This is France. Things are different in France. It has always been this way at NCE. On some days flights to the US all combine together and you get large planes sourced by several cruise ships from Monaco, Nice, Villefranche and Cannes with extra security required and the same maximum of one and then evenutally two bored purposefully slow passport control guys and or girls. It can take more than two hours from the back of the queue to get through. So they delay the planes.

No amount of complaining has ever resulted in a different attitude from the passport control team.

On the positive side, because the French do not accept that rules are set in stone but are a starting point to consider work-arounds, NCE non-BA and non-BMI staff (when BMI operated) all do not accept that inflexible tickets should be inflexible. They are merely a starting point from which one should consider all possibilities. So, nearly every time I arrived early for a flight on an inflexible ticket I have nearly always been able to get an earlier flight. But this is only because I do not pretend to speak fluent French but struggle which they seem to respect and like.

Don't complain. It's pointless. It is France.