How much time between flight arrival and train departure

Did I miss where you are landing? I assume CDG, one of the busiest airports on the planet. I am a self-confessed worry wart, but I would never assume: (a) the plane will arrive on time (b) you will retrieve your luggage promptly - - depends on how many other flights land at the same time - - skip this if doing carry on only (c) the lines for passport control are not excessively long - - also depends on number of arriving flights. You might make it, but the stress of worrying about it would not be a good start for your trip. My advice is to reserve the 12:44, relax, have a coffee and pastries ( or whatever), and just be zen. Take the later train.

You never know if your flight might arrive late, or passport control is backed up, or luggage is delayed at the carousels. The usual advice is to either buy in advance a full fare train ticket which would allow you to change to a different train, or just buy your ticket when you get to the train station. With luck you can make the early train, but perhaps without the luxury of freshening up or picking up a meal to bring on board with you. (Although you do have half an hour to pick up something to eat in Strasburg when you change trains there).

It’s generally not recommended to book train tickets in advance for day of arrival due to possible unforeseen delays; such as your flight, passport control, or baggage claim.

If your plane is on time, it may be possible to make the 9:00 train, but if you miss it, you may have to buy new tickets.

Have a wonderful trip!

The rule of thumb is 3 hours if taking a train from CDG. Doesn't guarantee you make it, but odds are good. 2.5 will be enough if the plane is on time and there is not some major luggage delay and if passport control is not oddly backed up. We average about an hour from plane landing to being through the customs door but it can take longer. And planes can be late. If you can get a very cheap ticket like the old PREMs by buying well in advance, you could risk it, knowing that you might have to buy a walk up fare on arrival.

Thanks everyone. I think we'll buy the tickets ahead of time and hope we make the early one! We just have to decide between the semi-flexible and flexible. the Semi flexible is $70.52 pp and if we missed the 0900 train we'd be charged 15 Euro per ticket plus the difference in the cost of the new ticket. Which only looks like about $9 pp. The Flexible ticket allows changes for free and would cost $117.50 pp. I think the semi-flexible would work just fine if I'm understanding the conditions correctly. Can anyone chime in and let me know what they think about this?

Thanks again for the help!

If you're reading it right, seems like the semi-flex is pretty cheap insurance against possible arrival delays. I agree with others that 2.5 hours is a little risky after a transatlantic flight.

I went back and reread the terms and conditions of the semi flexible ticket and it's a good thing I did! It is not refundable or changeable after departure! So we have to go with the full fare if we're going to buy in advance. and even these ones say refunds or changes up to two hours after departure. I guess the best is to not buy in advance at all and just show up! Is there a chance this train could sell out?

We are arriving at CDG and taking the train to Avignon from the airport on May 30th. Our plane arrives at 08:15 and in checking the history of flight arrival times/delays on the Airportia.com website it seems that there is about a 30% chance the flight will arrive at least 1 hour late. Our previous experiences with CDG are that it can take up to 2 hours to collect luggage and clear passport control although we have done it in less time. There is a good explanation on the CDG website of how to get to the train station, complete with photos and estimated timing which suggests we should be able to get to the train station in 10 minutes after retrieving our luggage. The extra 20 minutes gets us to the platform with luggage in tow and personalities and good humour intact assuming we had bought our ticket in advance. So adding up all the times (+1 for possible delayed arrival; +2 to clear passport control/retrieve luggage and 30 minutes to get to the train platform) the soonest we could book a train and be on the safe side would be 11:30 and there is a train to Avignon at 11:57. But, and here is the but, IF we arrive on time or earlier AND we sail through the formalities and get our luggage without any delays, there is a train at 10 am and I would dearly love to take the chance of getting on that train if it were possible having flown all night from the West Coast in economy. The other consideration is that if we are relegated to the 11:57 train I'd probably take the 13:58 which is a direct and gets in to Avignon about the same time AND gives us time to have lunch and an espresso in the airport. This is a long-winded way to say, this is the only train ticket we won't book in advance as we have no control over when we can be on the platform. Sometimes the price of flexibility is worth it rather than stressing and fuming while waiting in a line-up at passport control or arriving at the airport to find your departure is delayed by 4+ hours and so is our arrival (this has happened more times than I'd like to think about). I'm willing to pay more and buy my train ticket at the airport given my yada-yada-yada explanation above.

As already expressed, I’d suggest you just relax and know you can take the second train.
If you arrive punctually and it works out then try to get a seat for the first time.
I’d wait and buy my ticket once in France.