PSA: Passport Control CDG
Just a warning that leaving Paris CDG on 18 May 2026 the passport control is in gridlock as virtually every machine is malfunctioning (see: sea of red).
Manual passport control was taking anywhere from 30 seconds to 12 minutes per person.
I spent roughly 1hr10 in the EU electronic queue before I was finally permitted to jump with one other imminently departing international flight. If left to my own devices I reckon I would’ve needed 2.5-3 hours just to make it to my gate.
I made it onto my flight AT the scheduled boarding time and thankfully it hadn’t left yet, but I should’ve missed it.
TLDR: give yourself at least two hours to make it through passport control. CDG was staffed through the nose yet somehow couldn’t figure out how to activate more lanes.