Leaving Paris - American Airlines recommends arriving at the airport 4 hours early! Is that necessary? We have always used 2 hours as our guideline. Thanks for your help.
I'm reading about the long lines. I went through the GOES process - finger printing, background check etc. - where does that help? Only when we arrive back in the US?
The longstanding suggestion at CDG is 3 hours but lately because of additional security measures and waits, American has been suggesting 4 hours. I don't fly American but I know two people who have -- one arrived 4 hours early and had no problem at all and reports that she in fact was hours early for her flight. The other one arrived 3 hours and 30 minutes before her flight and said that she needed every minute or the time and spent the last the last 40 minutes worried about making the flight. I don't think that American would not say 4 hours if they did not think you would need it. Read this from the Points Guy and then make your decision: https://thepointsguy.com/2017/07/air-france-klm-security-paris/
Edit: if you are flying business class, 2 hours could be enough time because you get the priority security access. I flew home business class (Air France, not American) last month and arrived 3 hours before departure time and did my VAT refund and spent about one hour in the lounge.
Nowadays there is extra screening that the US airlines do and it is very time consuming.
Try to checkin online they day before if you can't then go to the airport 4 hours before.
If you can checkin online, print a boarding pass, and are only doing carry on then 2 hours should be enough.
I assume that all the terrorists know they can by-pass all the "Security: Highly Inquisitive Treatment" by paying an extra $50. I leave the acronym to your imagination.
We flew AA last spring and were not advised 4 hours and got there our usual 3. Some days they advise 3 and some days 4. The process was slow and inefficient with lots of lines. I would never arrive at CDG with fewer than 3 hours for an international flight to the US. We have been doing this for years and have several times needed every minutes of that three hours. One flight we didn't even have time to go to the bathroom before boarding much less buy any last minute items with our left over Euro change. On other occasions we have zipped right through. AA has always in our experience been the worst; one year, they put a line of over 50 people in front of our line that had already been waiting an hour to check in making us very nervous about making the plane. Unless you are flying first class and have some sort of priority access I'd be there when they tell you to. Which is better, reading a book in the waiting area and having an extra cup of coffee or missing the flight? They really don't care if you do.
According to these two threads, American Airlines seems to be in the forefront of this new security procedure.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/odd-questions-at-the-milan-airport
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/20-questions-at-check-in-at-rome-s-fco-airport
4 hours? If I flew AA, I'd fly between JFK and ORY instead.
Where does AA put in writing that you need to be at CDG 4 hours early? The Points Guy article said that security is "more than 2 hours". He then said to allow more time for check in and baggage drop off. If you check in online and fly with carryons only, 4 hours is overkill.
AA flies out of Paris many times every day.
Perhaps they know something about the process?
If I were told by my airline I needed 4 hrs. to assure I would be in the plane and not on the ground when it left, I would pay attention.
I think Joe has it right. Go with what the airlines tell you. And I'd add get there even earlier.
My wife and I flew AA out of Paris CDG yesterday morning (9/30), a 10:30 flight to Boston. We checked in online the day before and all we were told is to arrive two hours before. Having read threads like this here and elsewhere we got a taxi that arrived at CDG at 7:20 (three hours early). At this point you might be expecting my horror story to begin but ... all went smoothly. We went to the self-service luggage tag kiosk and stumbled through that a bit, then to the next line for the security interview. Two minutes tops. Then passport control another two minutes then a quick zip through the security x rays (slowed only by passengers who it seems couldn't possibly have ever heard that, by gosh, they have to put their jewlelry and coins and jackets and devices in a bucket to be scanned so were unprepared). We were in the bright and shiny duty free shop at 2A by 8.
Things did get tricky for other passengers at boarding time. Seems a United flight was cancelled so those passengers were dispersed to other flights such as ours. There was a flood of late boarding passengers and we didn't know why they were so confused about their seating until one next to us explained. I had tracked our flight's on time record over the last several weeks and saw some cancellations, which had worried me. That, with the United situation yesterday, made me wonder: do these airlines have an arrangement whereby they schedule, say, five flights from Paris to the US then, when the day comes, if they realized they have maybe only three planes worth of passengers they decide to scrap one and scramble to reassign the passengers? Maybe that's too cynical. Maybe not.
Which is all to say: whether to arrive two or three or four hours ahead depends on many variables and, yes, go by what the airline tells you. They know the variables. Maybe we got lucky because our flight was early. Maybe our extra precaution of getting there earlier than advised paid off. But my take is that traveling can be stressful enough, and an extra hour of being relaxed at an airport is a good investment.
One final note: I know many experienced travelers cite CDG as inefficient. This was our fifth time traveling through it in two years and it's been smooth every time. Maybe we've been lucky.
I agree. If you miss the plane when you were there two hours ahead when they directed you 4 hours you won't have any sympathy from them. And yes it is in 'writing' for the flights they advise for it to be this early. Otherwise the usual 3 hours holds. We have zipped through in an hour (never on American thought) and we have had the process take the full 3 hours. And I think the idea that they cancel a flight when they don't have a full plane and disperse the passengers is entirely likely. We have not been on a plane with extra seats in years; we used to often have a 3 side with an empty seat in the middle. When I flew with toddlers back in the day we always got a free seat for the under 2 child to sit in; now you would be a fool to not buy a seat on an overnight flight for a baby.
If you are taking a taxi, add 1 hour to get to CDG.
Then 4 hours to get in line to check in. You'll need it. Someone can stay in line while you go do something else for a bit, though.
The GOES program is only used in major US airports, not in Europe.
We flew American to Chicago from Paris on October 1 and allowed three hours to get to the gate. Instead of taking a taxi we took the subway and I'm glad we did since we saw that the traffic was congested getting into the airport. Fortunately we had carry-on luggage and didn't have to wait in the extremely long lines. We found a kiosk and printed off our tickets. The airport was prepared to handle the number of people getting through security. Because of the multiple steps it took about 30 minutes before we were on our way to the gate. BTW we had TSA pre-check and it didn't make any difference at CDG. In Chicago, it saved us lots of time. We had time for a light snack, people watching and a little window shopping. The boarding process was slow as they were pulling people out randomly for additional screening. Patience is required and knowing that this process takes time I'd allow 3 hours, more if you need to check a bag. Enjoy your trip and plan ahead for CDG.
CDG is a hot mess no matter which airline you're taking. Definitely get there early. Last time we flew out of there we were told we were bumped from the flight, sent to this strange little waiting room with a whole bunch of other people (luckily one of whom was a French teacher from the US so she helped translate everything for the group), told we were waiting for a new flight assignment...then suddenly it was all "hurry up, hurry up" and we got rushed to a random security line that they opened just for our group, put us on a bus, and then we were the last ones to board our original flight. This was after the metro randomly stopped several stops before the airport and we had to get off and transfer to another line. So yes, getting to and navigating CDG is confusing and I will avoid flying out of there in the future if at all possible. Give yourself plenty of time!!
I went through CDG 3 days ago...it was very bad. I flew Delta/Air France. Everyone is in one VERY Long line (hundreds of people), at the end of the line there were only two stations open to check passports. And that was just one of the lines I had to go through! People were cutting in front of people who had been waiting forever. I was there 3.5 hours early because I had to submit my VAT form and had decided to check a suitcase on the trip home. I needed at least 4 hours. I made my flight then sat on the plane through two delays as we waited for 40 people who were stuck in line. The pilot told us this happens sometimes at CDG. Give yourself plenty of time, but never fear...if you there on one of those bad days they hold the planes for the passengers stuck in line. And don't cut the line.
I flew Delta from CDG->BOS a couple of weeks ago. I got there a little over three hours early, sailed through every line including checked luggage, and had tons of time to kill. But given the variability indicated here, I would go just as early the next time. I'd rather worry about what to do in an airport for a couple of extra hours, than worry about what I'd do if I missed my plane.
I flew home out of Orly two days ago on IcelandAir. I arrived at the airport a little under three hours early, got through security, realized I still needed to scan my VAT refund (I rarely shop enough to worry about a refund), went back out to do that, back through security, and was still more than an hour early. They hadn't even identified the gate yet on the departure board. It helps that I don't need to check bags. I check in online ahead of time but still stop to print a boarding pass at a Kiosk when I get to the airport.
I know Orly is better and it sounds like security is specifically worse for American Airlines now at CDG. It still saves a ton of time coming and going if you pack light and carry on. The check-in line is always a time waster. Maybe you can save time if you use the other bag drop options (I've never used them) and check in online before getting to the airport (especially if you can print your own boarding passes)?
We just flew back from CDG to Charlotte NC on Tuesday. Our shuttle got us to the airport at around 8am for our 10:40am flight. Plenty of time for us. We flew American Airlines.
