by David2010, 8/4/2010
The International luggage pick up is the smallest I have ever seen for a developed country.
This place is getting worse every year. I landed at 10AM from Toronto in early March. We couldn’t get our luggages because of the wind being too strong. They couldn’t open the cargo door, fearing that the luggages will fly. Okay, it was windy but my friend managed to reach the airport to pick me up with her Smart car. She didn’t take off on the highway.
Customer service counter was full of people wondering since 6AM in the morning, when they will be able to get their luggages (some had transit to catch up). Anyway, the counter had only two representatives that couldn’t speak english. As a Francophone, I decided to help out by translating the discussions between some passengers and airport staff.
The International luggage pick up is the smallest I have ever seen for a developed country. Furthermore, all international luggages arrival land there. It was over-packed of people. Some were sleeping on the floor, others were getting dehydrated and were lying on the luggage caroussel. No water service. Some travellers were waiting since 6AM.
After two hours and half lying on the luggage carroussel, I decided to pick up a form to write my contact information, so i can call later on and check if my luggage were finally available for pick up. The form they were given to all passengers was in French only. No one knew what to write on it (except for those who speaks french). What a shame!
I ended up calling the number I was given late at night (around 11PM). No one ever answered; there is no answering machine neither. It just keeps ringing and ringing. I decided to go to Roissy CDG directly to check if my luggage was finally there. Once there, it took them another 2 hours to find it. Parking costs: 30 Euro (morning and evening); hours losts: 4h30mns.
As for their customer services, they may as well don’t have anyone there; at least you would know why you can get any straight answers or services.
In the future I think, I will just land in London or Amsterdam and take a train to Paris.