How early to arrive at CDG before departure?
 

I would really appreciate it if someone who has recently departed CDG could tell me how much before flight time one should arrive.

I have gotten the impression from this forum that it can be quite "crazy" there and now with departures to the US, more security delays.


I have to figure how much time for the taxi from the apartment in the 7th. Flight leaves at 12:40 P.M. When would you leave the apartment? Thanks

I'd leave the apartment for CDG at 8:30AM via Air France bus. Have a nice trip!!!

If going by taxi, I would leave 3 hours before my flight.

We left Paris on a sunday morning at 10:30 for a 1:00 flight. We got there in no time only to be stuck a half a mile away due to construction outside terminal 2.

Get there as early as you can - in March (well before the increased security since August) it took us more than 90 minutes to get through pre-screening, check-in, and the main security line. W the new security rules and secondary screening now in place I would want to be at CDG 3 hours early. So Barbmike's suggestion of 8:30 sounds about right to me.

Thanks everyone for the departure time help.

Barbmike...I was planning to get a taxi to CDG. You suggested the AF bus. I do not know anything about it other than you can get it from the airport... How do you go about taking it from inside Paris out to CDG? Thanks

Air France bus #2 departs every 15 minutes from Charles de Gaulle Etoile and makes one stop at Porte Maillot. It costs E13.

Air France bus #4 departs every 30 minutes from Gare Montparnasse and makes one stop at Gare de Lyon. It costs E14.

The Roissybus departs every 15 minutes from Opera. It costs E8.50.

Take a taxi to the departure point of your choice.

We left our apartment three hours before our flight. If they had not finally let the people on our flight go the front of the line, we would have missed the flight. As it was, we got to the gate when they were about half-way through boarding.

You can read my long-winded report here, about my 12:55pm departure from CDG2A on 9/7:

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=126&tid=34866819

In short, I took the 10:15am Air France Coach from l'Etoile; get to CDG 2A 10:55am, checked-in at 11:15am, got through immigration and primary security at 11:27am. I then had over an hour of wait before boarding.

If you are planning on filing for VAT refund (Detaxe), definitely plan on arriving 3 hours ahead of your flight. The detaxe line was very long mid-morning on 9/7; many people had unbelievable amounts of luggage and corresponding pages of purchases to be filed. I was in line for almost an hour with my meager items and documentation.

We just flew out of CDG on Monday morning. We checked in 2 hours early only to find out that because the "flight was over sold" we were put on stand-by status! We eventually made the flight but our traveling companions did not. A steward on our flight told me that the airlines oversell "every flight" possible. If everyone shows, then it becomes a "first come, first serve" deal. The fact that we had purchased our tickets back in May made no difference. So my advice is to arrive 3 hours early.

Wow...guess leaving apartment 4 hours before flight is the best choice. will be a long day as we have to fly into Houston, 3 hour layover and on into Savannah arriving 11:45 PM.
I should be glad I do not live on the west coast.
Thanks for all the help

Hi
My husband and I just returned from Paris. Allow at least three hours we used Paris Airport Blue Shuttle. They are reliable and the cost was $29.00 for two. I booked round trip on their website before leaving the states. www.paris-blue-airport-shuttle.fr They speak English and you can use a credit card.

My wife and I just through back to the US from CDG a few weeks ago on a Sunday. We took a cab from out hotel in Paris (near Eiffel Tower). We allowed ourselves about 3 1/2 hours. I knew that there can be bad traffic in/around Paris, but luckily we seemed to dodge that. En route, our cab driver called to find our what terminal we were flying out of. Security wan't too bad, even though they had to pat down everyone (unlike in the US).
Bottom line, we wound up having about 30-40 minutes of time to kill.