Air France Connecting Times through Go-Today. com
 

I have made reservations from Chicago to Barcelona through Go-Today.com for the first time. However, I'm a bit concerned with the connection times that they have booked me on. I'll be traveling on Air France from Chicago O'Hare through CDG allowing 1 hour and 10 minutes connection time. The return flight connecting through CDG is only a 50 minute connection time. Normally while booking on my own, I would not schedule the connection times so close. Do these connection times seem reasonable to you? Thanks.

I've booked my friends with Go-today and I called about 1 hour connection time and I was told to be quiet, no one was left behind yet :)

I won't worry about the outbound flight. As long as the whole trip is on the same Air France ticket, they'll get you there that day, even if you can't make the connection.

However, 50 minutes on the return is pretty crazy, in my opinion. Don't know if you need to change terminals, but you definitely have to go through immigration. And if you can't make the CDG-ORD flight, you may be stuck in Paris for a day. I'd try to get an earlier flight out of Barcelona.

Hi Dori,

I think a bigger problem is whether your luggage will make it.

I suggest you bring essentials in a carryon.

Thanks for your replies. I actually called Go-Today and had them change my flights. I now have over a two-hour layover each way. I'd rather play it safe and be bored sitting around a little longer. It's much less stressful!

Good decision, Dori. Those AF connections they push are really hair-raising.

I have had my experiences with Air France connections and CDG, and I want no more. It is bad enough flying there and going to our hotel, changing airplanes there can be an experience I care not to repeat.

A lot of it depends on where you arrive and where you depart. Terminal 2 now has 6 Halls. (I think E is now functioning.) A, B, C, and D are connected like parts of a figure 8 with a connecting tunnel through a shopping area at the center of the 8.

E and F are a little farther away because the TGV - RER station is between E and F on the one side, and C and D on the other. Until recently most international flights by Delta and Air France came into terminal C because the customs and passport control offices are there.

If several international flights arrive at the same time, the time required to enter the country can be long. Customs has in my 3 flights in have been something of a formality. Once the official was waving people through with his back turned while he sat in his office.

If you have to connect, let us say, from F to B, you have a good hike in front of you. In my experience, you don't get much help if any.

Returning, if your flight is scheduled to land at CDG after 11 AM, I would not anticipate it being on time. Delays in the afternoon are common at most major European airports because of traffic volume. Coming home from Zürich, we once had 90 minutes on paper for a connecting flight. By the time we sat on the tarmac at Zürich and wandered in a holding pattern, our 90 minutes was down to 20. Had the flight not been late, we would have been stranded.

I frankly don't want the blood pressure surge that I seem to experience at CDG trying to chase down connecting flights.
If I were fluent in French, I might have a different view of the situation.
But if I had to do it, I would schedule no less than 2 hours between afternoon flights involving T2 and at least 2 hours, 30 minutes for flights involving a change from T1 to T2.

If my flight was scheduled to arrive before 10 am, I would allow a bare minimum of 90 minutes.
Flights do not tend to run as late in the morning hours.