One does NOT go through Passport control leaving Schengen to the US (except for showing to get on the first plane) - only arriving in the US - except for Ireland which has US Immigration on the ground there - so you need to get to the airport VERY early.

Then things have changed NYT - we have had to show passports at Schiphol when flying to the States, or anywhere outside Schengen, including flying to the UK in August.

Frankly, the more people afraid to transit through CDG, the better it is for the rest of us. But don't listen to me. I only worked for an airline based at CDG for 35 years.

" Moving between terminals 2F and 2E involves a bus, elevators, passport control, security checkpoints, and long walks"

Really?

I'm making a same-ticket international-to-international connection between 2E and 2F later this month, from London to Havana.

However little respect I have for Air France or Aeroports de Paris, I simply don't believe either would routinely require an unnecessary passport control: something no other Schengen airport has ever demanded since the system started. And something I've never encountered at T2 with other international-to-international connections

I CAN believe that France might impose passport controls on all incoming flights during the Paris Climate summit, but that's not what brdcollie is claiming.

What evidence does bdcollie have for this extraordinary assertion - which flies in the face of my T2 experience and the European norm for airport design.

Less than 3 weeks ago we went through passport control leaving CDG for SFO on UAL. I'm looking at the "stamp" on my passport right now - date 18.10.15 ROISSY-CDG.

Stu Dudley

There is most definitely outgoing passport control when exiting Schengen. So on the outbound you'll have passport control and security at CDG and on the return passport control at CDG. There's no longer security recheck when staying airside and transiting from 2F to 2E (but there is going the other direction). There's always the possibility of some additional security at the gate on the flight to ATL but that doesn't slow you from getting to the gate.

<i>I'm making a same-ticket international-to-international connection between 2E and 2F later this month, from London to Havana.</i>

2F is entirely for intra-Schengen flights so your connection will not involve 2F.

We flew out of T1 in October. For our spring trip on AF through CDG, my passport is stamped 12.07.15 - which is the day we flew out of T2 on AF to SFO.

Stu Dudley

There are also stamps on our passports for our two trips from CDG to SFO last year. Also stamps for one CDG to SFO trip, and 2 trips Frankfurt to SFO in 2013.

There is definately outgoing passport control for France and Germany.

Stu Dudley

There has been exiting passport checks at every Schengen airport I have travelled through in the last 8+ years. How else would they put the exit stamp in your passport (for those not holding UK passports etc)

I don't think the issue is getting your passprt checked at a Schengen airport, the issue is that for the OP, this is not the flight where they started their journey to leave Schengen to go to the US, it's just a connection. They will be leaving from Spain. Of course your passport will be checked if you are just flying CDG to SFO or Germany to US.

But the flight from Spain to France is within Schengen. There is no reason for passport checks outbound from Spain.

"What evidence does bdcollie have for this extraordinary assertion" - My "evidence" is based on personal experience four weeks ago on an inbound AF flight from VCE arriving at CDG 2F (actually the tarmac outside of 2F), with a 2 hour layover before departing from CDG Terminal 2E Concourse M on a AF flight to ATL. It indeed involved "a bus(es), elevators, passport control, security checkpoints, and long walks." I too have the passport stamps to prove I was in transit through CDG for several hours, including two bus rides. The key here is as I said "depending on the arrival gate and and departure gate it will require transfers by shuttle buses, and passing through passport control and security checkpoints. All depends on which terminal and which concourse or hall you arrive and depart from." The OP asked for recent experiences for CDG transfers from inbound European flights to outbound US flights. My experience reflects an outbound US flight leaving from Terminal 2E Concourse M. In fact I noticed that the direction signage from Terminal 2F to Terminal 2E Concourse M is an entirely different route than passengers going to Terminal 2E Concourses K or L. My previous experiences with CDG did not involve Passport Control - just a badly designed airport.

>> Of course your passport will be checked if you are just flying CDG to SFO or Germany to US.<<

I flew Montpellier to CDG to SFO, and Toulouse to Frankfurt to SFO, and Milan to Frankfurt to SFO.

Stu Dudley

No passport control at BCN as BCN-CDG is an intra-Schengen flight. Passport control will be at CDG as that is the point of exit from Schengen. Passport control is at the point of entry into Schengen and point of exit from Schengen.

flanneruk has a completely different international to international connection that's entirely within 2E. Therefore no passport control. It may say that HAV departs from 2F on the AF site as some international flights do check in at 2F but the departure is actually from 2E. I believe this is due to crowding at 2E check-in and passport control.

Of course, all bets are off if you are travelling during the COP 21 conference in Paris. Security controls and airport traffic will be much more complicated and take much longer during the period from 11 November to 11 December, when the Schengen borders will be closed.

35 responses and the OP hasn't been back . . . May be a newbie waiting for an e-mail from Fodors.

FWIIW -- every time I've flown out of CDG to the States (whether originating at CDG or or in transit from somewhere else) I've had to go through passport control.

The OP also posted on TA. Despite experienced travelers telling her that there was no reason to spend money to change her tickets, that's exactly what she did.

She must have her reasons.
If she sleeps better like that....
It is not my money after all but I wonder why these people bother to ask.
Good day to you F1.

>The OP also posted on TA. Despite experienced travelers telling her that there was no reason to spend money to change her tickets, that's exactly what she did.

It's what I would have done.

80 min at CDG is courting disaster.

((I))