Hello everyone,
My son and DIL will be flying back to the U.S. from CDG next month.
My DIL will be close to 6 months pregnant so will most likely not want to stand in very long lines.
[BTW, their trip starts in Italy]
How many hours prior to their international flight should they arrive at CDG?
I suggested 4 hours early but perhaps they need to arrive earlier now?
Please share any and all recent experiences with EES while departing CDG.
Thank you!
Priscilla
I aim for 3 hours but am usually there earlier than that. My flights usually leave between 10 and 1030 and I have my G7 cab pick me up at 6. That hour of the morning it usually only takes half an hour to get out to the airport from where I stay.
When I departed May 6 I was through departure border control in about 2 minutes but I was in the Sky Miles priority line. Security was quick too but I had to take the shuttle train from 2E K Gates where you enter to 2E M gates where my flight departed from.
I was completely thru and to my gate area before 7A so less than an hour after I left my hotel.
What airline are they flying with?
With everyone’s posting their experience I think the only generalization you can make is that CDG is consistently inconsistent.
Editing to add: on the departure the EES kiosks has big red “X”s illuminated. I was channelled thru the egates which were quick. I did have the EES kiosks on the way in.
Hi Pam,
Thank you for sharing your experience with EES at CDG.
Their American Airlines flight is due to depart at 2PM on a Monday 😉
My last two departures from CDG to the U.S. were on 3/31 and 4/20. At neither one were they using EES for departure (nor arrival, for that matter.)
This was 2E for Delta, though. Not American. So I don't have any American Airlines experience.
There was a period of time a few years ago when American Airlines actually recommend being at CDG 4 hours before your scheduled departure. I think now most airlines, and frequent travelers, suggest 3 hours.
EES changes little to nothing. On more than a few occasions, I have waited in excess of 1 hour in the line for immigration, before EES. Since 10 April, the date EES was supposed to be used everywhere, I have passed through CDG 3 times and ORY once on international flights. I never spent more than a few minutes at immigration. Security has taken longer.
Allow 3 hours and don't worry about it.
We just flew out of CDG yesterday, 5/14. We flew Delta out of T2, M gates. EES kiosks were not being used. Nor were they in use when we flew into CDG on 5/3.
Thank you, Kim, Tocard, and Reederman.
The last time I was in Paris was years ago (2016); we arrived at CDG for our return flight 4 hours in advance, and only remember waiting in multiple lines before arriving to our gates.
So it sounds like EES in not being consistently implemented (?)
I am watching this thread as we depart May 31. When we came in April 16 they were not doing EES just the usual lines with the old electronic gates. When my daughter came in a week later, same thing.
Hi Janet,
Please report back once you get home.
Thank you!
Thank you again for responding to my PM.
Enjoy the rest of your time in France!
Just got dropped off by taxi on a Saturday at 11am for a Delta flight out of 2E. 40 minutes from taxi drop off to my seat near my M31 gate.
No lines anywhere... EES not in service...just did the regular e-reader lines for passports.
NWValerie,
Thanks for your reply.
Hmmm… I wonder what’s happening with the EES in CDG ?
I found this explanation on the inter-web. It's interesting that it talks about passport stamping. We didn't get our passports stamped on entry or exit. I'm guessing EES was either rushed into operation or under-tested (or both) which will have serious downstream impacts on implementing ETIAS.
"At Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric kiosks frequently go unused or unpowered due to severe software crashes, inconsistent staffing, and a phased or selective approach to implementation. Because the machines have struggled with reliability during peak arrival banks, border police often bypass them entirely, forcing travelers into manual passport stamping to avoid missing their flights.The primary reasons the EES kiosks face operational hurdles at CDG include:
System Crashes and Glitches: The self-service biometric stations—particularly in busy terminals like 2E—have suffered from frequent system crashes, forcing authorities to revert to manual processing to keep lines moving.
Selective Processing: To prevent gridlock, border officers selectively turn machines off during high-volume arrival periods. If the kiosks cause bottlenecks, agents may bypass the biometric process and manually stamp passports as they did before.
Staffing Shortages: Operating the kiosks still requires oversight and assistance from Border Police (Police aux Frontières). On busy days, the airport lacks the staff to guide passengers through the initial self-registration, leading authorities to pause the use of the machines.
Phased Rollout Strategy: France has taken a cautious, gradual approach to EES enforcement across all entry points. Only specific terminals and time windows are seeing active EES kiosk operations, resulting in a "hit-or-miss" experience for arriving passengers."
"Only specific terminals and time windows are seeing active EES kiosk operations, resulting in a "hit-or-miss" experience for arriving passengers.""
@Reederman, that is interesting and was typical of the variety of experiences most of us found on your other thread. Consistently inconsistent!
I wonder if there is also some back room shuffling and negotiating with the unions as well.
