Charles de Gaulle Aiport

Wally Runs · 12-03-2014 1:34pm

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 · 12-03-2014 1:40pm

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circular flexing · 12-03-2014 2:14pm

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 · 12-03-2014 3:40pm

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 · 12-03-2014 5:23pm

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Who is the airline? AF?

AF/cityjet

RadarControl · 03-04-2014 1:25am

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 · 03-04-2014 1:29am

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Lapin · 03-04-2014 4:21am

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 · 03-04-2014 2:09pm

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 · 03-04-2014 2:17pm

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 · 03-04-2014 2:47pm

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 · 03-04-2014 4:40pm

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 · 06-04-2014 2:30pm

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 · 06-04-2014 10:42pm

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 · 06-04-2014 10:44pm

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debabyjesus · 06-04-2014 11:18pm

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 · 06-04-2014 11:37pm

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 · 08-04-2014 12:54pm

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 · 08-04-2014 3:26pm

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 · 10-04-2014 4:57am

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!

brandon_flowers · 10-04-2014 8:03am

debabyjesus wrote: »

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!

So we are back to the fact that it is an Avro operating the route, if it was an Airbus then Schengen would not be any problem as the aircraft would be handled at 2E. I honestly have never turned around at 2E in an Avro, morning afternoon or night. It is always a bus to/from 2G remote stands, maybe I am just unlucky but the downstairs dept gates in 2E are only for remote stands. And frankly I've been through the place enough times to dislike it now even when I am not flying to/from DUB.

I take your point about Cityjet but if I have a 1 hour connection to make a flight back to Ireland I will put AMS way in front of CDG (thereby supporting Aer Lingus)

Et je suis tres competent en francais parce que j'habite ici maintenant.

debabyjesus · 10-04-2014 12:58pm

brandon_flowers wrote: »

So we are back to the fact that it is an Avro operating the route, if it was an Airbus then Schengen would not be any problem as the aircraft would be handled at 2E. I honestly have never turned around at 2E in an Avro, morning afternoon or night. It is always a bus to/from 2G remote stands, maybe I am just unlucky but the downstairs dept gates in 2E are only for remote stands. And frankly I've been through the place enough times to dislike it now even when I am not flying to/from DUB.

I take your point about Cityjet but if I have a 1 hour connection to make a flight back to Ireland I will put AMS way in front of CDG (thereby supporting Aer Lingus)

Et je suis tres competent en francais parce que j'habite ici maintenant.

No, we've arrived at the fact that if Ireland and the UK were schengen countries, you wouldn't have to go near 2E at all, arriving or departing.

The downstairs departure gates in 2E are used when a non schengen flight is departing from 2G and pax are bussed up to the aircraft.

Id much prefer to stop at 2G and get the bus directly to passport control at 2E, parking directly at 2E often means long walks and trains to get from the 2E K and L gates back to the main 2E terminal and passport control.

In your situation it does seem a ridiculous amount of travelling just get back to an aircraft beside the one you just got off, but Cityjets hands are tied somewhat and it all boils down to the schengen agreement.

brandon_flowers · 10-04-2014 2:59pm

debabyjesus wrote: »

No, we've arrived at the fact that if Ireland and the UK were schengen countries, you wouldn't have to go near 2E at all, arriving or departing.

The downstairs departure gates in 2E are used when a non schengen flight is departing from 2G and pax are bussed up to the aircraft.

Id much prefer to stop at 2G and get the bus directly to passport control at 2E, parking directly at 2E often means long walks and trains to get from the 2E K and L gates back to the main 2E terminal and passport control.

In your situation it does seem a ridiculous amount of travelling just get back to an aircraft beside the one you just got off, but Cityjets hands are tied somewhat and it all boils down to the schengen agreement.

We are going to agree to disagree here. Ireland is not part of the Schengen for any airport in Europe therefore they are all equal in terms of passport control requirements. But the rest are considerably better and more organised. It is how CDG handles the problem because of the aircraft/terminal involved is particularly **** for pax.

Therefore it is not Ireland not being in the Schengen, it is CDG that causes the problem.

In AMS there is no problem, in FRA there is no problem, in MUC there is no problem and I could go on. If Ireland was part of the Schengen the transits in these airports would be still the same.

Hence the reason we are discussing CDG being such a badly organised airport. We can't all be wrong.

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/10-most-hated-airports-324645

Calina · 10-04-2014 3:23pm

I like CDG. I've made the transit in T2 under tight circumstances with zero difficulty. And I know my way around T1 enough to be in central Paris less than 1 hour after I land there.

I have similar issues with transiting LHR given that the ROI arrivals is practically in Terminal 4 it is so far from the main T1 building. If I had to pick the worst designed airport in Europe, it would almost certainly be LHR.

debabyjesus · 10-04-2014 3:47pm

Thats true, flying within schengen 2G works very well. The typical french i give a **** attitude comes into play when they perceive something as not their problem, leading to convoluted solutions.

smurfjed · 10-04-2014 8:06pm

I love CDG as we walked down the steps of the aircraft, climb into a bus and get driven straight to the hotel... easiest airport transit ever

simon_24 · 10-04-2014 9:01pm

Calina wrote: »

I like CDG. I've made the transit in T2 under tight circumstances with zero difficulty. And I know my way around T1 enough to be in central Paris less than 1 hour after I land there.

I have similar issues with transiting LHR given that the ROI arrivals is practically in Terminal 4 it is so far from the main T1 building. If I had to pick the worst designed airport in Europe, it would almost certainly be LHR.

In fairness, change is on the way quickly in heathrow, British airways Dublin route is going to terminal 5 to allow easy connections with IAG, and Aer lingus are very soon transferring to the brand new terminal 2, along with Delta, Air canada, Virgin, and quite a few other airlines, making it hopefully that bit handier to connect than from the "air raid shelter" long corridors of Terminal 1,which is being knocked down bit by bit.