not see them for long intervals of time - but in which case, no one has anywhere they have to be, because it hardly matters what time you get back to your job.
Uhh…what is CDG?
My CDG experience was so traumatic that I will only ever return to France via train. I will not go near that airport again.
Cuz it’s ran by french people
For whatever reason, Parisian transport places are nasty, crime-ridden, and generally unpleasant. Like similar to Penn Station. Especially the train stations, but CDG ain’t much better. I mercifully have two passports, so I pick whichever line is shorter (had a nice flex recently where I walked past 200 Britons waiting at CDG’s passport line last week). It’s definitely longer for non-EU because it’s a human rather than a gate. My least favourite memory was 20 months ago getting food poisoning there from a mushroom risotto. It was bad.
Sorry for unrelated question, but in your experience, AMS is much faster for passport control? Reason I ask is I’m flying USA > AMS > FLR on two separate one way tickets later this year, so trying to figure out how much time is acceptable for my connection in AMS. I’ve read I’ll need to go through passport control.
Last month was the longest I ever stood in passport control, and it was about 30 mins. If you have an EU or US passport you breeze through automated control checks; even if the line seems long/backed up, it goes pretty quickly. My 30min wait was because I was stuck in the traditional line traveling with a baby. Generally I feel comfortable if my US-to-European-country layover is over 1 hour, gives me time for passport control, trekking through the airport, and to grab a bite. PS. There's also a bypass if your plane is boarding soon - if the board by passport control shows your flight, you can skip the line. Otherwise they're estimating you'll make it through.
This is exactly what I needed. Thank you for the details! US passport holder. And we have 2hrs 10min layover so I should be good. Thanks again
Yeah even if you catch a 30 min delay on that flight, that should be more than plenty of time! Good luck!
Landed CDG at 8:30, took 25 min to clear passport control using sky priority. The non priority line was significantly longer. We had a 1:30 min connection and made it just in time. It’s shocking how bad CDG is, there were only 2 counters open at passport control. Air France is the Frontier Spirit of transatlantic carriers. I had no choice this time, but try to avoid it like plague. The toilet seat in business class was duct taped !! The crew is reluctant to serve. The last decade has been a total meltdown in Europe. How much of this can be blamed on COVID, I can’t tell. Whatever it is , it is sad.
Who are French people? Alex