Air Travel Q --- SEATAC Short Layover

56 minutes in Seattle is quick but do-able so long as you are not delayed out of Spokane. You will just walk to your next gate and board.

You will check in with your passports, but will not need to clear customs until CDG. If you’re transiting back home through Seattle, you will need to clear customs upon your return.

Do you have a round-trip ticket, and does your return flight follow the same or a similar routing? If so, that would explain the "customs in Seattle" bit (no customs in Spokane...). Typically, you go through customs in the first airport you land at upon arrival back to the USA.

Unless the current administration has some new trick up their sleeves that I haven't heard about yet this morning, there should be no "customs" when exiting the US. Then again, we live in crazy times...

I don't know your return itinerary, but the "land in Seattle" must refer to your return flight to the US. You would do customs there if it's your first stop back in the US.
You don't go through customs when you exit the US.
The 56 minutes will be fine if your flight from Spokane is on time.

Looks like your Spokane flight will go to the B concourse and from there you can take the underground tram to the S concourse.
( at least that is what today's flights did)

No real 'dilly dally' time but breaking Usain Bolt's record not needed.

Happy travels

Carly, I also fly out of Spokane and I would not accept this. There are fairly frequent flights to SEA and I would ask that Delta move you to an earlier departure from GEG. The 3h30m layover is what I would pick for CDG. The Delta flights often land at one of the tarmac gates so you have to be bused to the terminal but I don't know where the AF flights come in.

Also....we have a local meet up in CdA for folks in the CdA/Spokane area. Our monthly get-together is this Saturday at Woops Bakery in downtown CdA if you would like to join us. We're very casual - usually 4-8 people. We meet at 10 and usually break up in 2 hours so no one gets a ticket for parking beyond that time frame (insert eyeroll emoji!). We'd love to meet you!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/coeur-d-alene-spokane-travel-group-june-7-at-woops-bakery

And no...you would not need to go thru Customs when leaving Seattle. Maybe they are referring to your return flight?

Judging on the last few flights (flightaware.com) most of the flights from Spokane to SEA-TAC land in B Gate; and Air France flight to CDG depart from S Gate (international terminal). You can ride the underground airport shuttle train (Blue line) from B to S; which means you remain on the airside thus no need to go through TSA security again. Having a short layover might not be a bad idea (if your domestic flight is on time) as S terminal is very crowded and kind of unpleasant place to hang out for a long time.

When returning from Europe you will definitely have to go through passport control and customs. SEA-TAC airport operates a bit differently from most other airports; you will collect your check-in luggage first then go through passport control next. You will then have to go through TSA security for your domestic connection flight back to Spokane.

Perhaps, what they are referring to is that your passport may be checked as you board in Seattle. I'm inclined to defer to Pam since she flies that leg often, but I do fly into Seattle a lot, and Delta planes are often early.

If you can't make your connecting, the airline is obligated to put you on the next flight with capacity. That said, your itinerary is a little complex.

It wouldn't hurt to call Delta to discuss the situation with them. Before calling them, I'd look at various alternatives that would get you to Venice at about the same time.

It looks like the AF flight might leave at 130P so they’ve probably got you on the 1112 departure from GEG.

There are flights from Spokane to Seattle at 505, 605, 710, 820, then nothing until the 1112 one.

There is also the Delta non-stop service to Paris at 645P from Seattle.

With Delta you do not have to accept the change. You can call and talk to a person AFTER you figure out your alternatives. If you don’t feel the service representative is helping you can just say you need to think about the options and will call back later. Then do that and hope for a different person.

Whatever you do, do NOT google a number for Delta. Go to the website and use the contact info from there. There was a recent thread from someone who googled an airline number, got connected to a scammer, paid extra, probably compromised her credit card and might or might not still have flights.