I looked at Delta site and it said you need to be at the gate 45 min before your flight.

About how long does it take to get through customs, get the detax refund, etc? How far ahead should we show up for our flight?

You won't go through customs as you are leaving France.

You need time for:
1) Check-in
2) Go through security
3) Go through immigration

Most people here recommend arriving 3 hours in advance of your flight.

I find CDG to be unpredictable at best, so I always book a shuttle pick-up at my Paris hotel for four hours before the flight. Doing so allows for a couple of other pick-ups and some traffic, while still getting me to the airport at about the three hour mark. Lines can be long, both at check-in and at security, so I would rather allow extra time than worry about missing the flight and paying a hefty price for re-booking.

They might tell you 2 hours but at a major airport such as CDG I always allow 3 hours. You might not need that much time but better safe than sorry.

Stateside flights have an additional security step prior to getting to the check in desk. Then the normal security screening. If you are flying to the States, I'd definitely be there 3 hours early.

I once was #4 in the check in the queue at CDG (just before the desks were opened) - and it was more than 45 minutes before I was served. By then the line was about 300 long. The 3 guys in front of me hit every one of the potential profiling hot buttons. The folks at the end of the queue ended up running to the gate and barely made it.

Wow, thanks so much for your tips. We have a 10:20A flight to the States and the shuttle from the Disney hotel only leaves 8A at the earliest. Looks like we will need to arrange our own shuttle earlier.

Thanks for the "heads up"!

We usually do 2 hours prior. Have encountered no problems thus far.

We usually leave the city 3 to 3 1/2 hrs. before flight time. That generally leaves 1 hour for the drive and 2 hours at CDG. We've found this to be plenty of time, always having at least 1 hr. to kill at the airport. Of course, all depends on day of the week, traffic, and particular flight time. EJ

Hi dis,

We have found that arriving at CDG 3 hr before departure time gives us (a) barely made it to a plane that was already boarding (b) 2 hrs to kill, and everything in betweeen.

I always allow 3 hours for an international flight (regardless of the airport). I'm not comfortable with cutting it any closer than that. Too stressful. I'd rather sit at the airport with a cup of coffee (or a cocktail depending time of day) and a magazine, then be worried about not making it in time.

We are coming from the Disneyland hotel area. I wonder if that will be not as bad as coming from downtown Paris? I get the message though we need to leave EARLY. Thanks!!

What day of the week is this? Traffic is generally much lighter in weekends.

Disneyland Paris is about 25 miles from CDG, but probably will take at least 40-50 minutes to travel. I don't know how bad traffic will be on a weekday.

disneymania4444-

I just saw this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ris-to-cdg.cfm

I didn't realize there is high speed TGV train connecting the Disneyland station (MARNE LA VALLEE CHESSY) with CDG. It takes only 11 minutes, definitely much faster and probably more reliable than by car.

The earliest train departs at 7:25am, arriving CDG at 7:36am. I think that is still adequate enough for your 10:20am flight. Just my 2 cents.

yk,
we will be travelling on a Thur. So, will be hitting rush hour I would assume.

Wow, thanks for the thread for this high speed TGV train. I think I am definitely interested in that.

Thanks so much!!

That "45 minutes" info is outdated and Delta doesn't always go by it-- when they're overbooked, they will deny boarding long before that.

I always leave from Paris (whether by shuttle, Roissybus, or RER) about 2 1/2 to 3 hours before the flight and have never managed to get left behind.

You don't go through Customs when you leave an airport; I can't believe so many people ask about this. Customs is for declaring stuff you are bringing INTO a country.

That said, I always allow 3 hours at CGD. I've flown into and out of that airport more than 200 times, and I think I know the drill. I've spent more than an hour and a half in the security line alone, and somehow I'm always the target of United's 1-out-of-50 random passenger searches, which means I have to be hauled to the side an open my suitcase and have every bloody thing in it examined - and I'm almost always carrying spices, so they always bring on the dogs to check that my saffron is OK.

3 hours. Got that?

Thanks!