Paris CDG Airport

I don't like this place. It is very easy to get lost. It is big and there are many small areas to wait for different things. After security check there were no cafeteria. Actually there are not many cafeterias at all. You can have a croissant or sandwich with ham. The staff - oh no. They won't help you. There are no automatic check-in places for other companies than Air France. Prepare to wait. I love Paris. I will go back to "Roissy". You just have to know it is not about you. Everybody feels bad there and they treat anyone as bad as you.

Having read many bad reviews I was nervous about being stuck on an airport with rude staff for hours but my experience in terminal 2D was very positive. I flew within EU (no immigration check) only had hand luggage and I had checked in online. For the departure I arrived early and there were no lines at the security check. The staff was efficient and polite. The terminal is small so it doesn't have many shops and it gets a bit crowded when many flights are departing but it's also easy to get around; at arrival it took me about a minute to walk from the plane to the front doors of the terminal. The toilets were fine. I used the Roissybus both ways and it was convenient and fast and only cost 11 euros.

Just spent 2 hours in the boarding lounge and have to say it is one of the best airport lounges I have been in very calm good quality of resources there were plenty of docking points for charging phones and plugging in electrical devices excellent seating area very comfortable a 2 hour wait can be irritating and uncomfortable so with these facilities it made our wait much more comfortable and bearable.

Just got my credit card bill and see I was ripped off when I bought a bottle of water at a vending machine in terminal 1 (United). I was charged $7.69 for what I thought was just over 1Euro. Apparently they tacked on a "credit card" fee without any notice. This reminded me about the awful experience I had flying out of CDG. First I was returning a rental car and all the way into the airport I was looking for where I needed to return the car. There were no signs. I continued into the airport and there were no signs to tell me where my airline was flying out of. My info from United was that it departed from Terminal Z. There is no terminal Z. I ended driving into the wrong Terminal (3) and found the location for the rental car return right next to the terminal. Unfortunately this was the wrong terminal for United. It was awful trying to find my way to the United terminal. I had to walk over 1/3 of a mile with my bags to get to a train. About 40 minutes after getting to the airport I finally got to Terminal 1. I'm glad I was 2.5 hours early otherwise I would have missed my flight. Fortunately getting through security was pretty quick. But then it was another 20 minute walk to the gate.

Not impressed by the facilities. Nothing makes sense. Long time waiting to clear customs no local help from local agents flow to exit the terminal doesn't make sense terrible rental car facilities unhappy staff poor customer service attitude. Paris is a tourism destination and it starts at the airport.

Connection between terminals quite chaotic between buses never ending corridors it takes more time to get your connection between planes than a European domestic flight. Taxi time is a nightmare. The way terminals are connected to each other is really hard to understand - signs / information quite confusing. Not enough customs employees also - waiting lines are long. For Lunch/Dinner if besides pricey macaron or 7 EUR slice of pizza there is not a broad choice instead you can buy very expensive duty free but that does not feed me. Last but not least - paying for wireless access if you need it for more than 30 min / 1 hour is quite shabby. I travel a lot and try to avoid this airport.

Two years ago we had issues at this airport and for some reason figured maybe this time wouldn't be so bad. We were wrong. If you are using it to fly to Paris from the US you might just be alright. If you are using it to go from Paris to anywhere in Europe show up at least 3 hours early. Be prepared to run the ridiculously long lengths of the terminals when they say your flight is in 2E and but it's really in 2C. Be prepared to line up and check your bag in one place then pay for your bag on a totally separate line at a totally separate part of the airport. Be prepared to be frisked for no reason because the alarm will go off though you have no metal on your person whatsoever. Be prepared to miss your flight because that is the likely outcome of the complete and utter inefficiency and disorganization. Be prepared to have no one care whatsoever about your plight. I will say that during our last segment out of CDG we used Sky Priority through terminal 2E and we never had an easier time. The man at the desk was very polite and helpful the security line was non-existent and we couldn't believe how easy the experience had been when our flight from CDG to Rome (FCU) a week earlier was an absolute horror. That ease does not make up for the two absolute terrible times we had prior but at least we know for the future the best way to navigate this abysmal excuse for an airport.

I have been a transit passenger at CDG three times so far. While the terminal is fairly good and infrastructure also acceptable what really is the problem is the attitude of the staff. They are rude and spend so much time chatting with each other. Ignoring passengers and being offensive seems to be a standard part of their training. Since I travel to US East Coast from India my choice is limited and hence may transit through CDG in future too but it is out of compulsion and not by choice.

The stories about the horrors and awfulness of CDG are legendary but I have to disagree. That is to say as far as travelling via the new terminal is concerned. It was clean you ca have a nice bite to eat (delicious macarons and world famous French pastry!) there were free and first class newspapers (albeit mostly in French the FT or NYT would be nice) and I experienced no problems whatsoever. Have to say though that we had a transfer at CDG so can't say much about airport security. General impression: fine.

I'm sitting in the EK lounge after going through security in Terminal 2C. I set off the alarm when going through security (though I had no metal on me) and was frisked. A security staff member went through all my things as though she had never seen a book or a piece of paper before. No gloves nasty attitude and a smart mouth. Despite the renovations in Terminal 2 nothing else has changed. It's still one of the most inefficient airports in the world with poorly trained staff insufficient toilets and confusing signage. Avoid if you can.