Rip-Off Taxis at CDG

Takes just about the same time to take the train, the RER, from CDG into Central Paris as a taxi takes. About 12 or 13 Euros per person. You can buy your ticket at ther CDG/RER station with a credit card. No muss, no fuss. The Station is at the end of the main portion of Terminal 2.

Never understood why people take taxis where airports are well served by Metro or similar public transit.

Thank you for sharing this experience as a warning to others!
By the way, left bank fare is 62€, not 60, so, to the OP: it looks like you got a slight discount in the end! Glad that you followed your instinct!

About this:

Never understood why people take taxis where airports are well served by Metro or similar public transit.

Except Paris CDG is not a good example of such an airport. Train delays are all too common, rush hour crowding is serious, and there are many weekends without trains at all. Plus, most transfer stations in Paris have many flights of stairs. When I'm not alone, I'm more than happy to pay 55€ (right bank)!

Thank you for sharing this experience as a warning to others!
By the way, left bank fare is 62€, not 60, so, to the OP: it looks like you got a slight discount in the end! Glad that you followed your instinct!
Unless... Did you check on your statement that the card transaction didn't go through?

About this:

Never understood why people take taxis where airports are well served by Metro or similar public transit.

Except Paris CDG is not a good example of such an airport. Train delays are all too common, rush hour crowding is serious, and there are many weekends without trains at all. Plus, most transfer stations in Paris have many flights of stairs. I'm more than happy to pay 55€ (right bank)!

I have heard of that at numerous airports but do appreciate the jnfo. Yes I agree it is more expensive but we do sometimes take a taxi from the airport when we have been traveling for hours and just want the convenience of door to door service. We have done both metro and the tube among other cheaper means to get to the hotel but after thirteen hours or more of travel the savings of forty dollars is just not worth it.

I do not see a rip off here. You got there all OK excepting the need to get to an ATM.
It is usually good advice to not deal with people who approach you. Seems like at least the price was upfront although way too much and not to your liking. A rip off would have been one quoted price and a demand after the fact for more.
My approach to taxis is to never even consider one.

when I took a taxi from 2E, the official rank was at door 11, if I remember correctly, every terminal is going to have a different door, but all should be well signed.

Never understood why people take taxis where airports are well served by Metro or similar public transit.

1. You are generally very tired from a long flight to perhaps a strange airport.
2. You might have never been to the city before.
3. This may be your first time on a metro and figuring it out in brain fog isn't fun,
4. The difference is only a few dollars especially for 2 people.
5. You end up right in front of your hotel usually.
6. You get to do some comfortable above ground sightseeing.

Fred, we have done both over our many trips to Paris. But to be honest, a ‘legitimate’ taxi is just easier after a 9 hour flight from the west coast of North America. We haven’t enjoyed our RER trips in when the cars are incredibly crowded. Unless one is staying a short distance from the RER stop, adding in another step by Metro or bus becomes an added burden when one is tired. So yes, a taxi suits us just fine.

Anyone who approaches you for a taxi at any airport or train station is a con man. ALWAYS. We almost got taken at Termini in Rome years ago as we stumbled out jet lagged and taxis were lined up in front of the station and a tout asked us -- I luckily asked the fare to our apartment and it was like 35 Euro -- I knew it should be about 10 or so and then woke up looked around and saw the official line well away from the front of the station.

In Paris CDG there are literally footprints on the floor from customs to the official queue, and all terminals are very well signed BUT there are lots of people who will explain that no 'this line' is for the suburbs, you want that line. It is annoying that Paris allows this to continue.

Glad you noticed.

When arriving alone at CDG in the morning from SFO, a non-stop 11 hour flight, I always took the RER into Paris, didn't trust or take taxis or had the confidence in dealing with them. I only had 2 pieces of luggage anyway.

Fred Taxis at CDG are very reliable and as long as the fixed price is showing when you pull out you are good to go. All you have to do is not follow someone who approaches you asking if you need a taxi.

Never understood why people take taxis where airports are well served by Metro or similar public transit.

1. The best option for you isn’t necessarily the best option for others
2. Taking the RER may necessitate transferring to one or more metro trans
3. If there are 3 of you the cost is getting close and at 4 pretty much a wash
4. If you are traveling with young kids or the elderly it may be easier than trying to deal with them and the luggage.
5. People respond differently to jet lag.

Unless you have been warned about these guys that line the pathway to the official Taxi Stand I can see how you could have been swindled. The thing is they are not necessarily bad guys, you will get to your destination, they are just opportunist looking to make a buck off the unsophisticated traveler. Your gut served you well in this case.

Another reason to always have some cash on hand when you land in a foreign country. We usually take 200€ splitting it up between the two of us.

As far as not taking the metro in...I for one, have never taken a subway in my life before Europe and know myself well enough that I am not thinking on me feet after a 10 hour flight and possibly 15 hour day (from the tine I left my home) plus another 1 hour getting off the plane etc..no thanks, I will pay for the convince of a Taxi..

And btw, your taxi driver’s card reader worked just fine. He wanted cash. I’d have dug my heels in and said if he wanted to get paid, he was taking my card. I bet his machine would have worked just fine.

Are there any special precautions I need to take traveling from my hotel on the left bank to CDG? I thought I knew Paris and taxis well but got ripped off for a 90 euro trip when we were there in December 2022. Is there a set fee returning to the airport?

@ Donna, The current set rate for a regular taxi is 62€ between (to or from) CDG and any location on the Left Bank. So if you get a taxi at a taxi stand or hail one on the street, your charge should be 62€. If you call to arrange the taxi, there is a 4€ fee for immediate dispatch and a 7€ fee for a scheduled dispatch. I prefer to make arrangements a day or two before the travel time so I typically pay the additional 7€. Ask your hotel front desk person to call for you but make sure you ask for a regular Parisian taxi. Your hotel might presume that you want a car service and that may cost significantly more than a taxi. Or you can download the Taxi G7 app and arrange the pickup yourself. I find that the pre-arranged taxis arrive a couple of minutes before the scheduled time so you might want to be outside 5 minutes before the scheduled pick up time.

JHK, thanks for responding. In this situation, the river cruise company arranged the taxi for us. I don’t think it was a private car but that’s a possibility. The driver supposedly spoke no English and had a translator app on his phone. I just felt really stupid and duped. It won’t happen again.

@ Donna, Please don't feel stupid and duped. It sounds to me like a private service was used and 90€ is not a crazy price for a private service. I stayed once in a very luxurious place in the 16th arrondissement and the service they used cost 200€ and that was about 8 years ago. Our car was a gorgeous Mercedes van of some sort and our driver spoke English and told us charming stories and jokes from the 16th to CDG but it was not worth the 200€ IMO.

My sister got taken by this scam. She said she was lucky she had enough euros. She learned from others who are aware of this con, that if you refuse to pay, they will drive off with your stuff.

And btw, your taxi driver’s card reader worked just fine. He wanted
cash. I’d have dug my heels in and said if he wanted to get paid, he
was taking my card. I bet his machine would have worked just fine.

This is true. They're just hoping that you'll cave in. The card reader works just fine and is required by law.

Mo R, i get out of the taxi, get all my stuff out, then i pay the driver.

I have been told that all official Paris taxis are required to take cards. I still always ask first and they always respond “yes, of course”.

Like HappyToBeHere, if the driver says yes, she/he takes cards then claims his reader doesn’t work when we get to my destination, i won’t budge (as i said, i’m already out of the taxi with my stuff). They either take my card or don’t get paid.

She learned from others who are aware of this con, that if you refuse
to pay, they will drive off with your stuff.

So you say, your sister said, that other people said, "they will drive off with your stuff." Sorry, but I don't buy it, have never heard of this and wouldn't worry about it. Pay with your credit card if that is what you want to use, and don't cave in to intimidation.

Personally, I usually stay near Gare Saint-Lazare and am solo, so I typically take the RoissyBus from CDG. Cheap (13€ pp), easy (no changes or stairs and leaves right outside of arrivals), doesn't smell like urine (i.e., the Metro), and gets me to where I want to go without tunneling underground. The only time I would take a taxi is if I have an inordinate amount of luggage, or if traveling with more than two people (taxis take up to four for the same fare). YMMV.

Of course your stuff isn’t still in the taxi when you’re insisting he take the card.

You get out of the cab before he has a chance to ask for payment. He gets your luggage out of the cab. He insists on cash. You tell him no, that if he wants to be paid, he needs to accept a credit card.

Then, hallelujah...it’s a miracle...his card reader works. Every. Time.

In a different city, I had a cab with a card reader that decided not to work. I was tired and didn't want to fool with finding an ATM so I told the driver to take US25 (all I had) for the about 30 euro trip or I was just going to get out of the taxi and make it his problem. He accepted it, and I figured it was going straight to his pocket, but then he asked for an email address to send the receipt. Showed up on my phone before I could unlock the door to my flat. He turned out to be honest. I felt crummy for doubting. Sometimes the readers really don't work.

In Paris, Taxis Parisiens are regulated by the police and are required to accept credit cards. If there is ever a question about fares, everything is explained, in English, on a sticker found attached to the left rear, passenger window.

We were in Paris last week and took a taxi from CDG after a 10+ hour flight and time in the airport purchasing our Navigo passes. We were both exhausted. We went out the door marked “taxis”. Taxi driver quoted me €65 (I didn’t remember the set fare and thought it was €65) but when we got to our VRBO he insisted we pay the meter rate of €75 because there had been traffic. I began arguing, our VRBO host came out and the taxi driver was disparaging us to her, then a random guy walking down the street stopped and got into the argument 🤣. By this time I just wanted off the street. We ended up paying the guy €70 cash. There was no attendant at the taxi stand. Maybe this wasn’t a legit taxi? But he was first in line at the door marked taxis. Still not sure how this went wrong and how we got charged more than the standard rate.

I’m very surprised your VRBO host did not know the correct fare and did not battle for you, he/she could have called the police if the driver didn’t back down.

The meter never should have been running on a fixed-rate route. This demonstrates that his intention was to scam you, traffic or no traffic.

It appears that he intercepted you as you came out the door before you got into the taxi line. The taxi line has railings and twists around for people to line up. Did you go through the line to be placed in the cab by an employee who assigns the cabs?

We were in the CDG Air France terminal baggage claim on Friday. There were big footprints on the floor guiding to the taxi rank.

I have never had problems in Paris but in other jurisdictions I have and what we do is I pay and my husband unloads the cab -- if I were alone I would get out and make sure we unloaded while I searched through my purse for the money -- so that when the rubber met the road, I had my stuff. Did this in Hong Kong with a cheating cabbie. We had our stuff, I gave him the amount it should be and invited him to call the police.

Never get in an argument about payment until your luiggage is on the curb. And always photograph the info in the door of the cab or the license plate or both if there is anything hinky going on. The cab at CDG should have had 62 on the meter before pulling out (or 55 if the right bank)

I totally get just paying to get off the road and get out of the situation. I would not do it but my husband totally would. And his concern about being that situation is one reason why he prefers using private car services. That being said, I think it is worth repeating that there is a flat rate between Paris and CDG or Orly. Currently, for CDG, that rate is 55€ for trips between the airport and the Right Bank and 62€ for trips between the airport and the Left Bank. For Orly those rates are 41€ (Right Bank) and 35€ (Left Bank). There are no add-ons for luggage, traffic, time of day, day of the week, etc. If there are more than five passengers, there is a supplement of 4.5€ per additional passenger beginning with the fifth passenger. If you pre-order a tax for the trip from Paris, there is a supplement of 4€ or 7€, depending on how far in advance you make the reservation. That's it. Anything a taxi driver says to you other than these charges is a lie. Tell them you will wait while they call the police on you. If this was a taxi, I am appalled that whmci's VRBO host did not provide active support. That was very poor form.

When the Parisian authorities switched to flat rates, IMO, they set the rates too low and that may be the reason why some "legitimate" taxi drivers are running scams from CDG. I don't condone what these drivers are doing but when the authorities decided to err on the side of a single lower rate (no supplements for rush hour, for example), this kind of behavior was gonna happen. The last taxi that I took before the flat rate went into effect cost us 82€ for a trip to the 14th arrondissement and that was over six years ago.

When the Parisian authorities switched to flat rates, IMO, they set the rates too low and that may be the reason why some "legitimate" taxi drivers are running scams from CDG.

The flat rates from CDG/Paris per mile are more than the per mile rate of O'Hare to Midtown Chicago. I think the flat rate is reasonable. Maybe not compared to how cabbies were scamming on the meter prior, but now are reasonable and protect the public on taxi fares from CDG. Obviously, there were so many inconsistent rates and complaints, it had to be corrected. If no one complained on metered rates, a change would not have been made. Taxis can only blame themselves for flat fees.

Taxis can only blame themselves for flat fees.

The two primary reasons taxis went to flat rates were because of:

• fierce competition from shuttle companies.

• passenger fear of unknown/very high charges and fares.

The fixed airport taxi fares all but eliminated shuttles, which had become very unreliable anyway, and knowing what to expect, passengers were far more willing to take a taxi.

Along with the fixed fares, the far left lane of A1 is now reserved for city buses and taxis, shortening travel times a bit. Taxi drivers taking passengers to the north side of Paris do very well, as fixed fares (55€) are typically more than what metered fares cost. I reliably paid 60€ from CDG to the Left Bank with metered fares, drivers now collect 62€. Considering various destinations within Paris, and traveling at different times of the day, driver revenue averages out to likely be very close to what drivers were making before fixed fares, with the added benefit of eliminating the shuttle competition and more overall business.

The flat rates from CDG/Paris per mile are more than the per mile rate of O'Hare to Midtown Chicago.

What does a liter of gas cost in Chicago? Also keeping in mind that taxi drivers in Paris are not tipped.

Tocard makes a great point. We often stayed in Montmartre or Batignolles prior to the fixed rates and routinely paid between 40 and 45 Euro for that ride that now costs 55. The certainty is a value but some rides are a real bargain and others not so much.

When the Parisian authorities switched to flat rates, IMO, they set the rates too low

For some areas, yes. Of course they had to strike some balance. From where I live in the east / northeast of the city and not too far from the Peripherique, if I were paying by meter on any but the very worst traffic days, I would pay a lot less than the 55€.

However as Janet said, the certainty that I won't pay any more than the 55€ can give me confidence to take a taxi when I really need to.

I paid €39 for a Bolt a week ago Monday from my apartment to CDG. Now, if I need to take a taxi when I get back, it will cost me 55€ (but I will probably take the RER, as long as there aren't RER issues at the moment I need to take it on Sunday. That, one can never know ahead of time. I have arrived at the airport before, intending to take the RER, but had to take a taxi because there were problems on the line.

I'm kind of with Fred, and this OP's experience is one of the reasons I would rather just take mass transit from airports in Europe, and actually I wish I could do the same at home. After a long flight, striking and other issues aside, I'd rather not deal with waiting in line, worrying about the taxi cab driver, directions, speaking the local language, etc. Whether its Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Budapest, Zurich, Madrid, Lisbon, etc., the mass transit system is amazing, often faster than a cab. Basically, just walk off the plane and onto a train/metro. Now, I'll have planned ahead and will know where to catch the train, where I need to transfer if necessary and where I get off. Most likely, I'll have picked my lodging based on access to mass transit, so I won't be walking a mile from where I exit the train/metro. To each his own, as they say.

Unfortunately, Paris is not, to me, like that (for mass transit from the airport to city center and vice versa). I adore places like Stockholm and Oslo and Copenhagen that have a straight-shot, modern connection just for the airport.

The decrepit RER B (prone to breakdowns) with its commuters and million stops all along the way and no place for luggage (sorry, I don't travel light when coming back and forth visiting family) is less than satisfactory (but, I agree, better than nothing).

Isn't a dedicated Paris-CDG line under construction?

I believe that most of the RER B cars have places for luggage near the doors, but I would never leave anything there unless I were sufficiently close to maintain constant physical contact.

There is a new train under construction (since 2019), connecting CDG with Gare de l´Est and called CDG Express, which should be completed in 2025. No idea yet of the cost, but there are trains planned at 15 minute intervals for the 20 minute ride.

@Kim, heavy luggage is a reason we might occasionally to a taxi/UBER to the airport. We had about 8 bottles of wine/olive oil in our suitcases when we returned home from Lisbon. Heavy suitcase over cobblestones and a hill = taxi to the airport!

It is pretty simple to avoid all of this by booking your taxi ride in advance. I had a similar issue in Barcelona, where the taxi lines were immense. Looked online and found a company that offered a pretty reliable service for a decent price. They also took last minute bookings, so all was good! Next time book and pay in advance and you won't have any of these issues : - )

kousposgiannos, good example that every place is different and you either do the homework or go with the flow and not stress.

Speaking of every place being different, CDG is not a great place for prepaid private transfers. I have nothing against private transfers but the prepaid ones at CDG have developed a bad reputation over the years. What worked once in Barcelona could be a bad idea for Paris.

There is nothing that involves CDG that I find very enjoyable.

It is pretty simple to avoid all of this by booking your taxi ride in advance.

You can do that but you then open yourself up for waiting fees at from 36€ to 49.10€ per hour depending upon time of day. If your flight is late, or lines at passport control are lengthy, these fees can really add up. Another consideration is whether or not you would thereby qualify for the fixed fare into Paris.