Customs, Immigration, Flights to Eurpe

[ddgg]

Whenever I've flown to Europe, it's always been a direct flight from USA to destination.

 

What about this scenario...Air France flight from Chicago to Paris, change planes in Paris (still on Air France), fly to final destination in Italy.

 

Do you go through any customs/immigration in Paris, or does that happen when you get to Italy? Is an hour enough time in Paris to make the connecting flight to Italy?

 

Thanks

[Langley Cruisers]

Do you go through any customs/immigration in Paris, or does that happen when you get to Italy? Is an hour enough time in Paris to make the connecting flight to Italy?

 

As far as I know, if you are changing planes and not leaving the airport (or even the security area, for that matter), you are considered to be "in transit" and do not need to clear any customs/immigration. You would have to get to your new gate, though, and obviously that could take some time.

 

Also, I would never feel comfortable with one hour between flights, no way - not even in North America, let alone Europe. But that's just me.

[riffatsea]

One hour is NOT enough time to change planes in CDG coming from the USA!!!

You are leaving no leeway for your flight being late!!

The arrival time is not the same as the time you will be OFF the plane!! I'd want 2 hrs. at LEAST!!

[AmoMondo]

Customs will only be in Italy...your bags will be checked through. You'll need to show your passport when you pass through flight connections to whet your second flight.

 

If you are arriving and departing from the same terminal, and hour should be enough. Assume you've bought the 2 flights as one ticket with AF? If something goes wrong, like first flight being late, AF will transfer you onto another flight. I missed my connection in Paris early this year due to bad weather at my home airport. Once I got to the connection desk, they'd alreadybsorted out an alternative flight already and gave me a voucher to go and get dinner whilst I waited for my next one.

[can786]

I recall going through Immigration in Paris at CDG when we flew on Delta to CDG and then connected with Air France to Vienna. I don't remember having to collect our luggage but I distinctly remember standing through an Immigration line as we only had about 1:30 between flights and we ended up missing our connecting flight to Vienna despite rushing madly through CDG. Since then I will do nearly anything to avoid flying through CDG.

[ab0si]

As mentioned: Immigration (aka passport control) in Pairs; luggage collection and customs in Italy.

 

At CDG you will need to change terminals so that means a rescreening at security. An hour is a very short time. I certainly won't want to try to make an intre-terminal connection at CDG in an hour. In fact, I wouldn't even try it.

[Karennella]

I have never landed in Paris, but in London it is most common to be in a holding pattern for a half hour or more. We always allow two hours for comfort.

[navybankerteacher]

If you fly into a European Union country from the US you will go through immigration from the US -upon first landing - even though your bags are checked through, and you will be taking a connecting flight. In your case, you are not just touching down in France -- you are making your first entry to the European Union. You will go through immigration again in Italy - because you are then entering Italy.

[ddgg]

Okay, if I understand you all correctly

[ddgg]

Oops...clumsy fingers!

 

Again, if I have this right:

--immigration in Paris, immigration and customs in Italy

--one hour may not be enough, especially if we have to change terminals for the connecting flight or have to break security and re-enter

 

Thanks everyone. This board is great!

[njhorseman]

Oops...clumsy fingers!

 

Again, if I have this right:

--immigration in Paris, immigration and customs in Italy

--one hour may not be enough, especially if we have to change terminals for the connecting flight or have to break security and re-enter

 

Thanks everyone. This board is great!

 

No...it should be just customs in Italy. Both France and Italy are member countries in the Schengen Agreement, and when traveling from one Schengen country to another you are not subject to immigration checks. You pass through immigration upon your initial entry into the Schengen area...in your case when you land in France, and since you are traveling directly from one Schengen country to another...from France to Italy...it is not necessary to pass through an immigration check upon your arrival in Italy.

[scottbee]

Oops...clumsy fingers!

 

Again, if I have this right:

--immigration in Paris, immigration and customs in Italy

--one hour may not be enough, especially if we have to change terminals for the connecting flight or have to break security and re-enter

 

Thanks everyone. This board is great!

 

No, just customs in Italy. As France and Italy are both Schengen countries, there are no passport/immigration checks between them. It's like going between California and Nevada...

[aquilegia]

When I flew from Italy to the UK on Air France, via Charles de Gaulle, the first flight was late (this was an early evening flight) so I missed the connection and Air France had to put me up for the night in an airport hotel. There is no way I would only leave an hour at Charles de Gaulle.

[Zach1213]

I don't go through CDG very often because of my alliance choices, but I have transited through a few times and even without immigration (say you are flying US-Paris-Africa, or US-Paris-Middle East), an hour would never be enough. The airport is far from efficient, and typical French attitude (I'm not saying that as a negative, but you have to admit they aren't the speediest of people...no German efficiency) made it even slower.

 

I can confirm that you do go through IMMIGRATION in Paris as France/Italy are both Schengen, but the countries within Schengen do still keep their own customs authority, so CUSTOMS and bag retrieval will be in Italy.

[cruise kitty]

After our experience at CDG, I can only think that it was designed by someone who has a deeply imbedded secret loathing of travelers, it's the only explanation I can come up with for what an inefficient nightmare that place is if you're in transit. An hour is definitely not enough.

[jajaga]

I flew from Chicago to London to Italy this summer and had to go through immigration in London, and Italy. No idea about Paris though.

[Zach1213]

I flew from Chicago to London to Italy this summer and had to go through immigration in London, and Italy. No idea about Paris though.

The UK is not part of the Schengen Agreement, even though it IS part of the EU. You can transfer at London Heathrow to any non-UK destination without going through UK immigration (I've done it many times), but as a US citizen it takes minutes to go through immigration in London unless there is a line. However, unless you plan to leave the airport, there really is no point in it.

 

France IS part of Schengen, with Italy, so it's all one immigration system.

[BruceMuzz]

2 weeks ago I flew Air France, Miami to Paris (CDG), then 40 minutes later boarded an A380 for Paris to Tokyo.

Went through Immigration between Terminals.

Made it to the Gate with plenty of time to spare.

[Zach1213]

2 weeks ago I flew Air France, Miami to Paris (CDG), then 40 minutes later boarded an A380 for Paris to Tokyo.

Went through Immigration between Terminals.

Made it to the Gate with plenty of time to spare.

Just curious - why go through immigration? It sounds like you entered the EU for no reason. I understand the need to go through security while transiting, but there shouldn't be a reason to go through French immigration while transiting US to Japan.

[BruceMuzz]

Just curious - why go through immigration? It sounds like you entered the EU for no reason. I understand the need to go through security while transiting, but there shouldn't be a reason to go through French immigration while transiting US to Japan.

 

In some international airports - Heathrow and CDG are very good examples - even transit passengers are forced to change terminals between flights. Moving between one terminal and another sometimes forces you to pass through an Immigration check. My immigration check at CDG took something like 10 seconds.

[Zach1213]

In some international airports - Heathrow and CDG are very good examples - even transit passengers are forced to change terminals between flights. Moving between one terminal and another sometimes forces you to pass through an Immigration check. My immigration check at CDG took something like 10 seconds.

Interesting. I haven't traveled through CDG in years but I remember not having to go through immigration. Guess I was lucky. I transit through London on a very, very regular basis and I can definitely say I've never gone through immigration, even changing terminals, unless I really planned to enter the UK.

[cruisemom42]

I just transferred through CDG last month. I had an hour and 20 minutes, and it was very tight indeed. There were several of us all trying to make the connection. At least 15 minutes were eaten up by parking on the tarmac and bussing to terminal. Three different flight attendants on the preceding flight gave us 3 different sets of directions as to how to get from the arrival to departure terminal -- which I find is pretty typical for CDG.

 

We did have to go through immigration, another 10 minutes or so there. Plus the mad dash -- not sure how long that took. Then we waited about 20 minutes to go through security again (no way to make this particular transfer between terminals airside, so everyone goes through security). Luckily it was ONLY 20 minutes, I've seen the line much longer. They did have officials waving folks into different lines depending on how long you had until your flight. Again, this was a bit of a comedy as between the 5 of us all on the same flight, 2 got waved to a different (faster) line while the rest of us did not, despite protests. When we finally reached the gate, boarding was well advanced.

 

For the life of me, I will never figure this airport out (Gallic shrug). I've never actually missed a connection here, but I never feel comfortable unless I have a good 2+ hours between flights.

[cruise kitty]

I just transferred through CDG last month. I had an hour and 20 minutes, and it was very tight indeed. There were several of us all trying to make the connection. At least 15 minutes were eaten up by parking on the tarmac and bussing to terminal. Three different flight attendants on the preceding flight gave us 3 different sets of directions as to how to get from the arrival to departure terminal -- which I find is pretty typical for CDG.

 

We did have to go through immigration, another 10 minutes or so there. Plus the mad dash -- not sure how long that took. Then we waited about 20 minutes to go through security again (no way to make this particular transfer between terminals airside, so everyone goes through security). Luckily it was ONLY 20 minutes, I've seen the line much longer. They did have officials waving folks into different lines depending on how long you had until your flight. Again, this was a bit of a comedy as between the 5 of us all on the same flight, 2 got waved to a different (faster) line while the rest of us did not, despite protests. When we finally reached the gate, boarding was well advanced.

 

For the life of me, I will never figure this airport out (Gallic shrug). I've never actually missed a connection here, but I never feel comfortable unless I have a good 2+ hours between flights.

 

This was our experience too, buses from the tarmac, confusing series of loops between terminals, about 45 minutes into this, as we're hoofing it through the airport, DH looked outside & said, I'm pretty sure that's the plane we just got off of... & darn it, I think he was right, they'd bussed us around in a circle, but for those connecting on to Rome, we needed to basically get almost back to where we'd started in order to get to the next terminal.

 

Coming from the west coast, we'd just gotten off a 13.5 hour flight, so we were already a bit ditsy & tired, but I do remember an odd series of security checks, that seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them.

 

I wouldn't ever transit through this airport again, unless I had a good two hours like you said.