Paris CDG Airport

Arrived at 2A on a morning BA flight. Despite the number of unused bridges plane directed to remote stand and bussed to terminal. No fast track at immigration and the hall is quite cramped. Crew and unaccompanied children were just ushered though ahead of everyone else. They promise improvements for October 2012. Look forward to reading the reviews then. Past security it's just a scrum of arriving and departing passengers. I yearn for the old T1 building which i used to love travelling through in the 1980s.

I am not a complainer but I have never had a worse airport experience than at CDG trying to get through passport control this week. I got in a line that simply did not move. The other two lines were moving. People kept cutting over into them. Staff could see the line wasn't moving but didn't seem to care. Hundreds of people arrived during the time I was waiting (which took longer than my flight to Paris); there were only four windows open. Each person took about 5-10 minutes. Two women kept a passport control agent busy for over 30 minutes. I ended up cutting into the transit line because I had waited for hours and would miss the talk I came to Paris to give if I waited any longer. I am dreading going back tomorrow!

Avoid CDG at all costs especially if you are connecting. Arrived from Oslo 1.5 hours prior to our connecting flight to Marseilles (Schengen - should be easy) but nevertheless missed our flight and had to spend the night at an airport hotel. The arriving flight parked remotely necessitating a 15 minute unloading a 10 minute bus ride to the terminal whereupon we had to take another bus (a 15 minute wait) to yet another terminal. Then security again - but the security officers were "on break" and we had to wait 20 minutes before we could proceed through the metal detector even though we were the only passengers in line! All this to arrive at our connecting gate to be told that boarding had closed! The airport is dirty the signage is non-existent there are almost no restaurants or coffee shops like you would find in most modern airports. The walks between terminals are interminable - not for the disabled - and the intra-airport transportation is spotty and unreliable. A major headache especially with young children.

Arrived in CDG new terminal E and had a connecting flight within Schengen from terminal D. What a lousy transfer. A very long way to walk. Other airports have a Skytrain for such distances. Beware of that in case you travel with heavier hand luggage as there are also no baggage carts until you are in terminal D area. Definitely a reason to avoid flying via CDG.

Arrived from Prague Czech Republic on 10 May 2012. The plane was parked in the middle of nowhere deplaning was by stairs to a bus. Once at baggage claim signage was poor although bags arrived quickly. Departing on 15 May for Chicago on American Airlines the lines were very long and slow. Note that the self check-in machines were unavailable when I got to CDG at 21.30 the evening before (I stayed at the airport Hilton Hotel). It was a very long walk to the gate with limited signage additional stairs to the final gate area. At least there were jetways in this part of CDG. This is my least favorite airport in Europe although it is my favorite city! By the way the Hilton is connected to the terminals but required taking an airport train that let one off quite a distance from the hotel. The Sheraton is far more convenient.

Easily the worst airport we had to navigate on an around-the-world itinerary. Arrival on Air France wasn't too bad with only a modest delay in baggage arrival. Departing on British Airways was unpleasant. The airport bus could not drop us at 2A due to construction so dropped us on the other side of the airport requiring us to heist our luggage. The path was extremely poorly marked. Terminal 2A is dark looks as though it is 40 or even 50 years old lengthy lines at some airline check-in spots. Had a pleasant quick check-in at BA had a short line for security (business class) but the check-in area was extremely warm and the security area even warmer. Personnel were reasonably pleasant and courteous however. Some of the gate areas were pleasant and cool - why couldn't the rest of the airport be equally well air-conditioned? We had no real options as we wanted to include Paris in our itinerary but I would go out of my way to avoid CDG in the future. It is in serious need of a complete overhaul.

By far the worst airport I have ever been. No personnel available whatsoever. They do not speak any English. Staff very rude and unfriendly. Be prepared to walk several miles. The worst is the signage this airport is a labyrinth. You have to take buses within the airport and it takes ages. Avoid.

CDG is quite possibly the most confusing airport in the world. Arrivals was fine although they there was nothing saying where luggage came out for different flights as there are 2 belts where it could be picked up. The real problem came when I was flying back there was no signage indicating where to check-in bags this is in terminal 2b so I had to ask staff some of whom didn't really know what I meant. I was sent from one end of the airport to the other in search of easyjet check-in then my next challenge was finding my gate. I only managed to find it because of a lovely shop keeper who spoke very good English who pointed me in the right direction the signs were no help at all. To top it all off when I went through security only after I had put my bag belt and shoes in a tray I was told I needed to be in the next-door security area as I was in the area for a Newcastle flight whereas I as I was going to Liverpool again there was no signs to tell people this so me and half the queue picked up our trays and went to the other security section. However boarding the plane could not have been easier and once everyone was on the pilot didn't wait around.

I have registered a previous negative comment about CDG but this time was so much better. The queuing time was much reduced from my last time there and the staff were more friendly and less surly. The connection was made easy as a result of this. The major ongoing downside is that it has very few places to eat or even buy snacks and those that it has are heavily overpriced.

My wife and I were booked on a long haul to Sydney flying from CDG terminal 1 with Singapore Airlines. After reading many negative reviews of this airport we were not looking forward to it. However we were very pleasantly surprised with the whole experience. Check-in was a breeze allowing people who have checked in online to proceed straight to a bag drop counter. This worked very well unlike Sydney where it doesn't seem to be of any advantage to check-in online. All staff we encountered were smiling and pleasant and spoke English if required. Passport control and security were thorough polite and no slower than any other airport I have encountered. The shopping area has everything required and is reasonably calm and pleasant again unlike Sydney which is like a noisy Westfield shopping centre. We found the departure gates calming well organised with spotlessly clean toilets. Can't speak for the other terminals but I would be happy to use Terminal 1 at CDG again.