Just want to pass on our experience going to CDG from our Paris hotel last week. We thought we'd make our life easier and take a taxi to the airport. We located a close taxi stand and took the first in line. Part way to CDG the driver who spoke very little English asked which terminal we wanted. Since we'd been unable to print our boarding passes in advance we didn't know which terminal. We told him we were on United Airlines flying to the US but he either didn't understand us or that didn't help him. So he first took us to terminal 2 which was the wrong one. Only then did he pull out his phone which had an ap listing all airlines and which terminal they used. He then took us to terminal 1 which was correct. It cost us an extra 20 euros and time because he went to the wrong terminal. The moral of my story is be sure you find out what terminal you want before getting in the taxi. CDG does not have signs upon approach listing the airlines and their terminal like most US airports do.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
Very important tip!
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Same issue applies to London Heathrow (LHR).
- Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are in the middle of the airport, between the runways.
- Terminal 4 is on the southern edge of the airport.
- Terminal 5 is on the western edge.
Three different destinations. If coming by rail (tube or Heathrow express), there are 3 different railway stations!
Posted by
New York
1206 posts
For anyone flying into CDG and needs to know what terminal their airline flies in and out of, go on the CDG website. You can pick the airline that you are flying on and it will tell you what terminal that airline uses. This way you know before you leave the states what terminal you will fly in and out of based upon your airline. I am flying on United next week and they use Terminal 1 only. I went on the web site and found this out. This is not only needed if you are taking a cab but also if you are taking the Air France bus from the airport into Paris.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
It cost you an extra 20 euros because you did not have the proper information . It is not the taxi drivers responsibility to know which terminal you needed!!!!!!
Many airports in the world have multiple terminals. Even without a boarding pass one normally carries their flight confirmation or an itinerary. That would be sensible.
Posted by
Used to be Steilacoom, now it’s Las Vegas
2296 posts
Good advice; good reminder.
Hope you had a wonderful trip!
Patty
Posted by
OP
Palatine
72 posts
The point of my post was to alert other travelers to the need to know the terminal in advance not to pick on the taxi driver. We did, of course, have our flight confirmation, etc. but no where on it did it say which terminal. I wasn't blaming the taxi driver for not knowing the terminal although he knew how to find out which terminal and only did so after taking us to the wrong one. We did have a very nice trip to Paris despite this bump in the road.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10625 posts
@Pat, We've had this happen to us once on Air France where the terminal wasn't posted. We searched and searched all the usual web pages. The terminal was finally posted about the time we were leaving for the airport.
Posted by
Home_Sweet_Home :-)
507 posts
For future reference:
http://paris-cdg.worldairportguides.com/terminals.php
The link below (to other links) gives info on over 170 international airports. Good link to bookmark as a traveler.
http://www.worldairportguides.com
Hope you had a good time, Judy. Paris is a city my DH & I spent the better part of a day walking through.
My 2-cents worth
Posted by
Paris
10201 posts
And unfortunately, even within Terminal 2, you really need to know which terminal you need so as to avoid schlepping around -- a couple are connected but several are so far from each other as to function as separate terminals (not as far away as Terminal 1, but still a pain if you get off at the wrong one between 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E . . . . You get the picture.
The one thing you can know is that if you're flying United, you're Terminal One.