For the past few months, passengers departing from or arriving at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris Orly airports have been going through hell because of the interminable queues at border crossings.
The press gets upset every week, and social networks are on fire. And despite the recent efforts of the Ministry of the Interior, nothing really changes in French airports.
But what are the underlying reasons for this problem? And most importantly, what are the ways out? Frequent travelers will quicklymake their choice!
More and more ridiculous justifications
Officials always have good reasons (excuses?) to justify the waiting of passengers at the departure or arrival of French airports. Some are valid, others much less so.
In summer, there are more passengers than in winter
No kidding? Yes, people go on vacation in the summer. The authorities seem to discover this. So yes, there are more people in the airports, and therefore more check-in staff, pilots, stewards and stewardesses, security staff and… border policemen are needed.
The whole airport is organized to take its vacations in counter-peak, that is to say when there are fewer travelers on the airport platforms.
The State of Emergency has reinforced the controls
Of course, it is a question of controlling the migration flows of potentially dangerous individuals. And it’s a good thing that the State of Emergency has arrived: the controls before were just scandalous, with very often a simple visual control of the passport or the identity card.
From now on, all controls are automated and passports are scanned. And we had to wait for the State of Emergency!
There are not enough automatic controls
Totally true. The number of automatic crossings in France, called PARAFE, is totally insufficient to support the fluidity of traffic.
Small difference in image between CDG and LHR:
As in Amsterdam, at least 30 PARAFE gatesare needed at the departure and arrival points of terminal 2E to ensure smooth operations.
There are too many flights at the same time
Yes, and this is normal at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle: Air France has its global hub there, with the principle of short connections. Thus, the busiest time is P2, i.e.late morning. However, Air France makeslittle effort to fill the following slots, which are much less busy. Thus, for both arrivals and departures, afternoons at Charles-de-Gaulle are a delight for travelers.
Repeated brownouts and sick leave for police officers
The Border Police is not only responsible for passport controls: it also deals with deportations, ZAPI waiting areas and administrative detention centers.
The chronic understaffing has led to a significant amount of overtime, which cannot be recovered due to lack of personnel. Hence the repeated sick leave and burn out among border police personnel.
A collective responsibility
From the traveler’s perspective, the culprit is obviously the airline. And the first consequence is that the Paris Charles-de-Gaulle hub becomesless attractive for travelers, and the risks of missed connections greater. This is obviously expensive for the airline, which must rebook its passengers and assist them.
From the point of view of the operator, Paris Airport, this is also a long-term problem: can it still charge some of the highest airport taxes in Europe for such poor passenger service?
So everyone blames the Border Police, which does what it can with the means at its disposal, i.e. very little. And above all, no one puts pressure on!
React! Threaten! Doesn’t Air France, as the leading airline using Paris airports, have any influenceon Paris Airports, which is itself managed by the State shareholder? A little panache, damn it!
When I hear Air France say that they can’t do anything, it leaves me with a bitter taste… Especially in terminal 2C, which I use quite often, congestion is almost non-existent. And to date, Emirates and Etihad do not pay the border police more than Air France!
What solutions?
There are many solutions to this problem and not all of them are expensive.
- The first solution is obvious: the working hours of border police staff must be adapted to the Air France hub at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle. If the wait sometimes exceeds 60 minutes in P2, it is often equal to… 0 minutes outside this range. Adjusting agents’ work schedules is not a very complicated matter and, above all, it costs virtually nothing.
- The second solution is the increasing digitalization of border control, with the massive installation of PARAFES gates. I do not believe that human control is more effective than computer control. And fluidity would be greatly improved at the departure and arrival points
- The third is the spreading of Air France flights over the whole day, in coordination with Paris Airport and the Border Police
Conclusion
It is not certain that the situation will improve any time soon, despite the recent reinforcements promoted by the Ministry of the Interior. Passengers are therefore likely to turn to other connecting hubs to move their border crossings within the Schengen area. And who will suffer?Air France, without a doubt.
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