Pat_in_Mich

Just returned yesterday from a trip to Spain with connections at CDG both ways.

Our outbound flight arrived at CDG on Thursday, 9/21 and we had a 1 hour 45 minute connection. Our flight was early, so we actually had about 2 hours. Border control was a nightmare and we arrived at the gate about 15 minutes before departure.

Returning yesterday was even worse. Our connection was 1 hour 45 minutes again. Long lines at border control again with only 3 windows open. We finally got through at 10:02 and our flight was 10:20, so we ran. We got to the buses to go to terminal M to find another huge line. We had to wait through multiple buses and got off the bus at 10:20. DH ran ahead and I got to the gate as fast as I could behind him. Thankfully we got on the flight, since at departure time Delta had 47 passengers missing and they ended up holding the flight for 25 minutes.

We've transferred at CDG before with no issues, but the last time was 2015.

Andrew

Thanks. Flew out of CDG in May but haven't transferred there in a while, and I was considering it for a trip in 2018...but I think I might switch to AMS instead. It's just an easier airport in general.

greg

>>> but I think I might switch to AMS instead. It's just an easier airport in general.

It WAS.

I went through AMS in May. It took ONE HOUR to go through the passport control. The queue went on and on. I found out why when I finally got to the window. There were TWO, yes a whole 2 windows processing Schengen entry for ALL the transfer passengers.

Pat_in_Mich

That's depressing greg! DH and I were wishing we had chosen AMS which was an option with similar pricing and schedule. Perhaps it wouldn't have been any better

kerouac

There is just no way to predict such things these days. The state of emergency in France is supposed to end at the end of November... if nothing else happens before then (but then again, something <b>did</b> happen in Marseille yesterday, and it was quite ugly). Even so, will that change any of the waiting times? Probably not.

Andrew

Greg, were you connecting in AMS or departing?

Hnh6

AMS took us an hour from gate to gate, but the queue itself was shorter, likely because I had shown them our tickets with a very short connection time so they let us use the fast lane.

However, AMS left a bad taste in my mouth because that particular officer chatted away with his buddy while holding our passports like he's got all the time in the world and finally when he waved us through, he said "Xie xie" to us even though we handed him US passports and our ancestors weren't from China in at least the 13 generations that we can trace our family line to.

geetika

IMO it's the luck of the draw. I transited CDG twice last month and just walked through security in about 10 minutes or less. Passport control too took next to no time. But DH had the complete opposite experience, waited over an hour to go through security and made his flight by the skin of the teeth. Apparently several other passengers were also held up and his flight was delayed by about 45 minutes so that they could board.

A few months back Heathrow too had loooong lines at security, I think the recent spate of incidents makes airport security more stringent.