No More Fines on the RER B to Charles de Gaulle

Travelers heading to Charles de Gaulle Airport by train just got a bit of relief. Until now, anyone who took the RER B with a regular €2.50 ticket risked a €35 fine on arrival.

The reason? A confusing new “airport supplement” that quietly raised the total fare to €13 earlier this year.

Many passengers had no idea this rule existed. The signs weren’t clear, and there was no easy way to correct the mistake once you were at the airport.

Travelers who arrived in good faith suddenly found themselves being fined – a situation that transport user associations described as unfair and absurd.

Under growing pressure from Fnaut, the main passenger rights federation, Île-de-France Mobilités and the SNCF have now agreed to change the rules.

From now on, anyone who arrives at Roissy without paying the €13 supplement will no longer be fined. Instead, they’ll simply pay the difference – no penalty added.

The confusion came from how complicated it was to buy the special ticket in the first place. Unlike Orly, there were no machines at CDG where passengers could pay the missing amount.

The Navigo Easy card, meant to simplify travel, only made things worse. You couldn’t add an airport ticket if there was already another fare on the card, forcing many to buy a second one for €2 – bringing the total trip to about €15.

Île-de-France Mobilités says new machines will be installed soon, possibly in November, to make it easier to buy or top up the airport fare.

The new leniency applies only to travelers who already hold a valid RER B ticket. Those traveling without any ticket at all will still face fines.

For many regular riders, this small policy shift feels like a victory. It doesn’t solve every problem with Paris’s regional transport, but it removes one of the most frustrating ones: being punished for a system that wasn’t clear to begin with.

It also brings back an old question: will the future CDG Express fix the issue or make it worse? The new express line, still under construction, promises a 20-minute nonstop ride between Gare de l’Est and the airport, but it will cost much more than the RER B.

Supporters say it will finally give Paris a modern airport link. Critics argue the money would be better spent improving the RER B – cleaner trains, clearer fares, and fewer breakdowns.

For now, the RER B remains the main connection for most travelers. With this new rule, at least honest mistakes will no longer cost an extra €35 – a nice win for anyone catching a flight from Roissy.