A Line of Epic Proportions

The start of the longest line I've ever seen.
Paris – It was quite possibly the longest long – yes, longer than the one last week in Madrid – that I have seen in an airport. This one stretched at least 200 meters and was five wide. Nearly resigned to missing my flight, I started walking toward the end of the line (which was barely visible). But something told me to return to an attendant for advice.

I quickly found the attendant who, just moments ago, had told another English-speaking man that he would have to make his way to the back of the line. "They'll have to hold the flight," the Air France attendant told the man, which clearly was NOT going to be the case.

This time – less than a minute after I had overhead the attendant instruct other travelers to go to the rear of the line – the attendant told me to just "push forward" and cut into line. Wow.

And so it began, a gentle pushing and shuffling process toward the passport check terminals. I watched for patterns of movement and tried to shift in those directions. It was a game of chess: move forward, shuffle this way, slide left or right, push a little. At one point, a woman unhinged the queue line. I quickly went to re-fasten it, then stepped on the other side of barrier. As a last act of travel savvy, I held back the line (after cutting in front of hundreds of people) to let a family go ahead.

There was still the matter of security. But this line was nothing compared to what I had just faced. One item of interest – the security agent asked if I had any electronics. I pointed to my laptop and he directed me to place my passport in the bin with it.

Once inside the massive terminal area, it was nearly empty. Perhaps everyone had been stuck in the long line to get through passport control. So here I sit, typing this as I wait to board. Yes, I still had time to spare before catching my flight to Minneapolis.

The view over the Atlantic.

Boarding passes for Valencia to Paris to Minneapolis to Omaha.

The terminal at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Check out this massive terminal board in Paris.