MatchesMalone

Hi, all -
I'm scheduled to travel first week of July on Delta to CDG to connecting to Air France flight to the Balkans, (i.e., US to non-Schengen zone country). All same itinerary with a 1.5 hour layover. I have authorization and paperwork to cross the destination border upon arrival. My concern is making it to the border. With respect to connections at CDG, the rules are a little convoluted on whether transit passengers are allowed, and I have not seen any definitive posts, so I thought I would consult FlyerTalk forums for any insight on connections through Paris under current travel regime. I sent a message to the @parisaeroport twitter account, which responded that I should be OK (although that didn't feel very authoritative), and DAL representatives (after 2 days of waiting on hold) didn't seem very certain. Can anyone confirm based on experience whether transit passengers right now are generally allowed? Are transit passengers asked to present the French travel certificate upon check-in in the originating destination? Are US/Non-Schengen to other non-Schengen connections still made within Terminal 2E (i.e., that changes in process that would require being checked through passport control)? I'd appreciate any help here - or opinions on trying to change to the alternative KLM-marketed routes through Amsterdam. Thanks!

IstKong

I agree that this is confusing. As far as I know, you still need a travel certificate to board any flight to France. This certificate is to show prior to boarding. The TravelDoc system that Air France website uses still says that you need this document even when you say that you are only transiting. And french interior ministry still says that you need this certificate to "enter" or "transit" through France.

So yes, very unclear. You won't see much experience based posts here because very few peoples are travelling right now.

I would says, tick the 4th box : "Third country nationals, transiting less than 24 hours in an international area to reach their country of origin and who are holders of a travel document to this country;" in case the airline need this document. If they ask for more, the documents that prove that you are going to your destination for business should be enough.

If this trip is very important to you, ask the airline or the french consulate to give you a written answer so you will be certain to board.

https://newyork.consulfrance.org/Cor...estations-here
https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/conten...europe-en.docx

MatchesMalone

Thanks for the reply - very much appreciate it. I had found the form, but was somewhat concerned because of "country of origin" is vague and unclear. Does not seem to allow for a departure out of one's home country.

I called ParisAeroport this morning and spoke with an extremely gracious call agent. She said there have been issues with people not having the right paperwork, but couldn't confirm whether that is happening within the terminal or only at border control. I also called the US Embassy, which suggested I call the local French consulate/Embassy. I've made calls to both, but they don't seem to be taking calls. Submitted messages on their websites.

To the extent any of this is helpful, I'll be sure to post what gets confirmed to me -- unless I choose an alternate route. I've spent a number of years referencing Flyertalk forums, and have never had to post a question before because most of my questions have been thoroughly answered in other Q&A posts. Hope I can repay the favor to another anonymous lurker like myself. :-)

IstKong

I'm sure your experience will be very helpful for non-EU citizens travelling through EU or to EU for a compelling reason because we have very few experiences on this.

Concerning your trip, the most important thing is to convince the airline to allow you on board. Once in CDG, no one will care about you because you are travelling from a non Schengen to a non Schengen country, and you have the right documentation to travel to your final destination.

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​​​​​​A document from a French consulate in the US will help you to convince your airline to allow you on board.

If you can change for free your ticket and travel through AMS, it is also a good alternative since the TIMATIC notice and the local regulations are much clearer about transit passengers. You don't need the contradicting and ambiguous french auto-certificate to travel through AMS.

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MatchesMalone

I reached out to the French consulate in NYC and the French Embassy in DC to see if I could get more clarity -- see below. The French Consulate in DC attached the same form previously noted in this forum, but did not address the confusing nature of the forms themselves.

Washington DC Consulate:NYC Consulate:Of course I have since spoken with Delta yet again, which insists it is the government's responsibility. I am just going to play it safe and take the Amsterdam routes on the departure, and CDG on the return.

IstKong

So the french authorities and Air France have no clue on how a non-schengen passenger should be treated in CDG. None of those can agree on a clear and written "ok to board" for you. Crazy. All of this "certificate" thing is a total nonsense for a passenger who is just transiting non-schengen to non-schengen, but airlines still requires you to fill it, and the document does not really address transit to a destination where you are allowed if it's not your country of "origin", this term also being a nonsense.

Maybe the government should give Air France a clear regulatory framework to operate and allow passengers to transit smoothly in CDG between two countries they are allowed to enter instead of spending continuously billions of taxpayers euros to "save" the airline.

Goldorak

You have your response in what you received from the embassy :
"You can transit through a French airport ONLY IF you do not need to leave the international zone of the airport.". So you're OK to transit in CDG if your final destination country accept your citizenship. Of course you need to travel on one ticket for the whole itinerary to be sure to not have to leave the international transit area.

IstKong

Not that easy.

We have a lot of posts here saying that airlines are very reluctant to board anybody who does not hold the proper passport these days.

For instance, check this experience boarding a flight from the US to AMS : https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32484708-post612.html

I would not be surprise to hear that he was not able to start his journey to Croatia even with the proper documents.

To board to CDG, there are big chances that the airline will request the "attestation". He will tick the 4th box, and then, the airline may ask him a proof that Croatia is the country of "origin"... There is a high probability that he will not make on board the flight to CDG because of the airline rigidity, even if he is clearly allowed to travel through CDG (which is unclear : transit being a reason to be required to produce the certificate).

The "transit" mention on the attestation is enough for the airline to not take the risk allowing him on board.

Goldorak

We don't know OP's citizenship and reasons for travel. If OP is eligible to travel to Croatia based on his/her citizenship or for a valid reason as published by Croatia, there is no reason for OP to not be allowed to transit in CDG. OP may indeed need whatever form French bureaucracy seems to enjoy since beginning of Covid crisis but those forms are easy to find on the airline or government websites and it takes 5 min to fill. Another important condition I mentioned is to have all flights on a single ticket. If all conditions are not met, indeed the airline can deny boarding, but at that point there is nothing in OP story allowing us to make such a conclusion.