Trains compete with cars, not with airplanes.
I could go on.
Show me where a car is competitive for any of those routes. In addition, not even plane is competitive if you consider the airport to city transfer and back.
It also saves you, at least in the case of Paris, Europes most ghastly airport experience, which is CDG.
Has it become noticeably worse recently? I flew into and out of CDG with my family in 2015 and I can't say it seemed any worse than most (admittedly not very many) airports I've been through.
Compared with terminal 2F it's actually pleasant. 2F is a packed confused mess with no seating whatsoever. Well, there are some seats by my impression was 1 seat per 10 passengers.
My observation is that I'm livid in 100% of all cases flying from there once I'm boarding the plane. Wait time and accessibility (by RER or unreliable bus) are just awful.
Flying in is less bad (if you didn't check in luggage). Still, connectivity is pretty bad compared to other European airports. Just getting your ticket for the RER can be a frustrating experience.
One caveat: I never flew intercontinental or transferred there. It may be a better experience.
That must have been where we were. If that's "pretty bad", then no more so than any other European airport IME/AFAICR.
> Wait time and accessibility (by RER or unreliable bus) are just awful.
We took the RER both ways. Worked pretty well, I thought.
> Flying in is less bad (if you didn't check in luggage).
We did, and I can't recall any problem with that.
> Still, connectivity is pretty bad compared to other European airports. Just getting your ticket for the RER can be a frustrating experience.
IIRC we used the ticket-vending machines on the platform. Sure, the UI is usually somewhat cryptic on those anywhere -- did we overpay, again? Can't recall, but quite possible -- but no worse at CDG than anywhere else I can recall.
> One caveat: I never flew intercontinental or transferred there. It may be a better experience.
Me neither; Helsinki - Paris and back.
Either we had exceptional luck... Or maybe you've got a slightly irrational bee in your bonnet about CDG.
People take the train in the same situations when they drive a car, and travel time isn't always the most important criterion.
Not always. I live on the south coast of the UK. If I had to get to Scottish cities such as Glasgow (450 miles) or Edinburgh in a single day's journey I would fly or take the train, but never consider driving - it would be an absolutely horrendous car journey (edit: at least 8 hours assuming perfect traffic).