At CDG, we need to meet somebody who arrives after us in a different terminal.

She is not CDG-savvy. Neither are we, but we've at least had recent experience. We want to give her detailed instructions. However, the three best websites we've found--aeroports de paris, easycdg, and bonjourlafrance--don't have the level of detail we need. Here’s where you come in, we hope.

Our plan so far: we arrive at 2E at 6:10am, pick up our rental car, stash our luggage in the trunk, and then wait near the rental car desk for our friend. (A variant of this plan is that once we load up our car, one of us can find the CDG-VAL stop and wait there for her.)

She arrives in terminal 1 at 7:55am, picks up luggage, and then follows signs to the CDG-VAL stop on level 2 between check-in 5 and 6.

She takes CDG-VAL to Terminal 2 which takes apx 8 min.

She'll look for terminals 2E and 2F.

Then she'll get to the ground level galerie between 2E and 2F and walk apx 3 min to doors 5/6 where the rental car desks are. And there we'll be!

So many things can go wrong with this. Neither party will have a cell phone. If we were going into Paris, we'd go separately, but our destination is pretty rural.

Will we be able to check Terminal 1 arrivals from Terminal 2, or are the displays only for the terminal we're in?

Where exactly in Terminal 2 does the CDG-VAL stop? And at what level? Is it closer to 2F or 2E?

We're familiar with the ground level of the 2E-2F galerie, but is there more than one level?

I think the car rental places in the galerie are closer to 2F than 2E. Is this correct?

Do you think this plan is okay for someone who's not CDG savvy? Are there any details you would correct?

Or if you have better suggestions, please share. I'm worried we'll never see our friend again.

The major problem with your plan is that you assume that everyone's flight arrives on schedule, which is possible. However, it's just as likely someone will be late.

I recommend the following:

1. You instruct your friend to wait outside of the customs exit at terminal 1. In the unlikely event you are seriously delayed, you may want to prearrange a back up plan to be execute after prearranged wait time.

2. Meanwhile, after collecting your luggage, proceed to the rental counter on the lowest level of Terminal 2. The driver will checkout the car. The other person, the greeter, may proceed to terminal 1 to pickup the friend.

3. The driver checks out the car, loads the luggage and waits at the rental lot just outside from the rental counters. Waiting here will preclude the necessity of paying for parking somewhere else.

Obviously the details may be tweaked but the advantage is that two people have fixed and always known positions: the driver and the Terminal 1 passenger. The 3rd person, the greeter, will have plenty of time to solve the details of transportation to and back from terminal 1.

Good backup contingencies to plan A are also advised.

Just as a possible alternative, you could take a shuttle to a nearby hotel with a lounge, meet up there, and head back to get your rental car together.

agree- take the shuttle to the Sheraton (on CDG premises-onky hotel that really is at cdg). meet in lounge then go all together for car

totally agree with WillTravel and frenchwow, the shuttle to the Sheraton sounds like a great idea. Earlier this year a friend and I met at CDG, arriving from different parts of the US and on different airlines, we thought we had great plans to meet up but she was coming from a connection in Amsterdam and I had a direct flight, long story short it took us 2 hours to find one another, what a fiasco.

I second sarastro

When trying to find people without cell phones, it is much better if one party simply stays put and doesn't move - at all. Asking them to come out of their own terminals customs area and staying in that general area is probably for the best so that they are NOT a moving target. Once they move from the "known area" - good luck finding them.

That said, giving her detailed info on where to find you "just in case" she moves anyway or happens to come in before you, is late, whatever.. is still a good idea - at least you have a backup (but make sure to explain it's backup only). I'd type all the vital information, in detail, so that at minimum she has something to hand the information desk.

Definitely shuttle to the hotel. Then at least if either plane is delayed there is a comfortable place to sit/wait.

Even the most detailed instructions about where to wait/how to get from one terminal to the other can get fouled up either by the jet lag fog, or just by it being CDG!

So shuttle to Sheraton, relax and wait.

Another vote for the hotel. If the driver doesn't mind getting the car and bringing it to the hotel, so much the better, as long as the other two are definitely meeting in the hotel lobby.

Did you check the maps here on the official website?

http://tinyurl.com/knf7nr

I don't know. I think it's silly to arrange to meet at a hotel. Why does the friend have to lug the luggage there? It makes no sense to me.

Figure out the right door at the departure level, as you suggested initially, and wait there.

I don't know if you can check T1 departures somewhere else, but you'll be at the airport. There should be lots of information counters around. If the one you talk to can't speak English, find someone else. Worse comes to worst, I'd imagine that they can make an annoucement.

If the flight is delayed, find a local restaurant and have a drink there or buy some magazines to read. That's what I would do.

If shopping mall staff can help locate lost 6-year olds, I think you and your friend can handle CDG!

The maps on the website seem to be for the departure level only. I wonder why? In any case, the maps seem to be pretty clear.

I think waiting at the car rental counter is fine, but if you want something more foolproof, maybe wait at the information counter at the departure level instead. It's clearly marked on the map.

I think if flights arrive on time, you should have time to go over to T1 to meet her. That's a good plan. If not, most likely you are delayed. You could have her come to T2E in that event.

All terminals have more than one level. I really don't think meeting at the Sheraton is necessary, either, as it seems she would have as much trouble finding it as finding the car rental location in 2E, or wherever it is. Either way, she is going to have to figure out directions, signs, and how to get some place.

I don't see why you'd feel it necessary to check out your car before she arrives, that seems to unnecessarily complicate things. Why not wait for her and then get the car.

You guys are great. Thanks for your helpful replies.

We're aware that flights might be delayed, but the 1 3/4 hour gap beween our scheduled arrival time and hers gives us a good chance of being ready to meet her. I like the suggestion that one of us go to meet her--not just at our terminal's CDG-VAL, but at her terminal.

We plan to pick up our car first thing because there may be a problem with the rental car (it's happened twice), and also it gives us a place to put our luggage, a place to stay parked, and a comfy backseat for one of us to nap in while the other goes to meet her. Who will that lucky person be?

I'll be thinking of a backup plan. Right now our thought is to call a relative in the US who'll be home at that time.

Just tell her to meet you at the terminal 2E car rental counter. Even if you wander away from there, you will have told the car rental staff where you are, and they will either tell her to wait for your return or direct her to where you are.