4 ms·

Whats so bad about CDG?

by keepquestioning 4y ago

addingadimensio 4y ago
Its the worst airport I’ve ever been to
- executesorder66 4y ago
  Wow, you really added to the conversation. I just want to thank you for the effort you put into this insightful comment. We all know so much more about Charles de Gaulle airport now. This kind of content is was keeps me on HN.
blamazon 4y ago
I want to give you a thorough answer but I've a lifetime of bad experiences with that airport and I'm on my phone where I can only type for so long before my thumbs hurt. My issue is not so much about the physical design of the airport (although I do have beef there) but more the human institution of it. Suffice it to say that I have missed way too many international connections there due to kafkaesque bureaucracy, and they've lost way too much of my checked baggage. It's also an especially bad place (relative to other major European air hubs) to have a member of your travel party in a wheelchair. However, they do have an on-site high speed rail terminal and I think that's super awesome and deserves major kudos.
johnrlambert 4y ago
I had my first panic attack in that terminal, so I may be one of the few in this thread with professional psychiatric analyses to share (though surely not the only one.) Basically a lot of Americans find CDG stressful because it is so close to the beauty of Paris without allowing any exposure to it. It is a perfectly accomodating and pleasant space, but it hits the uncanny valley of manufactured cultural institutions while really just being an airport at the behest of arbitrary French immigration officials. The airport is also very open even by airport standards. There are very few nooks and/or crannies to hide away in to catch your bearings. The omnipresent announcements relay information relevant to you 1% of the time but you constantly feel on edge trying to keep up with all of them. Couple that with the fact that travellers are likely to be sleep deprived (or in my case Ambien deprived) and you have a recipe for disaster. If purgatory is a real place I am pretty sure it will feel like CDG. Its quite a nice place for an airport. In fact, your first hour there is always lovely, but it seems to have an exaggerated version of that 'airport feeling.'

Whats so bad about CDG?

addingadimensio 4y ago

Its the worst airport I’ve ever been to

executesorder66 4y ago
Wow, you really added to the conversation. I just want to thank you for the effort you put into this insightful comment. We all know so much more about Charles de Gaulle airport now. This kind of content is was keeps me on HN.

blamazon 4y ago

I want to give you a thorough answer but I've a lifetime of bad experiences with that airport and I'm on my phone where I can only type for so long before my thumbs hurt. My issue is not so much about the physical design of the airport (although I do have beef there) but more the human institution of it. Suffice it to say that I have missed way too many international connections there due to kafkaesque bureaucracy, and they've lost way too much of my checked baggage. It's also an especially bad place (relative to other major European air hubs) to have a member of your travel party in a wheelchair. However, they do have an on-site high speed rail terminal and I think that's super awesome and deserves major kudos.

johnrlambert 4y ago

I had my first panic attack in that terminal, so I may be one of the few in this thread with professional psychiatric analyses to share (though surely not the only one.) Basically a lot of Americans find CDG stressful because it is so close to the beauty of Paris without allowing any exposure to it. It is a perfectly accomodating and pleasant space, but it hits the uncanny valley of manufactured cultural institutions while really just being an airport at the behest of arbitrary French immigration officials. The airport is also very open even by airport standards. There are very few nooks and/or crannies to hide away in to catch your bearings. The omnipresent announcements relay information relevant to you 1% of the time but you constantly feel on edge trying to keep up with all of them. Couple that with the fact that travellers are likely to be sleep deprived (or in my case Ambien deprived) and you have a recipe for disaster. If purgatory is a real place I am pretty sure it will feel like CDG. Its quite a nice place for an airport. In fact, your first hour there is always lovely, but it seems to have an exaggerated version of that 'airport feeling.'