Hi All,
Just looking for some opinions. I have 55 minutes at CDG between flights enroute from US to Rome. When changing planes will I have to go through customs or security? Will 55 minutes give me time to get from one gate to another? (I don't have arrival or departure gates as yet) Just seeking some peace of mind and opinions.
Thanks!!

No, you won't go through customs or security. Last month we made a CDG/Venice connection in under 45 minutes, but both were out of terminal 2 (still involved a shuttle ride on the bus) with time to spare. BUT...

if the 55 minutes INCLUDES the time you need to be at the gate (usually at least 30 minutes--in our case with Air France it was 45, that leaves you 15-25 minutes only to get from gate to gate and that would be tough to do.

That is very tight timing - esp if you have to change terminals.

Is it one airline? One ticket? Will your luggage be checked through?

I would have info on later flights ready to go in case you don't make this connection. And don;t even think about it unless it's all one ticket.

You WILL go through immigration, and you WILL go through security. You just won't go through customs.

This is not an acceptable booking, whoever made it messed up. If it is on one ticket / one airline or partner airlines then talk to that airline. If you or an agent booked it on two non-related airlines, then see if the second flight can be changed, or keep your fingers crossed and your credit card handy, this could cost you.

Make sure you know where you deplane and where you have to go - check the terminal maps at
http://tinyurl.com/5hp73e

Having done a connection last year in CDG, I think this is a very difficult connection.

I agree with advice given by Dalai above.

Some of those maps on CDG's official sites are not clear or not up-to-date. If one's flying AF, a better tool is this page:

http://correspondances-aeroports.air...r/index_EN.php

I had the same timed connection on a flight to Malaga with friends. We did have to go thru security, but here's how we got around it. I always ask for a handicap assitance because my leg is bad and trying to get from 1 terminal to another is always a hassle for me. Guess what? If they push you thru in a wheelchair, the assistant doesn't want to wait in a long line, so since my friends stayed with me, we all went thru ahead of everyone else. First of all, the assistant knew how to get us to our gate easier then we would have, and second we didn't have to wait in line. I say, ask for assistance if you're afraid you'll miss your connection. Otherwise you may very well miss your flight.

I doubt you would make your connection. 55 minutes allows you no "wriggle room" at all,even if you did know exactly the gate from which your flight leaves.

Security is unbearably slow at CdG (recent posts, including mine, note this is getting worse), and I sincerely hope your baggage is checked through, as there would simply not be enough time to even sight your luggage, much less to retrieve if from the worst designed luggage collection points in Europe.

And don't expect to get much assistance if you are arriving during the early or mid morning chaotic period.The staff are generally so unhelpful I have even witnessed a French official berating the service staff for their "shocking service"...

As DalaiLama says this is a poor connection and your travel agent (if you used one) should be clearly told this is not a good idea!

Air France seems to routinely schedule quick changes at CDG especially for passengers going to Italy. I have had to do that twice and made the connection both times because AF had an agent meet our plane and escort us to our connection.

If you can't change your tickets to allow for more time, make sure you have on your running shoes and that your carry-on is as light as possible.

Hi al,

Most posters, me included, will tell you to be prepared for a hurried run through the airport and high probability of not making it.

Some posters will tell you that it can be done in under 0:45 hr.

Both sides are correct.

IIRC, if you change terminals via the shuttle bus, you don't go through immigration or security, because you don't leave the secure transit zone.

I have a similar problem with only 60 min. between flights. Air France insists that this is fine(they told me 50 min. is thier legal connection time as long as you are in the same terminal). I am wondering..is the shuttle faster? The website says it takes 15 min. to go from 2D to 2E. Should I run or take the shuttle?

If it is Air France, and they tell you it is no problem, then that probably means they will have a special bus set aside for your Rome flight and they will ferry you there and you should be just fine.

If there is no bus and you are on your own, then that is pretty short. We had our tickets to Madrid canceled because they couldn't get our luggage on the plane in time and you have to fly with your luggage. They actually did end up letting us on our flight without our luggage and it arrived the next day, but I still don't understand how that worked.

Basically, you can ask to have it changed to more like two hours, or you can chance it and might have to wait more like five hours if you miss it. But if everyone at the airline keeps saying it is fine, then they will probably have the shuttle.

<i>IIRC, if you change terminals via the shuttle bus, you don't go through immigration or security, because you don't leave the secure transit zone.</i>

The OP is going from US to Rome. How can he/she not go through immigration??? He/she is entering Schengen in Paris!

2D to 2E you can walk. And my mother needed a wheelchair when she visited last year and it's true, they zip you right through that security line.

What's the rule about Schengen? If you're just transiting in one Schengen country before going to another one, do you need to go through immigration in the first one?

I don't think I've ever faced this before. I don't think that I've transited like this. But I seem to recall that I've transited in the UK before flying to a Schengen country (or flying back to the US) without going through UK immigration. Just security checks in the UK.

You go through Immigration in the first Schengen country you arrive in, so in OP's case in France. Even if you are changing terminals you have to go through immigration, not sure about security, but I would think even then you would go through security again. You do at Schiphol I know, and you never leave airside there when changing planes.
You go through customs at your final country destination, so in Italy in OP's case.

Yes, the wheelchair gets you through security, but we had to wait FOREVER for the wheel chair to show up (husband broke his foot right before trip). So we actually ended up way behind everyone else. Plus you can't just run down the stairs, you have to wait for elevators.

rkkwan: We did NOT go through security or immigration to transfer at CDG.

We arrived on British Airways at CDG terminal 2(I think B) and took the shuttle to 2F where we caught an AF to Venice.

The CDG guy at the doorway to the shuttle said it was 6 minutes to 2F. Once it arrived (about a 5 minute wait), it was only 6 minutes.

MelJ - If that's true, then your entry into Schengen was improper and undocumented.