How much time is safe to connect with an international flight from Cincinnati to Paris - Is one hour enough layover time to make the connection?

Answer 1

If you mean you're flying from another city, to Cincinnati to Paris, with Cincinnati being the layover, an hour may cut it pretty close, but you should still be able to make it. Just have your ticket, boarding pass, etc. ready (but in a safe place) and travel lightly. Check your luggage if possible in case you have a long way to travel from the gate where you land to the gate where your flight leaves for Paris.

Also, if you feel you may need to use the restroom before the flight for Paris takes off, do it before you disembark the first fight. The lines in the restrooms can get long, and it can sometimes take a while just to find, and get to, the rest room.

You can also ask the flight attendant on the flight before Cincinnati which gate you will be departing from for Paris - sometimes they can give you this information on the plane. If not, look it up AS SOON as you get to the airport. And check to see if your flight to Paris is on time or not. Also, check to see if they change from the original gate of departure to another gate. This happens quite frequently, and caused me to miss a connecting flight a few months ago after they changed the departure gate three times.

As soon as you find the gate for the Paris departure, stay put, especially since airports do tend to change departure gates. And make sure you check to see if they do change the departure gate.

I would recommend getting a connection time longer than 1 hour. Consider having to go through customs, if you do have to do that. Some airports will have you leave the gates areas and have to go back through security. This is especially true for larger airports with multiple terminals. You may have to take a train or a bus to get to the other terminal, which takes time to locate and travel on. Most airports have Domestic and International gates in different locations.

Also consider your baggage. Depending on the size of the aircraft, it may take up to 30 minutes or sometimes more for your bags to get unloaded. Although "Hot" connection bags (~1hr) get offloaded first and run gate to gate, things may happen that will mean your bags not getting loaded on your outbound flight.

The choice is yours. You can risk it and all can go well, or you can miss your Paris flight, or land without your bags. I, as a pretty regular flyer, will not connect for less than 1.5hrs, and I usually travel with carry-on bags only.