Flying to France

The short version

Almost every American heading to France lands at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, about 16 miles (25 km) northeast of the city. In summer 2027 you'll be able to fly there nonstop from roughly 25 US cities, and a handful of routes now go straight to Nice, with Marseille and Toulouse joining in 2027.

The overnight eastbound flight is the hard part. You leave the US in the late afternoon or evening, lose six to nine hours to the clock, and land between about 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. local time. Plan your first day around that, and plan your border wait around the EU's new biometric Entry/Exit System, which has been fully running since spring 2026.

This page covers the routes, the booking calendar, the airports and your legal rights. For getting from the airport into Paris, see Paris transport. For passports, EES and ETIAS details, see Entry rules.

Nonstop flights to Paris

Four airline groups carry most of the traffic. Air France and Delta run a joint venture (with KLM and Virgin Atlantic), so they share revenue, sell each other's seats and park at the same terminal at CDG. United partners with Lufthansa's Star Alliance group, and American with British Airways and Iberia in oneworld. Two French specialists fly to Orly: French bee, a low-cost long-haul airline, and La Compagnie, which sells only business-class seats.

Air France says its US network will reach 20 airports in summer 2027, adding Nashville and San Diego (each three times a week from May 2027) and dropping Denver. United picks up Denver–Paris instead, Delta adds Austin, and Alaska Airlines, which began flying to Europe in 2026, adds Seattle–Paris.

Airlines adjust frequencies every few weeks, and winter schedules (late October to late March) are always thinner. Treat this table as a map of who flies where, then check the airline's own schedule for your dates.

Nonstops to Nice, Marseille and Toulouse

Flying straight into the south saves you a connection and about half a day. Options have grown fast, though nearly all of them run only in the warm months.

Nice (NCE)

Nice is the only French airport outside Paris with a real menu of US flights. In summer, Delta flies from New York JFK, Atlanta and (since May 2026, three times a week) Boston. United flies daily from Newark and four times a week from Washington Dulles, both seasonal. American flies daily from Philadelphia from early May and adds a daily JFK–Nice flight from May 6, 2027. La Compagnie flies its all-business jet from Newark up to four times a week in summer and, for the first time, twice a week through winter 2026–27. Nice is the gateway for the Riviera and Monaco and for eastern Provence.

Marseille (MRS) and Toulouse (TLS), new in 2027

United is opening the first nonstops between these cities and the US using the narrow-body Airbus A321XLR, a smaller plane with about 150 seats, including 20 lie-flat business seats. Washington Dulles–Toulouse starts April 26, 2027, daily. Newark–Marseille leaves Newark for the first time on June 4, 2027, landing in Marseille the next morning, and runs daily until late October. When tickets went on sale, a one-week June round trip to Marseille was quoted at about €724 (about $810) per person. Marseille is the door to Provence; Toulouse gets you to Occitanie, Carcassonne and the Pyrenees.

Lyon, Bordeaux and the rest

No nonstops from the US currently serve Lyon or Bordeaux. Local business groups in Lyon have talked publicly about a New York route returning in 2027, but nothing was on sale as of October 2026. For these cities, connect in Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, London or another European hub, or take the TGV from CDG (Lyon is about 2 hours by train from the airport station). For Tahiti, Martinique and the other French overseas territories, see Overseas France.

How long the flight takes

Jet stream winds push you east, so the trip over is always shorter than the trip home, by about an hour from the East Coast and up to an hour and a half from the West Coast. These are typical scheduled times for nonstops; actual times vary a little with the season and the winds.

Most eastbound flights leave the US between about 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. and land in Paris between 6 a.m. and noon. Westbound flights usually leave Paris between late morning and mid-afternoon and land the same afternoon or evening in the US, which makes the trip home far easier on your body.

When to book and what drives the price

Transatlantic fares follow demand on both sides of the ocean. Summer is peak season for Americans and for the French heading to the US, so July and August are the most expensive months to fly, along with the Christmas–New Year stretch and the weeks around Easter. Fares are usually lowest from January to March (outside school holidays) and in November apart from Thanksgiving week.

A few habits make a bigger difference than chasing the "perfect" booking day. Set a price alert on Google Flights or a similar tool as soon as you have rough dates, and watch for a few weeks so you know what a good fare looks like for your city. Be flexible by a day or two, since midweek departures are often cheaper. And compare the whole trip, including bags and seats, because the cheapest fare on most airlines is a stripped-down "basic" or "light" fare.

Open-jaw trips and connecting through Europe

Into Paris, out of Nice (or the reverse)

An open-jaw ticket flies you into one city and home from another, so you don't waste a day backtracking. The classic French version is Paris in, Nice out: spend a few days in Paris, take the TGV south (about 5 hr 40 min to Nice), and fly home from the coast. Search with the "multi-city" option on the airline's site or Google Flights. Priced as a single ticket, it often costs about the same as a round trip to Paris.

In summer, you can fly home nonstop from Nice to New York, Newark, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta or Boston. In winter, or if you live elsewhere, the return usually connects through Paris (Air France flies Nice–CDG many times a day, about 1 hr 30 min) or through Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, London or Lisbon. From summer 2027, Marseille and Toulouse give you two more one-way exits from the south.

Connecting through another European hub

Connecting can save money or get you to a smaller French city in one ticket. Common choices: KLM through Amsterdam, Lufthansa through Frankfurt or Munich, Swiss through Zurich, British Airways through London, Aer Lingus through Dublin, Icelandair through Reykjavík, TAP through Lisbon and Iberia through Madrid. All of these then fly to French airports such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice or Toulouse.

On the first stop in the Schengen area you pass passport control (and EES registration); the short hop to France is then a domestic-style flight with no border check. If you change planes in London, you're outside Schengen and need to check whether the UK's ETA applies to your transit (see Entry rules). Coming home via Dublin or Shannon has a perk: you clear US immigration and customs there before you board, so you land in the US as a domestic passenger.

Flying within France

Since 2023, France has banned short domestic flights where a direct train covers the trip in under about 2 hours 30 minutes. That ended flights from Orly to Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes; the few remaining flights on those routes leave from CDG and mostly feed long-haul connections. For most trips inside France, the TGV is faster door to door. See Trains in France. Flights still make sense for Paris to Nice, Toulouse, Biarritz or Corsica.

Budget, premium economy and business

Points travelers: Air France and KLM's Flying Blue program publishes monthly "Promo Rewards" with discounted award seats, and you can transfer to it from most major US credit card programs. Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus, American AAdvantage and Alaska's program all reach Paris on their own metal or partners. Award space for summer goes fast; search as early as the airline lets you.

Charles de Gaulle and Orly

How CDG is laid out

CDG has three terminals. Terminal 2 is a long chain of halls named 2A to 2G, with the airport's train station in the middle. Terminal 1 is the round 1970s concrete building, and Terminal 3 is a small hall used by charter and low-cost flights. A free driverless shuttle, CDGVAL, links Terminal 1, Terminal 3 (and its RER station), the parking lots and the Terminal 2 station. Trains come every few minutes, and the ride from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 takes under 10 minutes.

Terminal assignments shift occasionally, so confirm on your boarding pass or the Paris Aéroport app. If you connect from a US flight in 2E to an Air France flight within Europe, you'll walk to 2F or take a bus to 2G, and you'll pass passport control (and EES) plus a security check on the way. Air France sells connections with fairly short layovers, which are protected on one ticket. On separate tickets, give yourself at least three hours.

Orly

Orly sits about 8 miles (13 km) south of Paris and is easier to navigate than CDG: its four terminals (Orly 1 to 4) are linked by walkways and a free shuttle. US travelers use it on French bee and La Compagnie. Most other traffic is European, with Transavia, easyJet, Vueling and other carriers, plus flights to Corsica and the French Caribbean. Since June 2024, Métro line 14 runs straight from Orly to central Paris. Details and fares are on Paris transport.

Layovers, lounges and airport hotels

Air France runs its own lounges in Terminal 2E (halls K, L and M) and 2F, open to its business passengers, top-tier SkyTeam members and Delta One customers. Priority Pass and the other card-linked lounge networks cover only some CDG terminals, so check your program's app for your terminal before you count on one.

For a very early flight or a long layover, a Hilton sits in the Roissypôle complex on the CDGVAL line, a few minutes from the terminals, and a ring of chain hotels (Accor brands, citizenM and others) surrounds the airport, linked by CDGVAL or hotel shuttles. Paris itself is 35 to 50 minutes away by RER B, so a layover of eight hours or more is enough for a quick lunch in the city if your bags are checked through.

Arriving: EES, passport control and bags

Since the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) started on October 12, 2025, and reached full operation on April 10, 2026, the first time you enter the Schengen area you register your biometrics. Expect to scan your passport, give four fingerprints and have your face photographed, at a kiosk or at the officer's booth. Children under 12 skip the fingerprints. The record is kept for three years after your last exit, so later entries are quicker, and it replaces the old passport stamps for tracking your 90 days in any 180.

The process adds minutes per traveler, and at CDG several widebody flights often land within the same hour. Plan for anything from 15 minutes to well over an hour at the border on a busy morning. Keep your hotel address handy in case you're asked, and see Entry rules for ETIAS, the separate online travel authorization the EU is introducing for visa-free visitors.

1. Follow signs for Arrivées and passport control (Contrôle aux frontières). Take the "All passports" or non-EU lane.
2. Complete EES at a kiosk if directed, then see the officer. No arrival card is needed.
3. Collect checked bags at Livraison bagages. Screens list your flight number and belt.
4. Walk through customs: green channel if you have nothing to declare. You can't bring meat or dairy products from the US into the EU, and cash over €10,000 must be declared.
5. Head for trains (Trains), taxis or ride-hailing pickup. Use only the official taxi rank; drivers who approach you inside the terminal are unlicensed.

Catching a train at the airport

CDG has its own high-speed station, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, under Terminal 2 between halls 2C/2E and 2D/2F. TGV INOUI and low-cost Ouigo trains run from here direct to Lille (under an hour), Lyon (about 2 hours), Marseille, Avignon, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Strasbourg and other cities, without going into Paris. If you're starting your trip outside the capital, this is the easiest way to begin.

Book a train that leaves at least three hours after your scheduled landing, longer in summer or on a flight that's often late. Buy a ticket you can exchange (see Trains in France for fare types), or book after you land if the route is frequent. From Terminal 1, take CDGVAL to the Terminal 2 station. RER B trains into Paris leave from the same station and from the Aéroport CDG 1 stop at Roissypôle. From March 28, 2027, the CDG Express is scheduled to link Terminal 2 with Gare de l'Est in about 20 minutes, every 15 minutes, for €25 (about $28) one way, with children under 16 free with an adult. Don't buy tickets for it from any site before it opens.

A jet lag plan that works

Most people need about a day per time zone to adjust fully, but you can feel human by the second day if you're disciplined on the first.

1. Two or three days before, shift your bedtime an hour earlier each night if you can.
2. Pick the latest departure you can live with, so you sleep more of the flight. Eat at the airport, then skip the meal service and sleep.
3. Bring an eye mask, earplugs or noise-canceling headphones, and a neck pillow. Go light on alcohol and drink water.
4. On landing, get outside into daylight. Walk, have lunch outdoors, keep moving.
5. If you must nap, keep it under 90 minutes and before 3 p.m. Set two alarms.
6. Book something easy and pleasant for the first evening, like a dinner reservation around 8 p.m., and go to bed at a normal local time.

Baggage tips

• Standard transatlantic economy allowance on full-service airlines is one checked bag up to 50 lb (23 kg), but basic and light fares often exclude it.
• Pack a change of clothes and medication in your carry-on. Lost bags on connections through Paris are common in summer.
• A tracking tag (AirTag or similar) in each checked bag helps you prove where it is when you file a claim.
• Report a missing bag at the airline desk in the baggage hall before you leave customs, and keep the file reference. Claims under the Montreal Convention cover reasonable costs of essentials while you wait.
• Pack light enough to lift your bag onto a train rack. See Packing list.
• Spare lithium batteries and power banks go in your carry-on only.

Flying home

Arrive at CDG three hours before a US flight. Lines at check-in, security and passport control can each take a while, and the exit side of EES records your departure. If you're claiming a VAT refund on shopping, add another 30 minutes.

VAT refunds at the airport

Tax-free forms are validated electronically at the PABLO kiosks in your departure terminal, before you leave the EU. Do it before you check the bag holding the purchases, in case customs asks to see them. The full rules, minimum spend and refund options are on Shopping and bringing things home.

US border on arrival

There's no US preclearance in France. In Europe, only Dublin and Shannon airports in Ireland offer it. So you'll clear US Customs and Border Protection when you land in the US.

• Global Entry members use the touchless lanes and usually get through in minutes. The program also includes TSA PreCheck.
• Mobile Passport Control is a free CBP app for US and Canadian citizens, accepted at 27 US airports including JFK, LAX and SFO. Submit your details after landing, up to 12 family members in one go, and use the dedicated lane, which is often much shorter than the regular line.
• Declare food. Most hard cheeses, chocolate, wine and packaged cookies are fine; fresh meat, cured meats and fresh produce are not. See Shopping and bringing things home.

If you connect in the US, you'll collect and recheck your bags after customs and go through TSA security again. Duty-free liquids over 3.4 oz (100 ml) can stay in your carry-on only if they're still sealed in the shop's tamper-evident bag with the receipt; otherwise move them to your checked bag before security.

Strikes, delays and your EU261 rights

French air traffic controllers, airport staff and airline crews strike from time to time, most often in spring and early summer. Under French law, individual controllers must declare 48 hours in advance whether they'll strike, so airlines usually cancel flights a day or two ahead and rebook you. Long-haul flights to the US are normally protected; short-haul flights within Europe take most of the cuts. If you hear of a strike, check your airline's app and the French civil aviation authority's announcements before heading to the airport.

Which flights EU261 covers

EU Regulation 261/2004 gives passengers cash compensation, care and rerouting when flights are delayed, cancelled or overbooked. It covers every flight departing an EU airport, on any airline, and flights arriving in the EU on an EU airline.

What you can get

For transatlantic flights (over 3,500 km), compensation is €600 (about $670) per passenger when you reach your final destination four hours or more late, or when the airline cancels with less than 14 days' notice. It's €300 (about $335) when a long-haul flight arrives between three and four hours late, or when the airline reroutes you and you land within four hours of the original schedule. Flights within France and short European hops pay €250 or €400. Regardless of compensation, the airline must give you meals, refreshments and a hotel if you're stuck overnight.

No cash is owed for "extraordinary circumstances" such as air traffic control strikes, severe weather or security alerts. Strikes by the airline's own staff do count against the airline, based on European Court of Justice rulings, so a pilot or cabin crew strike usually does entitle you to compensation. EU lawmakers have been negotiating changes to these rules that could raise the delay thresholds; until a new law takes effect, the current rules apply.