timecheck00

From FAQ I see that minimum connection time for terminal 2 is 90 minutes and this is 105 but it seems very tight, primarily because of the "last time to check in time" being 30 minutes before the flight. This is all Air France. Pau is a city in France.

At San Francisco we will check our bag with AF through to Pau, but we still have to go through immigration in CDG. Our arrival time in CDG 2E is 11am. Can we get through immigration and over to the AF 2G gate by 12:15? (on a Monday)

Also, how firm is that last check in time? Is it one of those getting on a bus things where the bus actually leaves the gate at 12:15?

Just to clarify, the flight departure time to Pau is 12:45, but last check in time is 12:15.

Thanks for any help.

Ocn Vw 1K

timecheck00, welcome to FlyerTalk. As this is specific to Air France connections at CDG , I'll move this to the Air France forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Goldorak

Welcome to Flyertalk Timecheck00
don't worry and relax ! The limit check-in time is strictly endorsed but in your case you will be already checked-in for your entire trip to PUF at SFO (you will be given the 2 BP SFO-CDG and CDG-PUF and your luggage will be tagged to PUF). You don't have to collect your luggage in CDG but only at your final destination (PUF).
So you have to pass immigration and to transfer to 2G.

timecheck00

Thanks for the reassurance, Goldorak. One less worry.

brunos

I would like a confirmation. When you fly from some non-Shengen to CDG and then connect to a French airport that is not international (like Pau=PUF which has no foreign flights), do you indeed clear customs for your luggage at PUF?
I have never done it, so it is a genuine question as to how the French customs operate.

JOUY31

The customs officer at airports within the European Union (common customs area) check your baggage tags visually. If the baggage tags have two green stripes, you are coming from within the EU, so usually no need for a search of your baggage. If they lack the two green stripes, you and your baggage are comling from outside the EU.

So, you would never clear customs at CDG, except for a possible check of your carry-ons. On the other hand, I have no idea about how many customs staff there are at smaller French airports.

bodory

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Meaning there are custom agents in PUF which is a non-international airport?

bodory

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In BOD, flights from CDG are disembarked in a different room than flights from ORY, facilitating custom's work. Also, customs are aware of which flights from ORY may carry passengers connecting from FDF, PTP or RUN.

Goldorak

Yes, there are customs agents available at these airports, and as you said they have access to some pax data, e.g. where do they come from so they know when they have to show up. Generally, they are more likely present at the arrival of CDG flights are they are the ones who have the most connecting pax originating from a non-Schengen country. But ORY flights may be also checked due to the DOM-TOM flights or any other international flights (AF or non-AF to AF via an interline agreement).
What you are saying about BOD is right. It's frequent at the largest airports. In TLS, luggage of CDG flights are delivered on 2 different carrousels : one for luggage arriving from Schengen zone and another one for non-Schengen with custom clearance.

usabug

I will have a similar itinerary this December. I have a flight from USA>CDG (Terminal 2E) and on a separate itinerary from CDG>Pau (Terminal 2G). It seems like you are saying I can check the bag all the way from USA>Pau and only collect my checked bag in Pau. Did the below information hold true? If not, I will need to only take a carry-on bag because I will not have enough time to claim/re-check luggage.

NickB

This is the practice at most European airports but not all of them. In Scandinavia, both Sweden (inside the EU) and Norway (outside the EU but within the EEA), I believe that there is still, with some exceptions, a process of claiming/redepositing baggage at first entry into the national territory.

My experience is that, in any event, except for some specific origins, customs checks on travelers baggage at EU airports tend to be extremely cursory. I would suspect that most customs checks are intelligence-led rather than pure random.

Not that any of this has any relevance for the OP, however.

Goldorak

Yes ^

brunos

It depends what USA>CDG means. If USA means JFK and your flight is on AF (possibly DL). The agent should be able to find your second e-ticket (CDG-PUF) and check you through. If you are departing from some "minor" US airport and pick your TATL flight elsewhere, then you are going to face an agent who may not be able or willing or trained to access your second ticket and will not check you through.
Also remember that carry-on limits tend to be more strictly enforced on international flights than on US domestic flights.

NickB

IIRC, for baggage, the agent does not need to access the e-ticket (the agent will want to see a printout copy of it but will not need to access it in the system). This would be different for the passenger BP but I assume that the poster will get his/her BP online.

brunos

I once could not check my bag through when flying from a minor Florida airport through Miami (where I was using an award for the international flight). But I did not insist because I felt safer to recheck my bags anyhow. And that was a few years ago.
I am still a bit surprised for security reasons. Would really the agent trust some printed material that can be easily faked, and send you bag on an international flight without checking that you are a pax on that flight? I know that bona fide pax could still choose not to board, so airlines have to check transfer bags anyhow. But I would assume that US agents would be over-risk averse rather than over-zealous.