No. of Recommendations: 9
I've done a decent amount of international travel, somewhere between 12-20 trips to mostly western Europe so I'm not clueless and have never had any major issues. I'm also not someone who spends a lot of money on stuff like cars, jewelry, clothes but I don't mind spending money once in a while for things that save me time and/or stress. I've never been a relaxed traveler since I worry over things and also due to a health issue.
At the end of our 17 day trip heading back east to visit family and friends and then over to Germany and France for the Christmas markets, I was tired, had a mid morning flight out of CDG at 1010 AM, and knew it was going to be a long day since just the flight time to PHX is 10+ hrs. That meant sitting on a plane for probably 12 hrs and at least a 17 hr day or more.
Air France offered a VIP service to navigate CDG but it was running at $500 for us. Interesting but a bit high. I did some research online and found a few other services. One was for very wealthy people running around $5,000. I found some others that were better in cost and had good reviews. One was about 250 Euros which I thought was pricey but not terrible. I contacted them via email and also on whatsapp and told them I was just looking for someone to meet us at the hobby lobby (we were staying at a hotel near the airport near the CDGVAL shuttle) and take us to our gate.
A lady met us in the lobby just before 7AM. You know the get to the airport 2-3 hrs early for an international flight "rule". They had told me we could wait until 8AM or even 830AM but the thought of waiting that long would just add to my stress/worrying about missing a flight. Well, they knew what they were talking about. We were through check in (checked in 2 carry on bags just to make life easier and room for souvenirs), security, etc. and done shopping by 810AM. It was impressively quick.
The representative (escort?) had an ID badge, obviously spoke fluent French, knew her way around the airport, got us in front of most lines, and resolved any issues. In our case we couldn't check in online and it turned out the reason was that one of our seats in business class (via FF miles) had a broken entertainment system so we had to move back a few rows.
After shopping she showed us where the lounge was (she wasn't allowed in that) and also where our gates would be and said she could wait with us if we wanted but at this point we had completed the difficult tasks and were ready to relax in the lounge for an hour before heading to the gate.
Not something I would do frequently but for people who don't fly, are pretty clueless with airports, etc. it would worth the cost for those who can afford it.
Rich
