These days, how long to clear customs & get baggage at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris?

It's normally recommended to allow 3 hours to make a train connection. It's not unusual for it to take 60-90 minutes to get off the plane, through passport control and retrieve your baggage. Customs is a non-issue, since it just involves walking trough an exit door after baggage claim.

Demonlady: Simple answer: plan for the 13:58 train. Your arrival from N. America may be delayed and your bags may be the last to show up on the carousel. You did not indicate from which train station you will be departing. Paris has seven train stations that serve specific geographic regions of France. Others on this site can help you determine whether it makes sense to purchase a train ticket in advance or to just purchase a ticket at the train station on the day of departure. Enjoy your trip and be safe.

If the train departs from Paris you would miss it regardless of the plane being on time (which they often are not) There is a slight chance you would make it if it departs from CDG but not unless everything went perfectly.

Generally you need 3 hours for a CDG train connection and 4 for one from Paris. Stuff happens; a plane half an hour or an hour late is not unusual. Sometimes immigration takes 20 minutes and sometimes it takes 90 -- an hour is a good guess.

Regardless of recent issues ..there is no way I would risk that tight of a connection.

First... the plane counts as arriving when it touches the ground.. not from when you actually get to the terminal.. many times we have waited onboard for buses that come out to runway to transfer you to the terminals.. so ..you "arrive" at 8'45 but may not get in the terminal till 9.. then start with immigration.. and since you are arriving in morning.. the lines could be very long as that's when most flights from north America land.. you may get unlucky and land right after another jumbo jet full of people.. but you might also get lucky.. point is.. you cant afford the risk. and why put yourself through the stress.

Book the later train.. it actually makes huge sense as it gives you time to go in a normal bathroom.. buy a decent breakfast to eat at airport. and more importantly .. buy some snacks for picnic on the train.. train food, overpriced,, poor selection, no "dining car" but a concession car really ( so nice tables etc.. you eat at your seat or stand at a counter) ..

Train rides are much more fun with a picnic.

As said above, you are not going to make this train and activities in Paris and Brussels have nothing to do with it. In fact, you might have better luck now than you would have had a year ago because I found significantly fewer people in the airport this week than usual this time of year. I landed at CDG a couple of days ago at around 5:05 PM for a scheduled 5:15 PM arrival and I was out of passport control in less than 10 minutes and had my checked luggage at a little after 6 PM; the screen above our assigned luggage carousel said that the luggage would arrive at 5:31 PM but the first bag arrived at around 6 PM.

Many of us here don't recommend buying advance train tickets to connect with an inbound flight. At least some of the tickets will have compulsory seat reservations which are specific to train, date and departure time (such as those on the TGV) and if you miss the train you've booked, the ticket is worthless. If the ticket can be changed for a later train, that often means standing in a queue for an indeterminate time to speak with an agent. That's NOT something I prefer doing when in a jet-lagged state!

The easiest solution is just to buy rail tickets when you arrive, as that means you'll be on the next train, and won't have to wait (in a jet-lagged state) for the train you booked in advance that won't be leaving for several hours.

It would help to have more information on where you're going after arrival in Paris.

Depending on your final destination, SNCF may sell a ticket with flexible times, allowing you to take the later train if necessary. It will be substantially more expensive but offers the reassurance of not forfeiting money. You would still need to change the seat reservation which often means a line-up adding as much as another half-hour. That's also the drawback to waiting until your arrival to buy any ticket. http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/

Four days ago - 15 minutes to deplane, 15 minutes to walk to passport control, 30 minutes in passport control line. Terminal 2A.

I agree with the advice about not buying your tickets in advance--even for the 13:58 connection. You never know about flight delays. If you plan ahead and are very lucky, it's possible you will make the 9:58 connection. I'm assuming it's leaving from the train station at CDG in Terminal 2. I've done this connection in less than an hour, but it took a lot of planning. First, I got a chip-and-PIN credit card from Andrews Federal Credit Union. That way I could used the French train ticket machines rather than wait in line for a ticket (most US cards with a chip won't work in these machines). Second, I only took carry-on luggage. Third, I printed out the timetable for my early train connection using the official SNCF website. When I got to passport control, I told the official at the First Class/Business Class line that I had a connection to make in 45 minutes and showed him the SNCF printout. He was very kind and let me through--saving me a long wait in the passport control lines. So with no luggage to pick up and a quick exit from passport control, I was able to walk to the train station and buy my tickets for the train in plenty of time. If you have never been to CDG before, look at the Paris By Train website for instructions on how to get from your Terminal 2 arrival area to the train station. Good luck.