julies

Just curious. We went through CDG immigration yesterday after arriving on a morning flight from the US, and it was incredibly slow. There were several booths that were manned, but the officials occupying them didn't have their open lights on so no one could use those booths. The (few) officials who were processing people were extremely leisurely in their approach.

kerouac

Slow down strikes do exist in France, but there are none at the moment.

I think all of us everywhere have sometimes been annoyed by people whom we see present in certain situations and "not doing anything." Sometimes they are actually doing something very important but which is not immediately obvious to observers. And sometimes they are just off duty but do not have a suitable place to go out of sight of the public.

PalenQ

My French son went back home last August and had the same thing at CDG Immigration -only two booths open and long long lines. Seems not out of the ordinary. But as he said 'that's France'!

StCirq

It's not a "slow-down." It's typical early in the morning. Get used to the way the French operate. They're not in high gear the way Americans seem to be most of the time, even if they're not accomplishing much more than the French are.

There aren't any strikes at the moment.

julies

PalenQ--yes, that's exactly what it was. Two open booths and long lines at 9:00 am.

It wasn't only the contrast to how things are done in the US but more of a contrast to our experiences in other countries all over the world.

So, a word of warning to others: A 1.5 hour connection in CDG is probably too short despite the fact that we were reassured by Delta it was long enough. The only way we made our connecting flight was because I finally asked the woman who was directing people through the lines if she could help us make our flight. She very kindly took us to the front of the line.

kerouac

People with short connections are expected to make that known, just like disabled people.

bilboburgler

I suspect you just met your first culture-gap. For instance the idea of jumping the queue to mention that you have a time problem is almost impossible for a Northern European/Northern American, but to the French would be normal.

I was in Bordeaux during the rail strike last year. The Union had set up a "meet and greet" position to help customers, note not the management, but becuase the Union were not being paid to do the work they were not either meeting or indeed greeting, what they were doing was chatting about football and refusing to make eye contact with any "customers".

So service offering was there just not delivered.

PalenQ

Gee France has a high youth unemployment problem - hire some young adults - who may speak English a bit - at help man or woman the control points at CDG.

Christina

I've arrived at CDG in the early morning many times over a couple decades and have never spent more than about 30 minutes getting through passport control. I don't find anything that unusual there compared to any other airport. I've never arrived in the US from abroad in early morning, so can't compare would would happen here as I always arrive in afternoon back home.

I find it really funny that Americans jumping the queue due to a time problem is something they would never think of doing. har har har, I've seen plenty of Americans trying to do that.

julies

First of all, I don't exactly think that a 8:30 am flight is at the crack of dawn so there would only be very few people on duty.

And, yes there were definitely many passive,rather than line-jumping, Americans on board. Several fellow passengers were still quietly standing in line despite the fact that it was time for their fight (which I am positive they missed). When we first got in line, the first person I asked about whether we'd make our flight basically just told me to suck it up since everyone in line was probably in a similar situation. After we'd waited and waited in line, and the time for our flight was fast approaching, was when I asked a different person who then took us to the head of the line.