Walk to your destination before you try going through CDG! You%26#39;ll get there faster.
The incumberances were universal and not limited to one type of ticket or a particular airline. The whole operation was dismissive toward the plight of the passenger, many of whom had to wait until the next day after a missed flight. Missing a flight was often the result of inefficient check in and extremely slow passport check and security screening. Rebooking meant standing in a line for an hour or longer, only to be told you were in the wrong line. Never enter this airport without a means of international communication. Your friends and family need to know that you are stranded, and the airlines are not concerned that this is communicated.
Note to the French Department of Tourism: Wonderful vacations in your country are soured by travelers%26#39; experience at CDG. Fix this airport so you don%26#39;t undo what has been an otherwise lovely travel experience in France and other parts of Europe.
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Since you evidently flew into CDG, on your way north to Normandy by train from Gare Saint Lazare in Paris and then back out of CDG again on your way home.....What time did you arrive AT CDG to check-in for your outbound flight??...What was the scheduled departure time of the flight that you missed??
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We were on a 10 day business/pleasure trip. I flew from Nice to CDG. Service was most disappoiting.
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But what time was your inbound flight from NICE scheduled to arrive at CDG??...and what time was your outbound flight from CDG scheduled to depart from CDG??...was you luggage checked through from inbound to outbound flights??...Which airline(s)??
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KDKSAIL -
Are you a Federal Prosecuter? I ask because of the oh so gentle way you posed your questions.
I stopped flying through CDG when I missed an outbound long haul flight by more than half an hour after I had arrived at the terminal 3 and a half hours before departure time - this, several years ago when no airline asked for more than one hour lead time on check in.
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My flight from Nice was delayed because of fog in Paris. This was true because when we landed, I thought we were descending through clouds, but we were on the runway. This fog, however, had lifted by mid morning.
There were about 15 of us who were on a connecting flight to Cincinnati, and we had to change terminals for this connection. At CDG, when you change terminals, you have to go through Security again. We arrived at our gate about ten mintues before the scheduled departure, and the plane was still on the ground. We were denied boarding.
I have been on many flights in the US when a plane was held briefly so that passengers from a connecting flight could board. You are already checked in, and the airlines know you are coming. Not so at CDG. As I was told, %26quot;At CDG, time is time.%26quot; When I checked my flight the night before I left Nice, at least a fourth of the seats were not booked. We were not denied boarding because of overselling.
On board our Nice to CDG flight, we were assured that our connecting flights would also be delayed as had our flight from Nice. We were not to worry about our connecting flights because officials at CDG would be aware of our situation and were prepared to assist us. %26quot;Assisting%26quot; meant a 30 hour layover in Paris.
Things only go worse from there. After standing in many lines and enduring their incredibly slow computer system, I left CDG for a hotel 12 hours after I had landed. I was able to call my husband 5 hours after my first flight landed, and he was able to contact my airline in the US. He was able to book a flight that got me home six hours earlier than the flight booked for me at CDG. This booking was somehow impossible in France. We were charged the flight change fee by my returning airline.
I had to claim my bags because of my flight change. I boarded a shuttle marked for the hotel where I was to stay, but once on board, I learned that the bus was going to a different location than the one where I was booked (same hotel chain). I was left alone at night at a bus stop along a busy freeway. I arrived at CDG at 7:45 the next morning and barely made my 10:50 departure flight.
I flew Skyteam, Air France and Delta, but, except for the attitude of their agents and the rebooking fee, I don%26#39;t think the problems were unique to them. At CDG, you need several hours between connecting flights, especially if you have to change terminals. I should have been alerted when the check in agent in Nice showed me the terminal change with a raised eyebrow.
My story was not unique to me. If you have ever been delayed at an airport, you know that you make friends along the way. I had my airport friends and my hotel friends, and we were all experiencing the same frustrations. I am a firm supporter of airlines delaying flights because of weather: When they don%26#39;t want to fly, I don%26#39;t want to fly. The resolution of this situation, however, was severely lacking at CDG.
Note: I%26#39;m not a federal prosecuter, but thank you. I am only a wife who usually flies with her husband, but this time, I left a day earlier. My final flight home was the one he was on, so all ended well. I%26#39;m happy to be home, and will avoid this airport at all costs. I hear Franfurt and Amsterdam do a much better job.
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We had a similar dreadful experience at CDG 4-5 years ago and have since always flown to London, taken the Eurostar to Paris, and trains from there if we go to other European cities. We NEVER fly directly to Paris nor try to connect through CDG. It might take a day to stop over in London but that is a delightful interlude anyway. You might be stuck in CDG overnight trying to get out of there anyway. Might as well be muching fish and chips and sipping a pint in London and flying out of Heathrow, or preferably Gatwick, the next day back to the US.
Next spring we plan to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, tour Normandy, then train back to Paris for a day or two and then catch the Eurostar to London. Take a look at www.seat61.com for all the great ways to use trains in Europe.
oprah44
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Referencing troggs%26#39; CDG diatribe, I have several observations:
1. To transfer from a Nice flight to a Delta US flight, one must pass through passport control. Part of the passport control procedure requires security screening. You probably arrived at Terminal 2F and departed 2E which cannot be more than a 10 minute walk. None of this is unique to CDG. Travel to the US from LHR or any other European airport requires a passport control procedure.
2. An airline does not know that you will arrive for a flight just because you %26quot;checked in%26quot;. Check in can be done 24 hours before a US departure, 30 hours in advance at Air France. Delta may have known that you were en route but many airlines have a 30 minute cutoff time for issuing boarding passes or honoring those who may have received them in advance. After that time, standby passengers will be allowed to board. No one is allowed to board an international flight who shows up at the gate 10 minutes before scheduled departure. Remember on international flights, luggage loaded must match with a boarded passenger. The coordination of these steps takes time. Additional operational factors may be in play as well not readily visible to hurried passengers.
3. I seriously doubt that any airline allows the general public access to booking information and load factors. When you checked that %26quot;a fourth of the seats were not booked%26quot; it is much more likely that these seats where not yet assigned, much different that not yet booked.
4. Does a reasonable person believe that an Air France ground agent in Nice actually makes operational decisions for another company%26#39;s (Delta%26#39;s)aircraft departing Paris? However, advising you %26quot;not to worry%26quot; was probably sound advice because worrying itself would not have cleared the Paris fog.
5. Obviously you were charged a rebooking fee because you rebooked the return flight. Perhaps a wiser strategy would have been to call and ask about space on the earlier flight and let Delta make the change.
6. One important point which you have not yet made clear: How much originally scheduled time did you have for your CDG connection? I can assure you that 2 hours connect time is a minimum at ANY airport in the world if one wants a good probably of successfully making a connection. Through busy international hubs, 3 hours would be better.
You seem to use the words Delta, Air France, and CDG interchangeably. Frankly, I find CDG itself absent as the cause of the bulk of your frustrations. I am suspicious that the root of your problems is in accepting an unrealistic connect time between a domestic and international flight segments. The problems you site are more accurately characterized as airline specific, not airport facility specific.
There are other carriers which serve Paris from the US, perhaps you should give them a try.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;KDKSAIL -Are you a Federal Prosecuter? I ask because of the oh so gentle way you posed your questions.%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
Just as gently and well intentioned(??), my answer is, NO, I%26#39;m not a federal prosecutor...nor have I ever played one on stage, screen or TV.
BUT...whenever difficulties with flight connections occur, the amount of time allowed between an inbound flight%26#39;s scheduled arrival and outbound flight%26#39;s scheduled departure is a CRITICAL element in the equation....and a fairly BASIC question to ask....and relatively simple to answer. It%26#39;s just one of those NOT-so-minor-details that often make all the difference.
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To quote the late Douglas Adams from The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul: %26quot;It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, %26#39;as pretty as an airport.%26#39; Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.%26quot;
CDG is one of those airports that has attained a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of special effort.
The ugliness is not just a physical thing, it’s got that nightmarish quality that goes with being stuck in long queues with absolutely no control over how long the two obviously bored guys in grey uniforms are going to take to process 3 jumbo-loads of dazed and confused passengers.
But that%26#39;s the nature of the beast – and I%26#39;m with KDSAIL. Expect problems and plan for them. With any luck, then, the worst thing that will happen to you is spending 3 mind-numbing hours in CDG waiting for your flight...
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In response to Sarastro%26#39;s diabtribe:
1. I did not use Delta, Air France and CDG interchangably. I specifically said that I did not feel that the problems were specific to my particular airline. The only exceptions I noted were the lack of service at CDG (and provided once we could contact Delta in the US) and the rebooking charge.
2. I booked my trip through my domestic partner that was part of an international team. They gave me the hour and a half layover that, not being accustomed to proceedures at CDG, I trusted as adequate.
3. I don%26#39;t think that I was unreasonable in believing the statements made on board my flight from Nice. I was flying a partner airline, and their comments were directed toward CDG and airline services. Flight staffs have a list of their passengers%26#39; connecting flights, and I trusted what they said.
4. I had, and still have, my boarding pass.
5. I do not live in a city where international flights are available. I always have to make connecting flight when flying overseas. I have never had to go through a second passport and security screening before boarding my international flight.
6. We were lead to a bus, not a %26quot;10 minute walk,%26quot; by airline officials. I also trusted this as what I should do.
7. Your distinction between %26quot;booked%26quot; vs. %26quot;seat assigned%26quot; is right. The flight, however, appeared wide open, and most flights on which I have flown have had far less fewer seats left available the night before a morning flight. Still, %26quot;booked%26quot; was not the correct term to use. Perhaps, my excusing the airline from overselling the flight was not valid, but I think not. At CDG, %26quot;time is time.%26quot;
8. On my return last year, my flight was held for at least a half an hour waiting for a connecting flight for French passengers to JFK. I think my flight was from Nice, but I can%26#39;t remember for sure. I didn%26#39;t mind waiting...these passengers were ecstatic about the opportunity to visit the US and cheered when we landed. This year%26#39;s flight was the first time I had passed through CDG for a connecting flight to the US.
9. My husband has flown home from overseas, and his baggage has arrived on a later flight. If regulations have changed, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Are you saying that the airlines actually load baggage as a passenger board a plane? If that%26#39;s the case, I%26#39;m impressed. If it%26#39;s as boarding passes are issued, I had mine.
I don%26#39;t think that I was unreasonable in being disappointed in a rebooking that got me home 30 hours after my expected time of arrival, especially when I had a mid morning landing at CDG. I don%26#39;t think I was unreasonable about being critical about standing in waiting lines for an hour or more only to be directed to another line and another incredibly slow technology system. I don%26#39;t think that I was unreasonable in not being able to contact my family about my delay, or at least how I could do so without the assistance of the airlines. I don%26#39;t think that I was unreasonable in barely making my flight when I arrived three hours before my flight%26#39;s departure...one agent checking US passports at a busy airport is not enough.
The weather situation was real, and as I said, %26quot;When they don%26#39;t want to fly, I don%26#39;t want to fly.%26quot; I have just never seen a situation handled as poorly as it was at CDG, and my story is not the only one.
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