francophile03

The same thing happens with your arriving flights in regards to the plane taking long to get to the gate. All of our flights prior to last month's Paris was our final destination so we didn't realize how long it took. However, on the last trip we had to connect to a domestic flight. We had about 35 minutes remaining as it took our plane 20 minutes to get to the gate.

Christina

well, my memory could be a bit fuzzy on this point since it's been a couple of years, but I have had those same connections (terminal C to F) on Air France going on to both within France and to the Czech Republic. And, I have never gone through immigration in that transit, not in either case.

Maybe it depends what is meant by going through immigration. I did not have to go and stand in the long lines for passport control in the area where you would if you were going into Paris. There was a guy or two standing around the area where the folks in transit had to go out to the doors (at the top of the stairs or escalator which went down to the ground level) to catch the bus to terminal F and he glanced at our passports, but it didn't take but a minute and wasn't the same area as the regulat immigration lines. That's the way I remember it, anyway. I was on Air France connecting flights in both instances, and my bags were checked through for me.

ms_go

I haven't connected at CDG in a few years (and now avoid doing so if at all possible), but here is my understanding with respect to immigration....

France is part of the Schengen zone. So if you are connecting to another Schengen country (e.g., Italy), then you will go through immigration at CDG. If you are connecting to a country that is not part of the Schengen zone, then you will go through immigration at your destination, not at CDG. At least, this is how it works from my recent experience at other European gateways (e.g., Frankfurt, Munich) that are within the Schengen zone.

ira

Hi ski_queen
>...they said we won't be clearing customs in Paris...we will be doing so in Venice. Apparently our bags are being checked through and we are just "transiting"... now I'm off to find out what that means!<

Customs takes no time at all. You just walk through the "Nothing to Declare" gate.

The important question is where you will go through passport check at Immigration.

If you have to do it at CDG, you will need an AF escort to get you through in time.

wanderful

In May, I flew to Paris, then was scheduled to take a connecting flight to Madrid. I had about 45 minutes to make the connection. I had no hope of making that flight. It was error in judgment on my part. In fact, I couldn’t make the very next connecting flight to Madrid either. I was told by an Air France representative, “Yes, you can take the next flight. But your luggage won’t.” So I spent about three hours at CDG.

My travel agent also told me it was an easy walk from Terminal 2C to 2F. In her dreams. I wisely took the airport shuttle.

eldon_79

Never believe a travel agent's advice.

Powell

On June 16 I replicated your CDG plan.

1. We left from JFK. My luggagge was checked through to Rome.
2. We took the shuttle bus to our gate and Transfer Control.
3. We had 45 minutes from that arrival to catch our flight. We did not and I missed my first connection in 50 years of flying.
4. We did not make our 8 a.m. flight to Rome. Why? At Transfer Control there were four indolent clerks checking passports, two of them dedicated to EU passengers. There must have been 300 or more irate passengers. No AF personnel were present. Many passengers missed their connecting flights--I met many of them at a station AF has ready each day for the "non-connectees".
5. An AF employee told me that "this happens to thousands of passengers each day".
6. Luckily, AF got us on a flight to Rome an hour or so later. Part of our luggage arrived with us in Rome, the balance later that evening.
7. Remember, they unload the luggage of any passenger when you are not on board at take-off for security reasons.
8. I would say leave a minimum of 2 1/2 hours between flights at CDG and then cross your fingers.

Anthony

ski_queen

Thanks all! sigh. I'm going to call AF today and see if they can push us to a later flight.
Stu - I did a bit of research on the web, and it looks like any time you travel to a Schengen country from a non-Schengen, you go through customs etc at the border to the first Schengen country. (ie for me, Paris, since my final destination of Italy is also a Schengen country). Good to know - wish someone had told me sooner!

bgans

I've done it, JFK to CDG to Florence with a 45 min connection. However, AirFrance sent our luggage to Pisa. It had to go back to Paris to get to Florence (something about not having flights from Pisa to Florence) and took two days to get to us. Make sure you have an extra chance of clothing in your carry-on and follow the "Correspondance Transfer" signs - you will bypass Customs and Immigrations, which you will deal with when you get to your destination.

ms_go

ski queen - almost... You will go through <b>immigration</b> (passport control) at your point of arrival in the Schengen zone, CDG, but you will go through <b>customs</b> at your final destination. Two separate things. But as Ira said above, customs is usually a matter of walking through the 'nothing to declare' door after you've collected your luggage.

AJPeabody

So, things haven't changed at Air France. A few yearts ago we were booked JFK to Nice with a change at CDG but all Air France, with 65 minutes to change planes.

&quot;No problem,&quot; from AF and TA.

Hah!

The sequence taxi to gate, get shuttle bus, go through passport control, run up and down stairs, trying to keep up with our AF track coach (&quot;Vite, vite, svp&quot and no carryons to carry, we could't make it.

Waited with 200 others to be rebooked for later flights, got comped for a breakfast that was the worst food we have ever eaten in France.

You MUST allow at least 2 hours to change planes at CDG.

ski_queen

so the consensus is that short connection times stink, as does Air France advice, and you may or may not go through immigration/passport control if you are continuing on out of france. bgans, i noticed you also flew to another schengen country but didn't go through immigration until you arrived in italy?

rkkwan

You absolutely definitely go through immigration at CDG, but you won't see or claim your checked baggage until you're in Italy. There's no &quot;ifs&quot; or &quot;buts&quot; when you're on AF on both legs. People who say otherwise are mistaken.

StuDudley

&gt;&gt;you may or may not go through immigration/passport control of you are continuing out of France&lt;&lt;

That doesn't sound correct - how does immigration know where you are going next??? I've never seen anyone checking tickets and saying &quot;you go here&quot;. Sometimes passport control has been a very fast experience for us, so it might seem like it was nothing. Another time we landed at the same time as a huge plane from an African nation, and everyone passing immigration had some sort of unusual situation. To top it off, there was only 1 person at passport control. We were amung the first 10 people off the plane from the US, and it took us 45 mins to clear immigration. We did not make our connecting flight. Our bags went to a different country, to top it off.

Stu Dudley

bardo1

Hmmm. There appears to be a lot of CDG rant threads - perhaps a CDG rant &quot;superthread&quot; is in order.

Patrick

Author: eldon_79
Date: 08/18/2005, 09:56 am
Never believe a travel agent's advice.


Wow, eldon_79, you went to the trouble of registering here at Fodors for the purpose of making that valuable comment? Welcome to Fodors, and thanks for the valuable information.

eldon_79

Thank you so much for the very warm welcome, Patrick, you're so kind. I know I also posted a question in the US forum today. And you are most welcome for the valuable information I provided.

Patrick

You're very welcome eldon, and you will notice that my &quot;welcome&quot; to you was made only AFTER your very second post of the day calling me a &quot;self righteous poster trying to be a bully&quot; or some such thing, because I defended someone who actually tried to help a new poster.
Again, welcome to Fodors. You will be a valuable asset with your charming insults.

RSSmith

I have the same quandary for a tentative itinerary next June (Atlanta-CDG on Delta, then CDG-Marseille on Air France). It seems the general consensus is for peace of mind we need 2 hours minimum to change planes at CDG, regardless of airlines, final destination, etc. My question: does the same rationale apply to the return trip (arriving CGD from Marseille, AF, leaving CGD for ATL, Delta)???

barbmc

Plan for 2 hours on your return trip also. We had 1 1/2 hours between landing at CDG from Nice and then leaving CDG for Chicago. We made it to the plan in exactly that amount of time...we already had boarding passes and didn't stop anywhere but the bathroom. We had Air France all the way.

Just a note though...the plane was 1 hour late taking off because there were so many people that didn't make it in time...because of all the crazy shuttle busses that you have to take.