Comments on: CDG bad

By: Opinions Libres - Le blog d'Olivier Ezratty

Opinions Libres - Le blog d'Olivier Ezratty — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 07:51:36 +0000

[...] Berkeley. Du social shopping en quelque sorte! Et hop, un point au bullshitomètre! Lisez sinon ce post de sa part qui égratigne le Terminal 1 de [...]

By: Billy Beck

Billy Beck — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:34:28 +0000

You know what? The last time I was there, a man could smoke a goddamned cigarette in the building. It struck me as eminently civilized, quite unlike airports in America.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:16:34 +0000

I understand that work is going on in the other terminals at CDG. Can’t speak for those, though.

By: Russell Nelson

Russell Nelson — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:42:49 +0000

Oh, and you say that CDG is unimproved since 1999. Not true! They put in a people mover (and I don’t mean CDGVAL, I mean the SK System). What, you say? You didn’t see it? No, they ripped it out, because it was le nonfunctional. So, CDG has been improved and then deimproved, all of which cost tons of money and didn’t accomplish anything other than leaving some interesting concrete artifacts.

Kinda like the Maginot Line … which didn’t work either.

By: Russell Nelson

Russell Nelson — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:34:01 +0000

CDG is a disaster, and I’m not just referring to its roof collapsing.

By: Keith Dick

Keith Dick — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:27:20 +0000

I don’t have very much experience with European airports, but I’ve been through the one in Amsterdam a few times, and I think it is a very pleasant one. (But don’t make a call from the credit card-operated phones!)

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:17:34 +0000

I hate to say that I’ve been to too few European airports: I’ve been to Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and Nice, but don’t remember any of them worth a damn. The ones I know better are Heathrow, DeGaulle, Munich, Copenhagen and Frankfurt. LHR (Heathrow) Terminal 3 and CDG (Charles DeGaulle) Terminal 1 (where United goes and comes from) are pretty bad, but about on par with JFK, and definitely better than LaGuardia, which is a pit. A lot of people crap on BOS (Logan), but I think it’s okay. No complaints there. But both MUH in Munich and CDG in Copenhagen are quite nice. I may be biassed by the Scandinavian and Lufthansa lounges, which are far better than United’s here in the U.S. But that’s not saying much. United charges $500/year for the privilege of sitting in worn furniture, eating cheap pastries served in vending machine bags, and drinking from the worst cappuccino machines ever made. I only go because my wife got me a lifetime membership waaaay back when that was still possible, and not prohibitively priced.

Among other U.S. airports, I actually have no problem with any of them, and have a degree of affection for Denver, O’Hare and SFO. I’m not crazy about any of New York’s airports. Or Dulles, for that matter, which is where I am now. But hey, they’re bus stations. United is today’s Greyhound.

They’ve pushed back the flight to 10:42 now. Oy.

By: Dave Winer

Dave Winer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:40:07 +0000

All good points.

I think all European airports suck compared to American airports.

I was glad to get back to the good old USA where they speak my language, and where a dollar actually buys something.

By: rjh

rjh — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:33:20 +0000

You can also consider the Acela up early in the morning (assuming ticket refund hassles are acceptable). Given how thoroughly messed up the flights will be, it may be just as fast even with the 7hr train ride. I did that one time when a transatlantic flight into PHL could not connect due to weather. The next available connecting flight was going to arrive later than the train.

By: Airports as Marketing « marketing by blogosis

Airports as Marketing « marketing by blogosis — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:38:22 +0000

[...] This piece by Doc Seals on the “experience” of Charles De Gaulle. I have my own fond CDG memories but I want to have time to gather my thoughts and work is actually busy for once. [...]