I'm hoping one of you frequent flyers into CDG can help me. I'll be arriving on an AirFrance flight which suppossedly gets into Terminal 2C. The person I am going to meet will be arriving on an Air France flight operated by Delta suppossedly getting into Terminal 2E. According to the CDG airport website map, there isn't a terminal 2E (it goes A,B,C,D,F. So that's my first question.

Main question is where to meet this person. She has never been to Paris (or even Europe) before, and her flight gets in almost an hour before mine does. I need to explain to her where to wait for me. We will be taking the RER into the city so I thought of having her meet me at the train station, but my memory of it (it's been a couple of years since I was there last) is that there wasn't alot of places to sit, anywhere to get coffee, etc. So - anyone have any suggestions. Thanks.

I think meeting at the RER station is what makes sense. While there are not a ton of concessions, it is not entirely devoid of anything. Your friend could also kill some of the time before even going over to the RER station. Here's a link to some maps, including 2E:

http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/e...naux/plans.htm

There should probably be a "Plan B", in the event that either of you experiences a serious delay. Have a great trip!

I always fly Delta or Air France to CDG. We were there last month. There is a terminal 2E and she will be arriving there. The actual terminal is still closed, but the arrivals are at the same location, as is the luggage collection area. The RER station would be a perfect place to meet. There is one ticket office and you can meet her in front of it, or in the adjacent cafe. Once you buy your tickets to go into Paris the trains are one level below. The turnstiles are right by the cafe though. The automatic ticket machines in this area won't take US credit cards. You will need to stand in line to buy your tickets at the train station office.

On her return from Paris she will be told that it will take longer than usual (45 minutes is advised on the Delta tickets) to get to the "new" terminal 2E holding area. They have built a temporary area to wait in for your flights. It did not take us 45 minutes, but it is a long walk.

It's not difficult. Have fun!

I have always thought that the Sheraton Hotel, connected to the terminal , seemed like a good place to meet someone and be COMFORTABLE, if I ever needed to do so in this same situation.

Those who know the café next to the RER.. would the Sheraton be more comfortable... (bathrooms, etc.) for what MIGHT turn into more than the scheduled hour?

And it is also very well- marked, so no getting lost.

My vote would be for comfort and the ease getting to the location. If that means the hotel (lobby) I would opt for that. People who tell you "the RER station is easy to find or get to..." have undoubtedly done it at least once.

The person you are talking about may need a VERY easy-to-find location in which she feels at least a little relaxed.

I assume that you are going to discuss with the person the possibility that your flight might actually get in earlier than hers.

As annoyed as some people are at cell phones but this is one time when both of you having one that worked in Europe would be a godsend.

Flyboy and Images 2, thanks for that link and info. But I still can't tell where 2E is relation to 2C or to the railway station. The CDG site (http://www.paris-cdg.com/maps.html) doesn't even show a 2E - I guess it must be very new.

lincasanova - I hadn't thought of a hotel lobby. I did go on the Sheraton site and it says you can walk to it from Terminal 2 but I can't find it on a map (on either airport site). I wonder how they'd feel about people not staying there using their lobby. And how far a walk is it from the RER station?

Intrepid1 - why do you say the RER is hard to find. I've only done it twice but I don't recall it being particularly hard to find, especially the time I landed in Terminal 2, I think I just followed the signs. Is there something I'm forgetting?

I'm glad to hear there is a cafe in the Rail station section. That's what I'm leaning towards. I remembered the area where you buy your ticket, and going down one flight to the trains, but I didn't remember any place to sit and get some coffee (of course I wasn't looking for such a place at the time). So if you guys are confirming that there is a cafe I'll probably go for that. Thanks for all the help.

I personally thought the RER station was difficult to find as well. I don't think CDG is an easy airport to get around in anyways, and we had difficulties finding the station due to lack of signage/directions to it.

Tracy

isabel - The offical site is www.adp.fr They have very nice PDF maps of Terminal 2, but seperated into two files 2ABCD, and 2EF.

To get a overview view of CDG2, here's the map on Delta. ABCD is on the west side of train station; EF to the east. ACE are south of train station, BDF north.

http://www.delta.com/traveling_check..._cdg/index.jsp

The Sheraton is directly above the train station.

rkkwan - thanks for that link, that's the best map I've seen.

Now that I can see the layout I think the best idea will be to tell her to meet me in the cafe in the RER station (I hope there is only one). If she gets there and it doesn't seem condusive to sitting there for an hour she can go upstairs to the Sheraton lobby and hang out for a while.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Isabel, if you'll re-read my post I never said the RER station is "hard" to find but I do not think it as easy to find as the hotel.

And you have proven my point exactly since as I said, you have already DONE this at least once before.

Why don't you just tell her where to meet you and let her decide for herself what to do in the meantime. She should be able to decide that herself. I dont' think the RER station is hard to find, there are signs all over the airport to it, and signs in every terminal.

The Sheraton has a cafe, also, I presume that's what people meant. I really do not think a hotel wants to become a waiting room for every person in the airport waiting for the RER or train. That's why they have benches, vending machines, and other concessions for the public in that area.

This isn't specific to Paris, she should know how to prepare for a wait somewhere. She should have a book or magazine or something and be able to sit on a bench a little bit. If there aren't any in the RER area, there are plenty in the adjacent train station area for the TGV. They are right next to each other.

If you want the easiest, one of you goes and finds the other one at their gate. If she is nervous, have her stay at her arrrival gate and you can go find her. Then only one person is going and finding somewhere and one person stays put. There is a free shuttle bus between the terminals. Lots of people at CDG speak English and they will be able to help you find the terminal if you have problems.

as far as i know, it would be quite complicated to go to gate, because the first person to arrive would forfeit getting her luggage, which would eventually get put ( if no one stole it) in lost luggage department) ...

the first person would need to be savvy on how NOT to go out of gate areas.. and i doubt any check point would let the first arriver into an area where she had no boarding pass to board plane in that area.

pabco...
unless you know how to do this at cdg, (and you should have put exact instructions) this could be a very bad suggestion. tell me if i am wrong.

but could be imposible to do.

Thanks again for the replys. lincasanova - I totally agaree with you on that last suggestion. pabco33 may have meant well but there's no way that would work. Even if you both arrived at the same terminal and as I said originally, we get into 2C and the person we are meeting gets into 2E.

I appreciate everyone's help - now that I have a better map of Terminal 2, and now that I know there is a cafe in the train station, I think I'm all set. Also nice to know about the Sheraton in case the wait turns out to be longer than expected one of us will have the option of another place to wait. The person I'm meeting is not "nervous" or unable to decide what to do, or any of those kinds of things that it seems some people are assuming. If I implyed that in my original question I didn't mean to. I just need to tell her somewhere to meet us and couldn't remember the layout of the airport/train station well enough to remember if there was a decent waiting area in the train station. So unless anyone has a better suggestion than the train station I guess I'm all set. We do have a plan B in case of extreme delays.