Seating areas at CDG between arrival gates and passport control?

Just because you’re arriving the same terminal does not mean you will arrive anywhere close to each other or you will walk past him.

And you can’t just wander around back there looking for each other

Sorry, but I don’t think this is a great idea. I would suggest that he’s 19 years old. He can probably get through immigration on his own

Hi Sue. My kids did something similar (one was 21 and coming from one US state, the other was 19 and coming from a different US state. Flights landing about an hour apart.) They were to meet each other at CDG to take the next leg of flight together. If memory serves, they had to go through passport control then meet up. I was a bit worried one of them would get lost but it was totally fine. Make sure you each have your phones to text and/or track each other. That really helped my kids to make sure they were in the right spot to connect.

I have been through CDG a bunch of times and I do not recall seeing anywhere to sit between exiting the airplane and passport control but then again I was not looking but it feels like you are channeled out to passport control or baggage pickup. All of my arrivals have been to Terminal 1, Terminal 2E or Terminal 2F -- maybe it's different in Terminal C. If you are both arriving in Terminal 2C, just look at the map at https://www.parisaeroport.fr/planpoi/plan.html?terminal=2C&level=1 and pick a spot in the public area like a Brioche Dorée and agree to meet there. I feel confident that no one will say anything to him while he waits there for a couple of hours if he has some food from there at his table. Plus, I am sure that there are public waiting areas in the terminal that you can probably find by doing a quick Google search. Good luck!

You'll have to meet post-security, no way they'd let him hang out between the plane and passport control for two hours as there will likely be other arrivals after his plane. Just prep him with the process to go through passport control (including the possibility of needing to do the new EES process with photo/fingerprint) and set up a meeting point that you can both easily find. Here's a prior thread on that topic: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/meeting-place-in-cdg-terminal-2

This, you can't wander around the terminal after deplanning -- you must go immediately through immigration which funnels you into the baggage claim. I'd look at the maps of the terminal and pick a cafe landside to wait for the second one. Every terminal is a little different but when we came through last fall, there was a seating area where you could wait and there was also a cafe which feels a little more secure.

Thank you very much to all who responded and confirmed my suspicions that my son would need to head directly to Passport Control. I am actually not worried about him managing Immigration on his own.......I just would like to give him a bit of direction so he knows what to expect and is prepared to make his way through PC and find someplace landside to wait for me, given that I likely won't be reachable at that point. I appreciated the link to the previous thread as it makes good sense to have a pre-planned meet-up location just in case we can't text each other once I land, for some reason. I think I will suggest the Sheraton, given its central location in Terminal 2, as at least I am certain we will both be landing there. Again, many thanks for the guidance!

Another spot for such a rendezvous in Terminal 2 is just before the exit gate for the RER B.

I would just follow the signs pointing to the RER "B" and stand there and wait. You do have to the down escalator before reaching the RER gate, where 2-3 controllers are present, if you get stuck, make a mistake requiring their assistance, etc. I did and they were very nice and helpful.