Kelabel

Hello All,
Some lady just told me that there is a problem with a terminal or something at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Does anyone know about this? I leave for there tomorrow. I'd like to assume this won't affect me.
Thanks.
Kel

francophile03

Yes, part of Terminal 2E collapsed today with 6 dead. Check with your airline, I guess it would be Air France.

The news was reported on Yahoo! and AOL and there are some links here too.

Underhill

It may well affect you, as delays are predicted.

roothy123

I think it was actually terminal 2F that had the roof problem, but it really doesn't matter, since what terminal you come into seems to be fairly fluid. I came through 2F Thursday afternoon - glad it wasn't yesterday! CDG is such a nightmare to begin with if you have to make a connection. If you're simply flying to Paris and not connecting, you probably won't be delayed by too much. However, if you're connecting there, you need to do whatever you can to know exactly where you need to go to make your connection. My advice:

When you get off the plane, immediately confirm what gate and terminal (D, E, F, etc.) you want and then ask the best way to get there. There's a shuttle bus, but you can also walk. The airport is very confusing, and poorly marked. There are 6 different terminals (well, 5 in use now!) and few clues as to which way to walk to get anywhere. If you come in at 2F as we did and need another gate in 2F, you'll be tempted to follow signs to "Correspondence" (transfers). I don't think that's what you want. Instead, you need to go towards the exit, go out and come back into the terminal and find your gate. I snagged an Air France flight attendant and, in my very basic French, asked her how to get to gate 56. She said to go out the exit and then go up/down to the gates. It looked like we were headed out of the airport, but it was really only getting us out of one part of 2F. If you're going from one TERMINAL to ANOTHER, however, I think you DO want to follow the "correspondence" arrows. In any case, do NOT dawdle.....Maybe our experience was not typical, but based on what I've read on this board, plus the fact that Air France marked our luggage with "short connection" tags, an hour and 20 minutes is just barely enough time to get through the nightmare that is CDG!!!!

Going TO Europe, we had only an hour and 20 minutes to connect and almost missed the flight because of an hour long wait at passport control. (Two people for hundreds of people with non-EU passports; two people for about 50 people with EU passports!) A supervisor told us that, next time, we should go outside the terminal and come back in. If asked, we should say we were laying over in Paris. That way, you'll go through security but not passport control. Not sure if this is legal, but that's what we were told to do!! I would not hesitate to do it, since standing in line and worrying about missing our flight was NOT NICE.

ira

Hi kelabel,

Part of the roof of terminal 2E is in unsafe condition. Another part collapsed.

Your flight will be directed to a safe part of the airport.

Reader

We are scheduled to return home through CDG terminal 2E on June 13. I don't like to think that the ceiling may crash on us just as we are leaving (well, I wouldn't want it to crash on us just as we are arriving either) so I hope they switch our departure to another, safer terminal. My question is what (other than call the airline before I leave for Europe) do folks here recommend that I do while I am traveling to stay aprised of the situation? I won't have easy internet or phone access while traveling, alas.

111op

It's indeed 2E -- this is the article from lemonde.fr:

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,...-366094,0.html

The news reports say that 2E has been shut down completely and this will be demolished completely if there're structural faults. I doubt that anyone will be using 2E in the meantime.

ira

Hi Reader,

Call your airline now and see if they have redirected the plane.

Continue calling your airline until you get your new departure terminal.

elberko

Reader,

Gates get changed all the time. When you get to the airport, look at the departure board.

Reader

A changed gate at the last minute will be no big deal, but a changed terminal could be a MAJOR hassle in a crowded airport. (Not that I am complaining. I feel very lucky NOT to have been in that terminal yesterday, very sad for the people who were, and entirely willing to be inconvenienced in the cause of not being crushed by a piece of terminal.)

I will indeed call my airline before I leave for London on June 2 to find out what they plan, but since we will not be going through CDG until June 13 we may not have the most uptodate information.

My question is: Once in Paris, would it be better to phone the airport or the airline to find out about the terminal? (I am so used to checking everything on the net! I am going to go through severe internet withdrawal during my trip, I fear.)

Airlawgirl

New cracking noises have been heard in Terminal 2E today, prompting the evacuation of security workers from the area. Terminal 2E is now closed for passenger traffic.

ira

Hi reader,

You can check arrivals and departures at CDG on the net at an internet cafe

http://query.adp.fr/HDV/HDV/en/horaires.aspx

or call your airline.

Reader

Thanks Ira. Now I just need to find an Internet Cafe.

I'll be staying at the Ibis Alesia hotel (which doesn't seem to be near anything at all) in Paris.

Andre

Air France has set up a special phone number with updated departure and arrival information for CDG:

0 800 800 812 from within France

+33 800 800 812 from abroad

However, bear in mind that ARRIVAL terminals are always subject to change - not that it really matters unless someone is coming to meet you.

Hope this helps,
Andre

BrimhamRocks

Reader, if your hotel doesn't have internet access, you can curb your appetite at a number of cyber cafes scattered around Paris. I typed "Paris internet cafe" into GOOGLE and came up with a few sites that list cyber cafes.

Here's one example:

http://www.world66.com/world/europe/...ris/cybercafes

Reader

Thanks for the link, BirmhamRocks!

If I could find an internet cafe within walking distance of our hotel, I would be very happy.

I don't know if my hotel has internet access, but since often all that "internet access" means is that they have a place where I can plug in the laptop (which we are leaving at home), I need to locate a cafe in each city that we visit.