Air France's New Non-Stop SEA - CDG Flight Questions
Sep 12th, 2007, 01:02 AM
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Air France's New Non-Stop SEA - CDG Flight Questions
Has anyone flown on Air France's non-stop service from Seattle to Paris? If so, how would you rate the service? Does coach have AVOD?
The flight is scheduled to land 11:40am in 2E. I have been tracking this flight for two weeks, and the latest it has landed is 11:20. With that in mind, would this leave me enough time to catch a connecting Air France (code share Altialia) flight to Rome in 2F that departs at 12:35?
Will I have to go through immigration first before heading to the connection? And in your opinions, what are the chances of my luggage, if I decide to check, of actually being there when I arrive in Rome?
Thanks in advance,
Tom
www.pbase.com/trsw
The flight is scheduled to land 11:40am in 2E. I have been tracking this flight for two weeks, and the latest it has landed is 11:20. With that in mind, would this leave me enough time to catch a connecting Air France (code share Altialia) flight to Rome in 2F that departs at 12:35?
Will I have to go through immigration first before heading to the connection? And in your opinions, what are the chances of my luggage, if I decide to check, of actually being there when I arrive in Rome?
Thanks in advance,
Tom
www.pbase.com/trsw
Sep 12th, 2007, 06:34 AM
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AF uses their 330-200 on this flight. They have individual screen, but I don't think they're AVOD. So, you have multiple channels that run on a loop, not on demand.
55 minutes for a connection is very tight at CDG, because sometimes your flight won't have a gate and everybody has to take a bus to get to terminal.
And you have to go through immigration. Sometimes there's no line, sometimes it takes 20 minutes.
Good thing is they have many flights to FCO, so if you miss your connection, they can easily put you on the next one. But if it's me, I'll book the next one.
55 minutes for a connection is very tight at CDG, because sometimes your flight won't have a gate and everybody has to take a bus to get to terminal.
And you have to go through immigration. Sometimes there's no line, sometimes it takes 20 minutes.
Good thing is they have many flights to FCO, so if you miss your connection, they can easily put you on the next one. But if it's me, I'll book the next one.
Sep 13th, 2007, 12:39 AM
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rk and otto,
Thank you both for your input, it is much appreciated. I just thought that due to it being an Air France flight arriving near noon and on a Wednesday, they would have a gate.
Like I said, the AF flight is usually more than 20 minutes early upon arrival. And the 12:35 flight out to FCO has been running about 10 minutes late on departure.
I have only been to CDG once and had no problems, so I think I will book the 12:35 and take my chances.
Tom
rk - I really like your photography. Keep up the great work.
www.pbase.com/trsw
Thank you both for your input, it is much appreciated. I just thought that due to it being an Air France flight arriving near noon and on a Wednesday, they would have a gate.
Like I said, the AF flight is usually more than 20 minutes early upon arrival. And the 12:35 flight out to FCO has been running about 10 minutes late on departure.
I have only been to CDG once and had no problems, so I think I will book the 12:35 and take my chances.
Tom
rk - I really like your photography. Keep up the great work.
www.pbase.com/trsw
Sep 13th, 2007, 07:55 AM
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ha, yeah. the thing is, even when the flights arrive early (they usually do!), everything slows to a crawl once your there, in cdg. you park remotely, slow march onto the bus, transfer, etc...etc...i read once 5 years ago that cdg (in a airline trade mag. not company literature!) has more weekly connections then heathrow. that surprised me, but now i see they may indeed have more weekly connections "scheduled", but they should see who has the most connections actually "made". ;-)
Sep 13th, 2007, 08:48 AM
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Yeah, well, when I did my 65-minute connection two Christmas ago, I fully expected to miss my connection. It was a standard award ticket, and I basically grab whatever they give me. I was also staying in Rome for 4 days, so a few hours late was no big deal.
Anyways, the stars lined up that day. Flight out of IAH was on-time, and not only did we get a gate, they gave a 2F gate instead of 2E. The only time consuming part was immigration between the two halves of 2F, which took about 20 minutes.
The problem with CDG is its unpredictability. So many variables - gate, no gate, speed of the bus, immigration line. Absolutely no way to say for certain.
Anyways, the stars lined up that day. Flight out of IAH was on-time, and not only did we get a gate, they gave a 2F gate instead of 2E. The only time consuming part was immigration between the two halves of 2F, which took about 20 minutes.
The problem with CDG is its unpredictability. So many variables - gate, no gate, speed of the bus, immigration line. Absolutely no way to say for certain.
Sep 13th, 2007, 09:23 PM
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rk and otto - After further thinking, I have decided to book the 2:00 flight to FCO. So I get to Rome an hour and a half later. I will be there for 8 nights, so why stress over the connection right?
That is of course, you think 2 hours and 20 minutes is not enough LOL. Thanks for your input.
Tom
That is of course, you think 2 hours and 20 minutes is not enough LOL. Thanks for your input.
Tom
Sep 22nd, 2007, 08:45 PM
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I guess I got lucky the other day. I was 2 for 2 getting a jetway 
My inbound from JNB pulled up to 2C (instead of 2E) which was perfect for me as I wanted to use the arrivals lounge.
My transit from 2C arrivals lounge (landside) to the 2E S3 departures lounge (airside) took approx 30 minutes on a Friday morning around 8:00am. This included walking to 2E, passport control, train to S3, security and elevator up to the lounge. I used the fast track lanes (purple Access No. 1 sign) at the passport control and security points, but there were really no security queues to speak of and the regular passport control queue was fairly short at that hour, so I'd say max 5-10 minutes longer without fast track.
I think the chances of getting a jetway have increased with the opening of S3, but I agree it's still totally unpredictable.
My inbound from JNB pulled up to 2C (instead of 2E) which was perfect for me as I wanted to use the arrivals lounge.
My transit from 2C arrivals lounge (landside) to the 2E S3 departures lounge (airside) took approx 30 minutes on a Friday morning around 8:00am. This included walking to 2E, passport control, train to S3, security and elevator up to the lounge. I used the fast track lanes (purple Access No. 1 sign) at the passport control and security points, but there were really no security queues to speak of and the regular passport control queue was fairly short at that hour, so I'd say max 5-10 minutes longer without fast track.
I think the chances of getting a jetway have increased with the opening of S3, but I agree it's still totally unpredictable.
