Question about connecting through CDG
 

Hello,

I've flown in and out of CDG (Paris) many time but I've never connected through it. In this case, I will be traveling for Germany for Spinal surgery.

I won't be checking any luggage and will be utilizing wheelchair service. I have a long layover (during which I'll be enjoying lounge access lol) before I switch to Eurowings airlines.

QUESTION IS: When I arrive, after going through immigration, because I have NOT checked any bags, will I have to go outside past the security checkpoint and go through security again or will I be permitted to stay in the terminal and go right to the lounge?

I appreciate your guidance!

Moving this to our French forum, which is the best spot about CDG questions.

chgoeditor
co-moderator, Info Desk

Welcome to FT :)
It's hard to answer your questions without knowing where you are arriving from, going to (OK, Germany ?), which incoming airline (which will tell us which terminal), all on same ticket or separate tickets ?

So I think I need to leave immigration in this instance but thought I'd ask here. If I'm going MIA to CDG to VCE do I need to clear passport control? The MIA to CDG portion is on AA and the CDG to VCE is on Air France - obviously separate tickets.

You are entering the Schengen Area in Paris so regardless of whether you are booked on one ticket or separate tickets, you have to clear Schengen entry passport control at CDG. (Which specific passport control point you clear it through might depend on how you booked it, if you need to pick up luggage. etc., but no matter what you'll have to do it in Paris.)

Without knowing all your flight details, it's hard to be specific, but it sounds like you'll arrive at terminal 2E and depart for VCE out of 2F. Here's a helpful link
​​​Easy CDG

Normally, AA arrives at 2A. Check your TATL flight before you leave.
AF to Venice leaves from 2F.
​​​​​​You'll need to go through Passport Control - entering Schengen from USA - and security at Terminal 2F.
Here's the guide.
Easy CDG 1
Easy CDG 2

Edit - sorry for the duplicate. Goldorak posted the correction while I was typing..:)

While a Paris-Venice flight is indeed an international flight, from a passport-control perspective intra-Schengen flights act essentially as domestic flights. So while a Miami-Paris-Venice itinerary does technically consist of two sequential international flights, it really behaves as if it were an international flight from the US, followed by a domestic flight within Schengen. Like any international-domestic sequence that I can think of, you have to clear passport control at that first port of entry before your domestic flight.

In other words, in an itinerary that is A (non-Schengen) --> B (Schengen) --> C (Schengen) you always have to clear Schengen passport control at B, regardless of whether B or C are in the same country.

(I specify "from a passport-control perspective" because the rules for where you clear customs and whether you have to re-clear security are not identical. I think CDG forces almost everyone coming in from a non-Schengen flight to re-clear security, but I'm not 100% sure on this.)

I have spent more than 1 hour in passport control at CDG. There are effectively two points for passport control; one for those connecting and another for terminating passengers. The former is much faster than the latter but as you know, for handling purposes you are not a connecting passenger.

Be absolutely sure that you are checked in for your follow on flight as to avoid any need to visit the check-in counter. Then there is the unknown of security which typically is no more than 30 minutes but I have spent up to 1 hour.

I shouldn´t describe CDG as the most efficiently operated airports I have ever used. Little more than 3 hours is not the ample connect time that it may seem.