Charles de Gaulle Aiport

Fabio

Hi all,
I'm landing in CDG on Wednesday and might have some time on my hands to look around. I think CDG is the 2nd busiest airport in Europe so I was thinking it would be a good place to see some nice aircraft and just get a feel for the airport itself.

Would I be right, and if so what would people recommend for me to do, or is it a hell hole that I need to just sit down, wait for my girlfriend, and leave?

droidman123

Fabio wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm landing in CDG on Wednesday and might have some time on my hands to look around. I think CDG is the 2nd busiest airport in Europe so I was thinking it would be a good place to see some nice aircraft and just get a feel for the airport itself.

Would I be right, and if so what would people recommend for me to do, or is it a hell hole that I need to just sit down, wait for my girlfriend, and leave?

to be honest Its a bit of a s*hithole of an airport. theres something really weird about it, the design or layout, I cant quite put my finger on it, but I know I couldn't wait to get out of it.

Davidth88

I agree with Droidman tbh. Isn't there some weird regulation now that you must have police permission to take photos ? .

Fabio

It looks interesting online and I have been there once before but it was a few years back. I've heard no good reports of it so I'm even pre-ordering lunch on the plane with Aer Lingus rather than find eats in CDG! I kinda posted here to see if anyone would have some amazing thing that would redeem it hahaha!

unattendedbag

droidman123 wrote: »

to be honest Its a bit of a s*hithole of an airport. theres something really weird about it, the design or layout, I cant quite put my finger on it, but I know I couldn't wait to get out of it.

+1

The architect must have been tripping. The terminal with all the tubes is a severe eyesore. I didn't see any opportunities for plane spototing except at the Gate.

Davidth88

Fabio wrote: »

It looks interesting online and I have been there once before but it was a few years back. I've heard no good reports of it so I'm even pre-ordering lunch on the plane with Aer Lingus rather than find eats in CDG! I kinda posted here to see if anyone would have some amazing thing that would redeem it hahaha!

Indeed the food and drink there are stupid prices.

brandon_flowers

Fabio wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm landing in CDG on Wednesday and might have some time on my hands to look around. I think CDG is the 2nd busiest airport in Europe so I was thinking it would be a good place to see some nice aircraft and just get a feel for the airport itself.

Would I be right, and if so what would people recommend for me to do, or is it a hell hole that I need to just sit down, wait for my girlfriend, and leave?

What airline are you arriving with and from where? And connecting on to where? I've been through the place about 20 times so I can give some reasonable advise.

de biz

Great views from the EI gates....

Strumms

It's not all that passenger friendly to be honest. At the EI gates there will be some views and some heavies can get real close but there are precious little amenities even the shopping is crap and as for the food options... In a weird way I like the mental design and they have updated it a little over the last 2 years but that's the atheistic it's still not people friendly. Delayed waiting for my EI flight for 3 hours last year... My only option was to get a bit drunk so I did.

Amirani

I'm not a fan at all.

Fred Swanson

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Jack1985

That said it does beat the alternative of flying with Ryanair via Beauvais (''Paris Beauvais'' :rolleyes:) !

Fred Swanson

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Jack1985

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Lucky you is all I can say, I have once, never again haha!

fits

I don't find it that bad but only used it once to catch EI flight last year. Thought it was a nice light and airy place.

(actually now I remember I was stuck there a few years ago after missing connection to US due to delay on incoming flight) can't remember much about it from then either so I mist not have had any problems

LXFlyer

The worst part about CDG can be if a widebody is going from the satellite that EI use at the same time as an EI flight.

The queues at the security to get into the satellite can be horrific.

Fabio

Seems like it was built without expansion in mind....

Anyway I'm flying Cork to Paris and then have to wait in the airport for my girlfriend to arrive. Not connecting to anywhere so it's not that big a deal really. Thankfully I think!

Jack1985

Fabio wrote: »

Seems like it was built without expansion in mind....

Anyway I'm flying Cork to Paris and then have to wait in the airport for my girlfriend to arrive. Not connecting to anywhere so it's not that big a deal really. Thankfully I think!

At least you get to travel through a fabulous airport here in the South, and free wi-fi for you comfort.

Calina

Fabio wrote: »

Seems like it was built without expansion in mind....

Anyway I'm flying Cork to Paris and then have to wait in the airport for my girlfriend to arrive. Not connecting to anywhere so it's not that big a deal really. Thankfully I think!

If I were going to hang around CDG for any reason, I'd go to Terminal 2 and have a wander around depending on how much time you have.

I like CDG. You can - and I have regularly managed this - be walking around the centre of Paris less than 60 minutes after you touch down. The same cannot be said of Heathrow. I'd happily transit CDG any time. I don't think T1 is particular pretty but it works.

Fred Swanson

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brandon_flowers

Fabio wrote: »

Seems like it was built without expansion in mind....

Anyway I'm flying Cork to Paris and then have to wait in the airport for my girlfriend to arrive. Not connecting to anywhere so it's not that big a deal really. Thankfully I think!

I can't believe I'm recommending a McDonalds but back in the day when I didn't have lounge access in CDG the McDonalds in Terminal 2B was a great stop for free wifi. Terminal 2B is not that far from Terminal 1. You will arrive into T1 from Cork, and you will have to walk through T2A or 2B to get to any other terminal if your girlfriend is not arriving into T1. If she is coming from Dublin with Aer Lingus she will also arrive in T1. If she is coming from Dublin with AF she will arrive in 2E.

I checked my records, I've been through it 23 times.... and by god is CDG a see you next tuesday of an airport.

Fred Swanson

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LXFlyer

Calina wrote: »

If I were going to hang around CDG for any reason, I'd go to Terminal 2 and have a wander around depending on how much time you have.

I like CDG. You can - and I have regularly managed this - be walking around the centre of Paris less than 60 minutes after you touch down. The same cannot be said of Heathrow. I'd happily transit CDG any time. I don't think T1 is particular pretty but it works.

This isn't true. I've managed on several occasions to get from the aircraft at Heathrow, down to the railway station, and then taken a Heathrow Connect to Paddington, all in 45 minutes and then walk out into central London.

brandon_flowers

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Try 2E to 2G when coming from Dublin with AF.

Land easterly on 09L, taxi for 25 minutes to 2G for the remote stand Cityjet have out there. Get on a pax bus to 2E for "arrival". On that bus you will pass the "Bienvenue a Charles De Gaulle" sign which is at the entrance to the airport. Walk out of 2E to get a shuttle bus to 2G, pass the same sign going back out to 2G, fart about through security and then board a plane 30 metres away from the one you just got off.

No chance your luggage will make the connection though.

Fred Swanson

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Fabio

My girlfriend is working in France for a while but is in Istanbul for a few days and, I think, is arriving from there into T1. I think. She said she'd try meet me around "arrivals". I'll probably get lost trying to look at aircraft

fits

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Gotta love the 45 mins allowed by AF to connect from 2E to 2F. With all the bussing and trains if is nigh on impossible to complete on time. As for baggage forget it.

lol maybe that's why I missed the connection. Honestly can't remember

Fred Swanson

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Davidth88

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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I remember one connection like that ( also 2E to 2F .... The bus went around in decreasing circles until it disappears .... then I run from 2E to 2F and through to the gate JUST make it .... on the bus again going around in circles .

I then board the aircraft 20 yds from the aircraft I got off !!

The only good part was sitting on the aircraft seeing a bloke wonder over to my first aircraft grab my bag and stroll to the second aircraft and throw it on !

If you really want to see a dump try T3 !!!

That's basically a shed they throw the airlines they want to forget .

Fabio

Looks like I have a few hours to spare on the way home...might make use of the McDonald's suggestion for wifi!

smurfjed

It is a disaster if you have to transfer there.

Tried it last month, 1:15 hrs from landing on one airline to connecting on Air France / City Jet and that included collecting my baggage as i was using staff tickets. But i have to admit that it was at 6am
Landed there again last night from Rome, no dramas, queues or hassle, so I have to admit that i like the airport. Due to the number of runways, its not spotter friendly, but it worth having a look around.

Wally Runs

Just to check I am transiting through CDG on Friday, arrival in 2G and out 2E in an hour. I am guessing my bags will not make it?

Fred Swanson

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circular flexing

I did 2E to 2F in 45 minutes a couple of years back and even my bags made it. Even had time for a coffee.

2 stroke

Charles de Gaulle is huge. A few years ago we were overbooked, and bumped from air france to air lingus. Getting from one side of airport to the other involved a trip on a driverless train at 60 mph inside the airport. We hadn't time for sightseeing but I recon someone interested in plane spotting could spend serious time in that airport just finding a viewing area.
(Got compensation equivalent to €900 in flights, and our plane touched down only 5 minutes later than our original flight. We actually got our luggage before passengers on the af flight)

Wally Runs

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Who is the airline? AF?

AF/cityjet

RadarControl

A friend of mine will be arriving in CDG on Etihad flight at 2:25pm. He will be travelling with his wife and three kids. All will be travelling on Australian passports. They will be getting train to Paris and onto Dijion.

They are trying to book their tickets for TGV to Dijion. Anybody know roughly how long it will take to get through immigration and customs at that time of day? How frequent are trains to Paris and how long does it take?

Fred Swanson

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Lapin

Jack1985 wrote: »

That said it does beat the alternative of flying with Ryanair via Beauvais (''Paris Beauvais'' :rolleyes:) !

Does it really though?

Or is your post more directed towards flying with Ryanair?

Disregarding the airlines and focusing on the airports, I'll take Beauvais over CDG anyday. I use both airports fairly regularly and will always recommend the smaller one.

I like the fact that you can walk from the plane to the bus stop in less than 2 minutes. Everything on the ground floor and a straight forward 80 metre walk from plane to bus or taxi rank. No farting about with escalators, lifts and travelators that seldom work anyway.

Also, on the return journey I like being able to check in and be sitting on the plane little more half an hour later without having to walk for miles to get to it.

Beauvais may lack all the shopping and dining facilities of larger airports, but as long as I can buy a coffee or a beer I'm happy.

Your flight is also less likely to be delayed arriving at Beauvais as it is far quieter than the congested CDG and where incoming flights are often held stacking in holding patterns as they queue up to land. Similarly when departing, the plane is on taking off a couple of minutes after it pushes back, rather than queuing up behind half the Air France fleet just to get to the runway.

CDG is biggest kip of an airport I have ever had the misfortune to fly from. I've never had a hassle free day in the place.

It may cost a bit more to get from Beauvais into Paris but this is offset by the cheaper costs of flying into the smaller airport. And it doesn't take that much longer to complete the onward journey into Paris as the long walks at CDG have to be factored in. In fact I've often got into town quicker from Beauvais but there is seldom more than a 10 minute difference between the two.

CDG is handy for travelling on to other destinations in France, but for Paris and places north of it Beauvais wins for me.

As for the roll eyes for it being called "Paris Beauvais". It has as much right to call itself that as Gatwick, Luton and Stansted have to call themselves London airports. But no one ever seems to question them.

Sam Russell

Wasn't CDG the airport that Tom Hanks lived for years unable to get out of it into France through immigration or onto an airplane to get out to somewhere else?

L1011

Sam Russell wrote: »

Wasn't CDG the airport that Tom Hanks lived for years unable to get out of it into France through immigration or onto an airplane to get out to somewhere else?

Its where the real case happened; Hanks was in JFK though in the movie.

Sam Russell

MYOB wrote: »

Its where the real case happened; Hanks was in JFK though in the movie.

I know, that is what I thought I said, wasn't it.:)

LoonyLovegood

I'm flying to Paris soon, and I was hemming and hawing over where to fly into. Chose Beauvais in the end, flights were cheaper. Reading this makes me so happy I did.

Jack1985

Reading this makes me so happy I did.

Hate flying to De Gaulle, but its a damn sight better over that shed in Beauvais.

LoonyLovegood

Jack1985 wrote: »

Hate flying to De Gaulle, but its a damn sight better over that shed in Beauvais.

I was literally coming into this thread to write "I was wrong". *shudder*

Fred Swanson

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debabyjesus

brandon_flowers wrote: »

Try 2E to 2G when coming from Dublin with AF.

Land easterly on 09L, taxi for 25 minutes to 2G for the remote stand Cityjet have out there. Get on a pax bus to 2E for "arrival". On that bus you will pass the "Bienvenue a Charles De Gaulle" sign which is at the entrance to the airport. Walk out of 2E to get a shuttle bus to 2G, pass the same sign going back out to 2G, fart about through security and then board a plane 30 metres away from the one you just got off.

No chance your luggage will make the connection though.

You can blame Irelands lack of schengen participation for this.

Where were you flying to from Dublin with connection in 2G, just out of interest?

Jack1985

What was wrong with the shed?

Where do I start, no where near capable enough of handing the demand it actually serves, so packed its ridiculous - Queues which when I was there was delaying progress through security, passengers being boarded and being held on the apron to allow the same gate to be used for another flight before either had even landed.

De Gaulle T1 is borderline better.

brandon_flowers

debabyjesus wrote: »

You can blame Irelands lack of schengen participation for this.

Where were you flying to from Dublin with connection in 2G, just out of interest?

It has nothing do with Schengen it is purely the fact that the Avro has to park on a remote stand at 2G rather than at a bridge in 2E but the "arrival" terminal is 2E. The rare few times an A320/319 from AF was used to operate the flight between DUB-CDG there were no problems as an air bridge was used to disembark.

Stavanger & Billund were the places I was going to from 2G.

debabyjesus

2G is a regional terminal, they aren't 'remote stands'. The golf apron is remote, ever been on that? I've never seen an airbus down 2G presumably they don't fit. Cityjets rjs night stop at 2G. Most dublin flights stop there but a fair percentage of turnarounds during the day do park directly at 2E mostly on E20's stands or around there, meaning no bus but a looong walk to passport control.

All cityjet flights that originate in irl or uk and park at 2G are bussed to 2E for passport control. I questioned this before with operations and was given schengen as a reason. I'll double check though.

debabyjesus

brandon_flowers wrote: »

It has nothing do with Schengen it is purely the fact that the Avro has to park on a remote stand at 2G rather than at a bridge in 2E but the "arrival" terminal is 2E. The rare few times an A320/319 from AF was used to operate the flight between DUB-CDG there were no problems as an air bridge was used to disembark.

Stavanger & Billund were the places I was going to from 2G.

Confirmed now, 2G is basically a regional schengen terminal, if you land there from a schengen country you can walk straight out or connect. If you land there from a non - schengen country you must be brought to passport control, most likely bussed to 2E.

Cityjets maintenance base (and regional, britair and airlinair, now AF hop) is 2G, so all AF regional subsidiaries use 2G as a base. The E190 is the largest craft I've seen down there.

Presumably Cityjet try to park turnaround non - schengen flights as much as possible directly at 2E but night stoppers all finish at 2G. Your particular CDG woes can be placed on Irl/Uk absence from schengen.

Also, when a A319/20 mainline AF is used on Dub-Cdg it's because Cityjet have gone tech with no spare, so you can consider yourself lucky you're on an airbus not a likely cramped rj.

CDG is not all that bad once you know the buzz and parle-ing the small bit of francais will get you a long way. Cityjet are a decent Irish airline trying to survive with huge uncertainty at the moment so try and support them if you can, even if it means busses and cramped rjs at the moment. They may have embraers or bombardiers if they survive with the new german owners!