Where are the 2F1 and 2F2 terminals at Roissy?

Everyone knows the terminal 2F of Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport and, in any case, unless you are blind, it is impossible not to find it by following the signs. But do you know the 2F1 and 2F2 terminals?

This article follows an email from a reader and echoes questions that our relations, relatives and friends sometimes ask us: “I was told to go to terminal 2F1 or 2F2 but I don’t see where it is”.

We thought it deserved an article because this issue continues to persist even though, strictly speaking, terminals 2F1 and 2F2 at Roissy CDG no longer exist!

Initially Terminal 2F was mixed Schengen / Non Schengen

Let’s start with a quick reminder of the layout of Terminal 2F at Roissy.

Here is a map of Terminal 2F as it looks today. You note that it is composed of two peninsulas, one accommodating doors F21 to F36, the other the doors from F41 to F56.

From the passenger’s point of view, it is a single terminal and you reach one or the other peninsula according to your gate number. But it was not always so.

When it opened in 1999, Terminal 2F was a “mixed” terminal, i.e. it handled both flights to the Schengen area (without police controls) and flights to countries outside the Schengen area (with police controls).

It is therefore made up of two “hermetically separated” areas: a single structure but two operating modes. It was therefore logical to designate the two parts of the building 2F1 and 2F2, one being a Schengen terminal and the other a non-Schengen terminal, which were two very separate terminals.

At the end of 2012, with the construction of its new satellites, Terminal 2E will be able to receive all the non-Schengen activity of Air France, the sole operator of 2F with its partners.

The 2F becomes totally Schengen and the distinction between 2F1 and 2F2 is no longer relevant. Today you will never see 2F1 or 2F2 on the airport signage and if you hear people say these terms they are “old regulars” who have kept these terms to distinguish the two parts of the terminal.

If the words 2F1 and 2F2 still mean something to those who knew that time or to people who operate professionally at the airport and find it more useful to designate the two sub-terminals, these terms have no commercial existence anymore “in front of the customer”.

2F1 and 2F2 are not dead for everyone

That’s the theory. In practice some minds were stuck in 2012.

Some shops, on their website (FNAC, Ladurée…) continue to mention 2F1 or 2F2. This is of no use to the customer who will not find them this way.

Worse still at Air France where, in the planes, when connections are announced, one continues to hear “the AFxxx flight to xxxxx will leave from terminal 2F2, the AFxxx flight to xxxxx will leave from terminal 2F1”.

And what does the passenger do when he gets off the plane? Well, it is looking for the so-called 2F1 or 2F2 terminal, whereas the door number indicated on the screens is more than enough! I don’t know how many times a passenger asked me “but where is the 2F2?”. “All you have to do is follow the number on your gate.” “But what if I have the right door number but I’m not in the right terminal?”. (At this point I don’t want to start explaining that there is no duplicate gate number for fear of confusing him).

Same thing in the Air France application. It is good to say that we have access to the 2F1 lounge except that it is not indicated anywhere in the airport under this name! Or maybe they only want to talk to an insider clientele, but I don’t think that’s the objective.

Internal jargon has no place in front of the customer

I understand the need for some people to distinguish between the two parts of the terminal, but using terms in front of the customer that have no reality and will not help them to find their way around, or even lead to confusion, is one of the worst things to do in customer relations.

It reminds me of the RATP jargon when the driver announces that a train is not taking any more passengers. In his mind it is clear that everyone has to get off, but for the passenger it just means that no one gets on anymore.

It seems quite obvious that for airport staff and for Air France operational staff 2F1 and 2F2 are a concrete reality. But the customer will never find the trace of these terminals. I just don’t think anyone in all the examples I cited realized that what is now just an internal jargon has not been in commercial use for almost 7 years.