Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport

There is no check at all by employees.

People not wearing masks, hanging over people they don't know. Sitting too close to strangers.

Airco is on but probably on warm because it is awful hot.

Most toilets closed. No soap, no toilet paper.

When not following other Covid-19 rules, no need to close almost all toilets.

Poor signage. Air France misdirected me FOUR times, from terminal to terminal. Three counter had people screaming at the customer service people; in two cases, police were called. Missed connection. Stood for more than an hour trying to make a new connection, only to have the staff person put on her coat and walk away in the middle, with no apology, as her shift was over. They lost my luggage. If it wasn't for a very nice man from Jet Airways, I might still be. Bathrooms were filthy. I will do everything I can to avoid this airport again.

I can't say enough terrible things about this awful place.

We landed here with 2:45 until our next flight. More than enough, right?

Guess again. We landed in a field in the middle of nowhere, and were put on a bus. Apparently there were only a few buses, so all 350+ people on our massive aircraft for an intercontinental flight were offloaded ~20 at a time. It took over 30 minutes just to get on a bus.

Next, we drive for 6 minutes only to merge in a traffic jam inside the airport. I could've walked to the terminal from there in 15 minutes, but we were forced to sit inside the bus for the next HOUR moving a few meters every minute until we were finally at the terminal entrance.

There, we saw that we had to go through customs again, and the line was literally snaked around the terminal building. There wasn't an airport person in sight to manage anything, so there were plenty of rude/stupid people who cut in line. What are you going to do? Scream at them and be removed from the airport?

Over 3 hours later, we were finally at our departure gate. Thank god our plane was delayed or we would've missed our second intercontinental flight.

Our way back was no better. Our incoming flight was delayed, and while we didn't have to offload into a bus in a field somewhere this time, we did have to go through customs again. At the place where you put your stuff into a bin onto the belt, there was an extremely rude guy barking at people. Just a total jerk. When I told him I didn't appreciate being barked at, he purposely moved my wife's bin into the "extra check required" lane and we ended up waiting 30 minutes for her back to be checked. The people at the end of that lane were equal jerks, with the bags just sitting there (!) while they nothing. One lady was about to miss her flight and was pleading with them to just grab her bag and check it, but they ignored her and just laughed.

On to the shops. You know how in the US, if you're standing in a shop, someone will smile at you and welcome you? How if you are standing in front of something that someone needs, they will smile and say "sorry, could you please move just a bit for me" or something like that? Well, not here. Shop personnel will ignore you. They will literally invade your personal space to place an item on a shelf behind you. I guess asking "excuse me please" is too much to ask, eh?

Do not fly through this third world dump. There's nothing here but arrogant French people, who somehow think their incompetent and pathetic airport is world-class and gives them the power to belittle you and treat you like dirt.

If you are travelling back to North America and use a local European airline to get to a major city first, DO NOT get a flight that you have to transfer through Paris CDG. If you are flying to a city in Europe where you can't fly direct, same applies - do not go through Paris. It is a nightmare trying to figure out how to get to your terminal on the other side of the airport. Two shuttles and one train, lots of walking. Two times uniformed airport people gave me wrong directions. The signs are non-existent - no help at all. My luggage got lost too.

Because the boarding of my incoming flight from Washington Dulles started late and took way too long, this plane was delayed by over an hour, giving me less than an hour to catch my connecting flight to Amsterdam.

After being held back in the plane and not allowed off for another twenty minutes, I was in quite a panic when I finally arrived at customs. Because of my Dutch European Union Passport; I was directed to the automatic Custom check, but the line was hardly moving and I soon figured out why: only one automatic gate was functioning properly.

When I asked what I was supposed to do (boarding had already started), I was told in very poor English that "I should have gotten in the right line", thus blaming me for being directed the wrong way. When I started protesting (and some other passengers with me), security was called and we were being contained by five angry, poor English shouting men.

Thanks to the people waiting in the "right" line, I finally cleared customs, but was then pointed in the wrong direction to the gate, which means I had to run all the way back.

At the right gate, I was told that all my running was unnecessary; With more than half the passengers boarding late, my flight wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Why didn't anyone tell me I didn't need to hurry?

All in all, I thought the people at Paris Charles de Gaulle were very rude and should at least all take a class or two in English. It's an international airport, they can't expect every traveller to speak fluent French!

First, they made me, a diasabled traveler, switch lines so a flight crew could go in front of me. Then, they took my wedding ring out of the tray as it went through the xray machine.

Then, nobody cares to help me find it.

Guess its a scheme and all of "security" is involved.

Its a busy Friday night i have waited half an hour already to get through passport control and at least have same again why have 20 desks and 4 open? Same coming in next time will let the train take the strain. Management shame on you! Cant comment on shops and restaurants no time!

After being guided to the wrong terminal we missed our flight by 5 minutes. They refused to open the door even though boarding started earlier than it should have. Then they had the audacity to charge us a fee to get a new flight. After the desk attendant and manager laughed at us in French we got a new flight without the fee. The most confusing and dysfunctional airport and I would never ever recommend it to anyone. I know for a fact that I will never fly through there ever again.

***And as an added note, they lost our luggage and sent them to the wrong airport. It has been three days and we still have not heard anything on the whereabouts of our luggage.***

Arriving in Paris, out Shuttledirect driver was waiting for us. A pleasant chap who delivered us to our hotel.

However, on the morning of our pick-up, despite a reminder call to the shuttledirect office, no-one turned up at our pick-up time! We waited & waited......40 minutes late the car turned up, but the driver said he couldn't take us because "You haven't paid!" We showed him our receipt, but to no avail! With our wives in tears, we asked the concierge to call another cab. Phew! Thankfully it turned up, and despite being charged a lot extra, we arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport 45 minutes before our flight was due to leave! We made it by the skin of our teeth..DESPITE SHUTTLEDIRECT!

When we got home we contacted Shuttledirect who apologised for the "misunderstanding" and refunded us for half of our original outlay.

NEVER AGAIN....MY ADVICE......USE ANYONE EXCEPT SHUTTLEDIRECT!

Welcome to the only third world airport in Europe! Charles de Gaulle airport is gloomy and filled with homeless people in the public areas. Most bathrooms are filthy and the ground aren't much better. The organization is a complete mess. I'm French and I have a hard time finding my way around it. I can only imagine how foreigners might fare! I cannot believe we pay huge airport fees as part of our tickets for the privilege of struggling in airports like this one. Avoid CDG like the plague, London and Amsterdam combined with low-cost European airlines will get you where you need to go, even in provincial France, under much better conditons.