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How early to be at CDG for our flight?

Posted by (Seattle, WA, USA ☔️) on

We have a trip coming up in March. We are flying from Seattle to Istanbul, but we get to enjoy an 11 hour layover in Paris. The timing works out well for us providing the opportunity for a Paris stopover; we should be able to head in to the city center around noon-1:00 pm, and our onward fright from CGD to Istanbul doesn't depart until 10:40 pm. I figure we should have a solid 5 hours of so in the city, but want to be sure I get back to the airport at an appropriate time so that we catch our onward flight with no stress.

For international departures from the USA, I usually aim to get to the airport 3 hours before flight departure time. In this case, we will already have bags checked through to Istanbul, we probably will have boarding passes (though probably not with the current departure gate info), and we will technically already be checked-in for the continuation of our flight (although I plan to "re-check-in"). We will probably need to pick up a carry-on bag that we plan to leave at a left-luggage facility, and of course we will need to clear security. We're flying in business class on Air France, so we should have access to a decent departure lounge (champagne, maybe a massage...). We will probably have lunch and dinner in Paris so we won't be looking to load up on food in the departure lounge.

Given our task list, how many hours before departure time would be appropriate to arrive back at the airport after our afternoon/early evening in Paris? I plan on taking the RER B both ways. It will be on a Tuesday evening in March.

Thanks!

Posted by
10203 posts

I would say 2 hours, but you might get away with 90 minutes. Are you flying Turkish Airlines? Whatever the airline, usually they have somewhere on their website their recommended time for arriving at particular airports.

I would say two especially because you say you will be going to left-luggage to retrieve bags. But check what the airline says.

Posted by
7887 posts

Your sketch of the schedule did not, I think, mention Shengen Area exit Immigration handling, since you are flying to Turkey. It would be worth finding out if Air France Business Class has an expedited Security line at CDG, which is very likely. (But that has nothing to do with the Immigration line.)

Posted by
6790 posts

I would say 2 hours, but you might get away with 90 minutes.

Oh, I would never cut it so close as 90 minutes. I was wondering whether 2 hours or 3 would be reasonable (in the USA, the default advice given is 3 hours for an international flight, but our TSA is not the most efficient security screening force in the world).

Are you flying Turkish Airlines?

Air France, in business class.

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