I just spent 7 wonderful days in Paris and thought I would share a few experiences on arrival and departure. via CDG.
I flew in on a Friday morning about 9:30 am and was greeted at passport control by a massive single line for US, Canadian passport holders. The line was amazing, snaking back and forth in a relatively small space. Fortunately, everyone was tird but in a good mood. It took about an hour to get through to the line of five passport scanners we were supposed to use. It was sort of funny as just as I was about to approach one of the five passport scanners, they all stopped working. :) Officials ran around and then finally told us to follow them and we walked in a single line over to Terminal 2 where two nice officers looked at our passports and welcomed us to France. ........My husband joined me in Paris two days later, flying in from Chicago, about the same time, and the machines were working and he got through his line in about fifteen minutes.
We both were being met by taxis arranged by our hotel and both of us took about an hour to get into Paris. My ride was probably due to workday traffic. He came in on a Sunday but it was the day of the marathon so that created some of his delays.
We flew back to the US together on a Friday on a 9:15 am flight from CDG. Having made this trip a number of times before, we get a ride out to the Novotel Hotel at the airport the afternoon before our morning flight. It is a quick walk from the Novotel to Terminal 3 and the CDGVAL free shuttle to the other terminals. We fly out of Terminal 1 usually and it is about 15 minutes total from Novotel to Terminal 1.
We have been told to allow plenty of time at CDG before your flight - two to three hours - so we did. Early on a Sunday morning, we were through passport control and security in less than an hour.
In between these trips to and from CDG, we had a wonderful time. Will write shortly about my Louvre experience. :)