CDG Airport
 

Do flights ever leave on time from CDG airport? I have been checking on a flight that I will be taking in the fall and their on time performance(Delta)is not so good.
Has anyone any expeience or knows why this happens?
Thanks.

CDG is an extremely busy airport, with many, many flights coming in and going out. Given that, and the paucity of gates and jetways, it's not surprising that things get backed up.

>Do flights ever leave on time from CDG airport?

There must have been at least one, once.

((I))

yes, I've had quite a few leave on time. Actually, I've never had a problem with that at CDG, and my nonstop flights that arrive there from the US (on Air France) usually arrive a little early, consistently--assuming something didn't hold up departure in the US a long time, of course.

I didn't know Delta even flew from CDG, I thought it was always AF, but maybe it's Delta's fault, not the airport, could that be? All I know is the one airline/flight I've had a lot of trouble with at CDG was American Airlines and it was completely their fault, not the airport's. They had a lot of mechanical problems and bad customer service and crummy airplanes.

For flights leaving CDG to the US, unlikely to be on-time. Besides what Underhill says (i.e. bus gates), there's also the secondary screening issue, and just poor airport design (my last flight out of CDG was delayed for 30 minutes because another flight just pulled into the adjacent gate - which shouldn't be a problem at most airports around the world, but is one at CDG 2A).

I've had only a couple of flights leave late out of CGD, and almost all of my flights from the US to CDG get in early....but I haven't flown anything but United for quite a few years now.

It's a very busy airport, so I'm sure there are late takeoffs as at any airport, but it certainly doesn't seem to be a pattern in my experience.

I have generally left on time out of CDG. However, there is a good chance of leaving late for anybody flying in the 11:00-13:00 time slot, which is the busiest time.

We have always left on time from CDG to JFK whereas there seem to always be 25 planes ahead of us on takeoff at JFK but we've still landed on time or earlier.

Another delay can result due to a change in terminals. I found that a connecting flight was leaving from a "nearby adjacent terminal". The only way we could get there in time was to pull our bags across a busy airport ring road, dodging traffic.

We were about 30 minutes late getting out of CDG last Nov. Supposedly, and I have no reason to doubt, we were waiting for some passengers from a connecting flight coming into CDG from another city. My flight was to SFO on Air France, and as I understand, the plane from the other place was also Air France. It didn't bother me, because if I had been on that other plane and was trying to make that connection I certainly would have been grateful to have them hold that plane.

I can't see that it makes a whole lot of difference.

The only one of many flights from CDG that was late (more than 10-15 minutes) leaving was because of snow in New York.

On the way to the airport the taxi driver said "It's snowing in New York." I said I'm going to Atlanta and it won't be snowing there. HOWEVER, my flight was coming from New York and was delayed a few hours.

Since late 2004 I have been flying with Air France and each of my flights from CDG has been delayed each time. Early 2004 I used United Airlines and the flight departed on schedule. I don't know how it is now with UAL though and I am sure there are flights with other airlines that leave on time.

Thanks for all the responses,I guess I better be prepared to stay over in Atlanta(which is my connecting city to the west.)

St.Cirq: Why United?

Thanks,

-e

enroute: Do you mean why do I fly United?

Well, for years I flew AirFrance, and then the airlines invented frequent flier programs, and guess what? Air France offered miles only to French citizens, which I was not. And then when they realized the ridiculousness of that posture, they then made it so hard to get the flippin' miles (Désolée, Madame...you are flying on a Friday with a small child? We cannot offer miles for zat, Madame) that I finally stopped flying them and switched to United, which isn't exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to airlines, but it's just fine by me. And now that I've accumulated several hundred thousand miles on UA, I can't really justify flying other airlines unless I get a terrific bargain. UA has also been very good about offering me free upgrades - maybe I'm just lucky or maybe they do look at your miles when choosing people for upgrades 9I"m not very airline-savvy), but I've been upgraded to business or first-class three times in the last 4 years. I like that.

Only problem is UA doesn't have direct flights from Dulles to Rome, which was my destination on my last two trips. But I like going through those sleek, efficient German airports on the way, so it's no big deal.

Apart from the delays I don't mind flying Air France. However, I do agree with what StCirq mentioned about their frequent flyer program. They do make it difficult to obtain ff mileage. For example, if you purchase your air tickets on sale they credit your ff account with only 25% total miles. This way it'll take more than several roundtrips to obtain a transatlantic award ticket.

St Cirq:

Thank you very much for your thoughts. I have been toying with the idea of commiting to an airline instead of a credit card s.a. Capital One for ff.

This helps.

Upgrades are certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Many thanks,

-e

Ugh! I avoid this airport at all costs. Everything does seem to leave late. I have flown through CDG several times. Each time a gate has changed WITHOUT an announcement. I've also had several lost luggage experiences here. Maybe it was just due to my Air France flights...but beware!

I have an Air France FF account and am a US citizen and have no trouble getting the same miles I flew. I don't think my fares were on sale exactly, but I don't know what that means. They were advance purchase coach seats and cheaper than any other airline, but I don't think they were called a sale per se.

I get miles on AF codeshares and KLM flights included on my AF FF account, also. I'm not doubting that AF at one time didn't allow other citizens to have their accounts, but that's not true now. They even gave me 3K miles just for joining. This was just about a year ago, so I haven't had them long, but I've already got 13K miles on them.