Transfer Time - CDG - Non-Connecting Flights

September 2025 is still far away, a lot can happen until then. Flights might be rescheduled, you might receive a message from Air Transat in March telling you that your flight has been moved and is now scheduled to land in Paris 9:50. So I'd suggest waiting a while before booking your flight to Scotland. You can also look at what Air France has to offer.

Brexit should not affect this trip, but you need to to through passport control twice as well as customs.

Thank you. I had every intention of waiting until March or April to book the «regional» flights. But given the context I have given, do you think it would be reasonable to book with 4.5 hours between flights?

If your plane arrives on time, you will be fine.

If your plane is delayed 3 hours or more, you will most likely have to buy a new ticket. Figure out what it costs to buy a walk-up ticket to Edinburgh and decide if you are ok with that risk or if you want to give yourself more time.

Easyjet Bag drop closes 40 minutes before departure, so a 1:10pm departure really means you need to be at the bag drop-off point by 12:30pm. That gives you 3h50m assuming the flight schedule doesn’t change in the next 10 months and your flight arrives on time.

The short answer would be that 4:30 hours should theoretically be enough to make your non-connecting flight.
The likelihood of one or both of the flight schedules changing by a little or a lot by next September is probably 100%, so it's a gamble/guessing game no matter what. I really wouldn't get too caught up yet on having an extra two hours in Edinburgh; everything can change.

We just played that kind of game when we booked our flight to Paris this past spring. I booked 10 months out. By the time we flew, nothing about our flight itinerary looked the way I originally booked or how I imagined.

It sounds like you've already booked the Air Transat flights but I will just say I had a sterling experience transiting thru Amsterdam going from Seattle to Aberdeen. In Amsterdam when you transit to UK flights from outside the EU you stay in the International area of the terminal. There is no passport control and no security. I was all on one ticket (Delta and KLM) so don't 100% know if this would be the same for 2 separate flights. And have no idea if Air Transat flies Quebec to Amsterdam...but worth thinking about for next time.

I've transited thru CDG on one ticket (Delta/Air France) an honestly, I'd go with the later flight to Edinburgh. Yes, I agree if the stars are aligned you could make the earlier one but it would make me anxious. Your tolerance may be greater than mine. You may be able to go to the Flighty app to see the percentage of time the Air Transat flight is on time....not that that will guarantee anything and you could always be the outlier - either seriously early or late.

Is there any way to do carry on only for your Air Transat flight or do they have pretty tight carry on requirements? That would help free up some time as well.

And just a reminder that by September you should need an ETIAS to enter France, since you will need to go through Passport Control to check in for your second flight.

I'm aware for the ETIAS for France, I'll also need the same kind of document for UK. Thank you for pointing that out though.

As far as the flight's history since last Spring, it lands EARLIER than expected 63% of the time, lands on time 10% of the time and late only 27% of the time, never more than 30 minutes late. Never canceled, never diverted. So, I would say that the risk is minimal, even though anything can happen anytime.

Also, as I said in the OP, for reasons I don't want to explain here, we can't fly carry-on (even though we usually do this ALL the time). We also have to go through CDG, for the same reasons. And all (relatively affordable) flights from Quebec City to Edinburgh require two stops. This arrangement requires only one stop and we depart from our own city (going through Montreal or Toronto gets old after a while!). Amsterdam was not an option.

Sure, you can always make it, until the day that you can't. No one can predict the future with 100% certainty.

The main question you need to ask yourself is: do you have enough money set aside to buy new same-day EasyJet tickets if you don't make it ? (Or next day plus a night's hotel at CDG, if you end up making it in the day after you expected.)

As I wrote in the OP: «I understand the risks associated with all that can happen».

I understand that nothing can be sure, that September is a long time away, that airports are always unpredictable, that anything can happen. And I'm not asking anyone here to guarantee anything to me. I'm a grown man making my own decisions. I'm just asking if this transfer is possible, in the current known context, with at least a bit of leeway if something goes wrong a little more than the expected delays.

From what I've gathered, it's certainly possible with 4.5 hours between the two flights, even if the arrival flight is 30 minutes late (the worst it has been for the last 6 or 7 months) and even if the lines at security/passport lines are a little slower. I was looking for a major hurdle that I forgot when I made some research. It seems this major hurdle doesn't exist.

The risk I'm taking is about the Air Transat delays, our luggage being lost or security lines being way slower than usual. And I won't have to declare bankruptcy if I have to pay for another flight or a night in Paris if anything big happens.

If everything is going «normal», I should be able to make it with some time to spare. That's what I gather from your answers so far. Am I right?