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Customs (once again)

I will be going from Boston to Athens on Air France. We must change planes in Paris, but still on Air France. We have a little less than one hour in Paris. What are the odds?

Posted by
9110 posts

If you arrive on time, 100%. Don't dwadle, however. Assuming your bags are checked through or you're hand-toting everything. If AF blows it, they'll take care of you.

Posted by
19099 posts

Assuming your bags are checked through to Athens on AF, you shouldn't have to go through customs in Paris. You will have to go through passport control because you are entering the Schengen zone, but you shouldn't have to go through customs until you retrieve your bags in Athens.

Whether or not you can make it depends on the gates used and on whether or not your flight from the US is on time.

Posted by
199 posts

Make sure Passport Control stamps your passport. They are notorious at Charled DeGaulle for waiving you through with nothing more than a roll of the eyes. This can be a real problem when you leave Europe to come back to the U.S. If there is no stamp it looks like you entered Europe illegally. At worst DO NOT throw out your boarding pass for your flight TO Europe. If Passport Control does not stamp your passport then the boarding pass can be checked. Good Luck.

Posted by
1829 posts

I stand to be corrected but I think Mickey will also have to go through security clearance before boarding the onward flight? It is a couple of years since we did something similar (changing planes at Brussels when flying from UK to Rome) and things may have changed.

Posted by
7569 posts

Well, for a positive note, I did the same trip with Air France, andabout the same connection time...and our plane was late arriving at CDG.

However, coming off the plane, they had signs with passengers names, including ours, they brought us directly to passport control, to the head of the line, and on to our gate, where our plane was waiting, only dlaying the other passengers a few minutes.
Generally with connections, they work hard to make sure you make them, or at least that is my experience over multiple flights.

Posted by
1357 posts

We had to go through TWO security checks in the Frankfurt airport last year. We had just a little less than one hour, too, but made the flight. Barely. And it actually helped that we had a little one in a stroller, airport security put us in a shorter line that way.