Delays at Immigration at CDG -- does it matter where you're from?
 

I have read many postings on this website about delays at immigration at CDG in the early morning when lots of flights from the US arrive. I will be arriving from Chicago at 8:30 in the morning and have a fairly tight train connection from Montparnasse. I wonder whether the lines through immigration will be shorter for those of us with EU passports, or should I start researching back-up train plans? Many thanks.

Hi lr,

IIRC, there is an EU passport line which is shorter than the non-EU passport line.

However, it doesn't mean that on any given day, you will get through passport control quickly, or even that you will get to the terminal quickly.

How much time do you have between scheduled landing and train departure?

((I))

My train leaves Montparnasse at a little after noon. I had thought it would be enough time till I read some of the horror stories here. I hope to be able to take the Air France bus (after reading lots of opinions on the relative merits of RER vs. Air France bus vs. taxi), but will spring for a taxi if it looks like I'm going to be late. Do you know if the Air France bus stop in Terminal 2 (I think that's my terminal, I'm flying American) is close to a taxi stand? Many thanks, lr

Even if you get through Immigration quickly, you've still got to collect your luggage

I arrived at CDG T1 a few months ago and was shocked to discover there was no passport control whatsoever. Just get off the plane and walk through the airport. Maybe the control guys were on strike.

It depends not only where you're from (that would be the EU - fast - vs everyone else - slow - line). It also depends on what other planes have landed at the same time - and 8:30am is prime time. You might try to check to see when other planes with many EU passengers are likely to land. And other factors can also intrude - in terms of how many agents are assigned where.

We landed once right after a plane from somewhere in Africa - which apparently came in at a gate closer to immigration. For US citizens to get into France is usually routine - but there must have been many questions concerning the documents/intentions of the people from the other plane - since some were taking 5 or 10 minutes or more at the desk (vs 30 second for US citizens) and quite a few were being moved aside to a separate holding area.

After about 30 minutes someone from French immigration divided the lines - moving the people from the New York plane - and all the following planes - into one large area and the (many) remainaing people from the plane from Africa into a much smaller area with what seemed to be 2 immigration supervisors and a couple of police.

I took us almost an hour to get through immigration - usually it's about 5/10 minutes including waiting on line.

vedette, did you land elsewhere in Europe first? I know Icelandair arrives at T1, but there's no passport control because you've already cleared immigration in Iceland as it's one of the Schengen area countries.

Ireynold, I suppose there could always be a really bad day, but I wouldn't be too concerned about your timing. We made a similar connection last year (CDG arrival at 8:30, AF bus to Gare de Lyon, train just after 12) and had time to spare, despite having to fill in a lost baggage claim.

You can find a diagram of CDG terminal 2 on the Aéroports de Paris website. If you look at it closely, it will show you where the Air France buses stop, including the route to Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse. It also shows you where the taxis are--certainly not a long walk from the bus stop.

Anselm

if you are from a country requiring a visa to enter as a TOURIST, it will take longer to go through immigration as documents are studied for validity.