Charles de Gaulle airport: Speediest arrival and departure ever!
 

I was concerned about delays for arrivals and departures at CDG, as we are transiting this airport 4 times in 2 weeks.

Fodorite friends reported a completely overwhelmed system when they arrived at CDG on November 18.

When we flew in from Canada at 8 am on Tuesday Nov 24, there was only the usual immigration check with only 3 or 4 people ahead of us in line. As our flight was less than full (I actually found 4 empty seats where I stretched out and slept) our luggage came fast. It was, in fact, our speediest arrival ever at CDG.

Yesterday, we flew to Rome from CDG. We anticipated that we might have delays this time - I had heard of multiple checks of documents and long lines. But Terminal 2F had the lightest traffic I've ever seen. From alighting from the RER train until we sat down at the departure gate was 25 minutes.

That included 5 minutes or so in a line up at an AF ticket office to check how much it would cost to switch to an earlier flight. (85 Euros - we declined)

At the security check, the personnel outnumbered travelers. Took 3 minutes maximum.

There is "heightened security" at FCO airport as well, which means a swarm of police confront you when you descend from the bus that conveys you from plane to terminal. There is no barrier or checkpoint, just armed men who say nothing and expect you to guess that they are checking passports - which they don't actually look at.

We fly from Florence to CDG for an overnight on Dec 8, then back to Canada on the 9th. I've no idea whether traffic will still be unnaturally light or whether a pre-Xmas rush will be on (ticket prices to Canada on AF seem higher from Dec 10, which may be the start of holiday travel)

I did a Bordeaux-Orly round trip last week, and had a similar lack of delay. I wondered then if this was because the number of travelers seemed fewer than normal.

Sometims the stars are aligned just right and you have that kind of experience. Hope it continues for you and you are having a great trip.

And you missed freezing rain at home yesterday.

Thanks all.
Cold, I'm just hoping the snow holds off at home until we're ready to head south to GA after Christmas.
It was pretty cold and grey most of the time in Paris. Much different in Rome, where you need just a sweater, no jacket (except Roman men never go out without a jacket)
Nikki I thought of you when we walked by Sully Morland area. I've always wanted to stay in that flat you rented.
We also had lunch at Bistrot du Peintre, where I attended my first Fodors GTG (with you) about a decade ago.

Very very different from what friends experienced just last week - their plane landed in the middle of the airport and buses slowly took them into terminal where just two passport inspection desks out of many were open - they waited an hour in line to get passport stamped and then again a long wait to go thru security to board -nearly missed their connecting flight even though had scheduled two hours in between. and this was on Air France flights.

Leave plenty of time between flights or train reservations at CDG if connecting! and then hope you breeze thru and have time to twiddle thumbs!

All my experiences in Paris CDG are positive. The security check is a little slow, but it's a minor issue that occurs only when they deal with rush hours.

Well my son recently went in and out of CDG and he said the same thing - very long lines at passport checks with only a few desks out of many many open - that was before the recent Paris attacks. And I have been on planes that deboarded out in the middle of the airport and slow buses took us all around the airport and finally to the terminal. I had booked a Thalys train from central Paris thinking I had plenty of time and missed it.

Point is it may be a breeze as those above say but it could take much longer than you think - error on the side of caution - if you have a connecting flight or train - OP has no such worries but get to the airport plenty early IMO and the recent experience of my friends and son.

Why were there only a few passport desks open is the question with many unstaffed?

For anyone interested: I just flew into Terminal 2F from Italy. There was no passport control. Seems the Schengen protocols are being followed, despite security concerns.
We didn't even see many guns in the terminal.

I live in Paris and just returned to USA Monday Dec.7 for the holidays and CDG had very few travelers. My American Airlines 755 had over 150 empty seats. There was a mass exodus of tourists right after the Nov.13 terrorist attacks and now the crowds at CDG are mostly gone. It will be interesting to see if things pick up during the Christmas season in Paris. Might be a good time to visit Paris early next year. Airfares may drop soon but probably not for the Christmas season. In the city things are pretty much back to normal. Cafes are busy, cinemas are busy and the concert halls are filling up again.

Paris for the Parisians - must be a weird feeling.

Flew home to Canada on the morning of Dec 9 from Terminal 2 E.
The Air France ticket counters were empty.
Passport control took about 5 minutes.
Lines were long at security at the M departure gates (reached by train from the main terminal) but moved fast. We were through in 20 minutes.
Staff were determined to keep things moving - they actually seemed frenzied.
AF flight was perhaps one quarter empty.