nutwpinut

This sounds very plausible to me. Did any other European airports have an email arriving earlier than usual (LHR, FRA, etc..)?

I remember when liquids were first limited, it was chaos going through security. Now it barely makes a dent. I also remember when LHR limited carry on to 1 bag. That was another chaotic week.

wrp96

So how did ignoring that notice work out for you?

Always Flyin

I arrived 2:05 before departure and made my flight.

Thanks for asking.

JonNYC

One gets the feeling he's referring to this:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-too-late.html

wrp96

Partially. I don't begin to understand the vagaries of why he missed that upgrade. I was just thinking about the fact that he only made it to the gate 35 minutes before departure, after boarding had started, etc. And he's someone with priority, knows his way around an airport, etc.

For someone who is unfamiliar with CDG, doesn't necessarily have priority, etc it sounds like ignoring the advice and only arriving two hours before departure wouldn't be a good choice.

Always Flyin

Of course he was, which to me meant it was an insincere and provocative question from the outset.

Pity you didn't just ask that question then since I then might have taken it as a sincere inquiry.

robsterny

I'm flying business from CDG to the US this week. I just got an email from AA saying to arrive at the airport 4 hours before the flight due to increased security. Does anybody have any recent experience going through CDG? I'm struggling to believe it can be this bad. I only have hand luggage and was planning to arrive at the airport 90 mins before the flight. Any recent experiences would be welcome!

laagima

I traveled from CDG late September and even with no special security at that time, 90 minutes would not have been enough. Everything was painfully slow though sometimes it is reported to be fine here - unpredictable.

alien

Upthread are several reports of the 4 hour email. I think no one suggested this to be necessary. My wife and I depart CDG about every 4 months for the US. With priority check-in and the subsequent customs and security, the 8-9:30 period is a breeze. I have a pile of the Access No 1 tags that we never even bother to use. (Without priority check-in the lines do certainly always look -long- both length and time wise.)

kmandrew

My wife and I just flew home on Friday, booked on the 12:15 to ORD in J. We got there around 9:15, the regular line was horrible, our line not so bad as we checked luggage. They gave us special cards to get through TSA - went very quickly; I would say we were in the AC by 9:45.

badkneeski

Flew from CDG in early May with checked bags. We arrived at airport 3.5 hours before flight but needed to get a VAT refund, which took probably 20 minutes. We were through security within 30 minutes of getting to the check-in counter and easily had 60 minutes at the Admirals Club.

Longest line we stood in was for macarons at La Duree. One clerk and lady in front of me bought 6 dozen that all needed to be packed....

SDQBound

3 hours should be enough. As others have mentioned, the delays at CDG T2A are affecting the regular lines but not the fast track line. It will take you at most 30 minutes to clear immigration and security, which, compared to my recent experiences at T2E (1 hours in the Priority line), is fine.

ashill

One datum: I arrived at 10:00 AM for the 13:20 flight to PHL (that early due to TGV schedule, not choice). Priority check in line took about 25 minutes at that time; main cabin line was much, much longer. I self-tagged my one bag and got my (SSSS) boarding pass from the kiosk. Still had to wait in the line; no bag drop for self-tagged bags (which rather defeats the purpose). Customs and security wasn't bad, though it was a bit tricky to get into the priority line because the agent stuck a yellow "be at the gate one hour before departure" sticker on top of the "Priority" label on my boarding pass (which is quite small now that "GROUP 4" is written everywhere in giant letters).

Long walk to gate A39, then the SSSS extra check took about ten minutes. (I left all but the tiny bag with my family, who were traveling on the same flight on a separate ticket; that was a good call with SSSS.) So with Priority and SSSS, I had more than 1.5 hours to kill before boarding, but I'm glad I arrived much earlier than my typical 50-75 minutes (without bags) before an international flight.

(I couldn't get my mobile boarding pass, which I correctly guessed meant SSSS fun.)

CJ99

Does anyone know whether Priority AAccess on the boarding pass grants entry to the Acces No. 1 security/immigration line?

whimsey21

I believe you need the "invitation" piece of paper to go through. On my last few visits, they collected that at the entrance to the priority lane and didn't even look at my boarding pass.