vdubtx

I have seperately ticketed flights coming up. We did a round trip to Paris and only did hotel for part of our stay. Doing London and Madrid as part of our trip.

We fly out of Madrid on Sunday and get into Paris CDG at 0850 I believe into terminal 2F via Air France.

From what I understand, I would have to go through customs and grab luggage then make it to terminal 2A for my outgoing flight that is at 1130 back to the US.

Does flying in to Paris at 850 give me enough time to get through customs, retrieve luggage and make it to Terminal 2A, check luggage in for return and get through security in 2 hours and 40 minutes??

Thanks in advance for any advice.

MmePerdu

The best anyone can say is that it will probably be enough time. Or that it's usually enough time. Then the question is how one feels about probably & usually. I don't like them, don't like to think in those terms and would choose to arrive in Paris the previous day. Some, I know, will call it excessive caution. I can't afford to miss a flight so I just call it caution. You get the drift.

WoinParis

Enough time. IF your first one is on time. And I have taken enough planes that were quite late.

Madrid Paris is Schengen area so no immigration and custom is just going into an alley that says 'nothing to declare'.

So if you are as lucky as myself during one of those half a dozen flights that were late by more than 2 hours you'll miss it.

janisj

That is a terrible idea for CDG -- sorry.

Yes, you might make it - Maybe even 'probably' make it. But if you don't, how does $2000 or $3000 each for walk up fares sound?

For flights to the States most airlines want you to be at the airport 3 hours ahead of time. Your 8:50 arrival would be fine -- but what if there isn't a gate available immediately. You could sit out on the tarmac 20 minutes or more. My last two European arrivals (LHR and CDG) - the LHR flight had us circling London/southern England for more than 30 minutes, and at CDG we didn't have a gate til another plane boarded and taxied away.

I would never book un-protected international tix unless I was in my departure city the evening before my flight out


(BTW -- you don't go through customs -- you are coming in on a domestic flight. But you do have to wait for your bags and then check them in)

. . . or you could make it.

Sarastro

CDG is not the place to push the limits as you have done. No one knows if you will make it or not. I´d have a good backup plan.

janisj

>>I´d have a good backup plan.<<

Like changing your booking to fly in from Barcelona the evening before.

kerouac

It is probably enough time, since there are no customs and immigration coming from Madrid to Paris, but it is never a good idea to book separate tickets when the second flight is important. If it had all been one booking, it would not have made any difference how late the flight could possibly be -- the carrier would be obliged to put you on the next flight, including any other airline flying that route. (This is often a source of wonderful upgrades and/or monetary compensation.) With separate tickets, you no longer exist if there is a problem.

greg

Suppose you are told you might not make it. What are you going to do now? If your response is the same, then this is an unproductive activity.

There are many areas of uncertainty.

landing time - not under your control
gate acquisition - not under your control
deplane - no, unless you are on business class
Time to walk out of 2F. Irrelevant since you are luggage retrieval limited.
luggage retrieval - yes. You can shave 30+ min by not checking your luggage.
Walk from 2F to 2A. It is a trek.
Check-in queue. How many counters your airlines cares to open that morning and the type of passengers ahead of you.
Exit passport control - unpredictable.
Security check(s) - highly unpredictable. Depending on existing security concerns, they can suddenly add indeterminate number of additional security checks before you are allowed to board plane. They can also decide not to staff all the security check points proportional to the traffic size.

StCirq

I wouldn't do it, but I have the benefit of hundreds of flights into CDG and know what can, and does, go wrong...some of the time. And I would never have booked separate tickets.

kerouac

Security check time is a very minor problem, because once you have officially checked in for your second flight, they know you are out there somewhere. And people running late are allowed to rush to the front of the queue every day.

rouelan

Only critical time is last check-in time for your US flight (as you said you will have to drop a bag). By 10:30 latest by a desk, 10:20 in terminal A.
From 2F, it would take 20 mns to walk there. 10:00 by luggage area in 2F. 30 mns to have your bag delivered, meaning 9:30 at block from MAD at latest and maximum 40 mns delay. As it is the 1st flight of the day for crew and aircraft, as it is a sunday morning (quiet period), odds for such delay are very low.
Probably as low as Donald Trump being elected....

MmePerdu

"...odds for such delay are very low. Probably as low as Donald Trump being elected"

How many missed flights can we offer to cancel the election?

vdubtx

Thank you all. I am able to change to night before arrival, that is what we will do and get hotel for night and not have stress not making it to get back home.

Happy Travels!

MmePerdu

Excellent decision.