Paris CDG Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Worst airport experience ever! Arrived at CDG over 4 hours before scheduled flight (as per check-in recommendations) and headed to the tax rebate area. Upon scanning my receipt, the automated machine advised us to head to customs to have our claim cleared. At the customs desk, an American couple were ahead of us experiencing the same issue as us and the customs agents completely dismissed their concerns. Once we approached the desk and could speak French, they were able to resolve our instantly. After the small inconvenience at the tax rebate area, we headed towards the security area. As I was taking out my pre packaged liquids bag from my backpack, the person working the scanner grabbed my passport from my hand, threw it in my unzipped backpack (did not give me time to zip it up) and rushed me through the clearance. Once on the other side of the scanner, I immediately checked my bag for my passport and noticed it was not there. I approached the security clearance and informed them my passport was missing, which they they immediately dismissed until my husband got angry in French. About 2 minutes after my husband got upset with the agents, they magically found my passport in the scanning machine. After the security fiasco, we headed to our gate in search of a lounge to relax in for the 3.5 hours we have until our already delayed flight departs. Once we passed through passport control, we walk to the Air Canada desk in terminal 2B, we were advised the maple leaf lounge is located in terminal 2A and is under construction and that there were no amenities (other than a takeaway café) in the terminal. The agent advised us that we would have to take a bus and re-clear security if we wanted to eat or drink anywhere other than the café and that there were no lounges anywhere airside. Lastly, as we waited in terminal 2B for 3.5 hours, with no amenities (other than the previously mentioned café), there was no air conditioning and was extremely hot. Everyone around us was complaining about the heat and was fanning themselves. We visited CDG in May and it was not very warm out so I would hate to know what it would be like in peak summer! To sum our experience up, for an airport as busy and famous as Paris, this airport is a joke. On a positive note, the bathrooms were good.

✅ Trip Verified | Security slow, over 30 to 40 minutes with too few counters open. This is the most busy time, it should have been planned better and notices on a screen saying less than five minutes is a disgrace

✅ Trip Verified | The lines into Terminal 1 gates 10-48 were shocking! The queue snaked around the terminal and moved really slowly. As we got nearer to the end, we noticed that the queue wasn't being managed by staff and people were jumping into the front of the queue. People were getting very heated and upset (understandable). We thought that given the hideous first queue that we would not need to queue again. How wrong we were. The queue to passport control was just as bad - although better managed. Allow a good 2-3 hours to get through. Feedback to CDG - you really need to do some process re-engineering - this is the worst airport experience I have ever had.

✅ Trip Verified | The passport queue in terminal 1 was almighty, for access 1 as well as for normal passengers. At 9:30 am there was only one passport officer for both on duty. How does Paris plan to manage the visitors to the 2024 Olympic games?

✅ Trip Verified | A messy maze of remote satellite terminals and train link, underground tunnel and escalators. It took me Annapurna to get from Terminal 2G to T1. Security check messy and rude staff. The worst major airport I’ve ever seen

Not Verified | I don't know what was going on the morning of Sunday March 26 but I got a message from United that there were long lines so get there early but not more than two hours before boarding. So that's what I did and there were horrendous lines, I got so stressed, just barely made it after more than two hours. Gave me a panic attack.

✅ Trip Verified | Check-in counters at the terminal 2F are self check-in and I have to do things myself. TSA passed smoothly. Airline staff at the gate was overly arrogant. There was no priority boarding for infants, elderly, etc provided by the airline.

Not Verified | Worst airport experience ever. We had a family vacation in East Africa and ourselves plus an additional family member had connecting flights through CDG. Due to delays, we had 1 hr to get to the next gate. Trying to navigate from arrival terminal to departure terminal were ridiculous. By the time we arrived at passport control to get to our final departure terminal our next flight was boarding. Queue at passport control was at least 500 people long with 1 poor staff member trying to assist everyone who was in a similar boat as we were. Made it to the gate 15 minutes after it supposedly closed and managed to get on the plane. Senior member of our family was connecting elsewhere in the airport and had mobility assistance. All people with mobility assistance were put into a room and had boarding passes taken away as staff were likely trying to figure out where they all needed to go. No communication with them and nobody spoke any English to the seniors. Very stressful for all.

Not Verified | Avoid this airport, if you are in Europe it's easier to go in and out of Paris by train. My backpack got flipped over because of a cream that only had a little left and they took it because it says 4oz, and it didn't even have 2oz inside. That's not the bad part. The man that was checking my backpack took out a clear bag that only had a small toothpaste and my toothbrush. He could see what was there and he open it and touch the toothbrush with the gloves that he was touching everything from everybody. It was unnecessary to touch something that I use to clean my mouth. I had to throw it away, that so unhygienic. People romanticize Paris, but is a dirty and unhygienic city, and the airport was no exception.

✅ Trip Verified | It took hours of queue after queue to get to our gate and we only made it because my mother has a disability and we’re given access to cut a few lines. Upon our return to Paris a week later, it took 20 minutes to deplane, there were police at the gate checking every passport before you could leave. You arrive to an hour queue at immigration, then an infuriating line to go to baggage claim. This is the messiest, most chaotic, infuriating airport experience I have ever experienced.