Any experience with a quick plane change at CDG?
 

We will be on an Air France flight to Paris, where we change to another Air France flight to Florence. We have 45 minutes to do this. We arrive at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday in Terminal 2C and depart from Terminal 2F at 7:15 a.m. I'm not sure this is doable. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are numerous previous posts on this firum which would suggest that you will miss your connection. I have had ONE experience with CDG where an Air France rep met us (and four other travelers, not WITH us) AT the gate, and expediated us from point A to Point B, literally running all the way - - and we DID make it. <BR> <BR>But I suspect that this is an exception to most people's experiences with a connection this close. sometimes, just waitng on the buses (which seem more and more inevitable to go from plane to terminal) eats up more time than you have. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

I'm interested in this because I have a similar situation. I have longer between flights (an hour and a half) but have to travel between American Airlines in 2A to Air France in 2F--and Air France won't give me an advance seating assignment, so that's to be done after I get to 2F. <BR> <BR>Am I going to have to travel by bus, too, between terminals? If so, I may not make it either.

Had a similar experience: An Air France representative met us at the gate and drove us to our connecting flight, which we barely made. I'd call the airline and inquire.

I hate to tell you but CDG is not the easiest airport to navigate.While others have said they were met and escorted to the connecting flight we never have been and we asked twice.CDG is very confusing.It was actually quicker for us to run and not take the bus. Good luck.

I have changed fligts at CDG to Valencia few times for the last several years with one hour between the flight,never had any problem.

Annie and Logan: It looks to me like you both arrive and depart from Terminal 2; therefore, you would not need to take a bus from one terminal to another. Do all planes require a bus from plane to terminal? If you are on time and don't need to wait on a bus, you may have a very good shot.

We changed to another flighton Air France at CDG to Berlin and had about 1 hour to go from one terminal to the other, we chose to walk to it because no one could answer our ?'s in english as to were we needed to go. We barely had enough time...good luck!

45 minutes is practically no time to make the connection, especially if your flight is late. I connected in CDG to and from Rome this summer -- on return the flight from rome left 1 hour late and we missed the last flight out of Paris to NYC. It was a bummer. I would never chance such a tight connection in that airport again.

On our flight to Venice, we had to stop at CDG. We had an hour and a half, which was plenty of time. We flew Air France, and we were supposed to arrive at the same gate as we were to depart. This didn't happen. We had to take a shuttle to the departing gate, wait in a chaotic huge line for security but still had time to use the restroom, etc. It was easy to find where we were supposed to go. Good luck!!

If you don't have to change terminals, which I think you are saying you don't, you shouldn't have a problem. If you do have to get on a bus and go to another terminal or go from CDG 1 to CDG 2 I would say my prayers. The good thing you have going for you is that you are arriving so early there will be practically no one at the airport holding up lines. I have arrived at CDC this early before and I went through customs in 20 minutes. Now, what you need to find out is if you have to go through Passport Control when you arrive in Paris, before you go to your plane to Florence. I would say you wouldn't but now with the new security measures, I don't know. I would be very nervous if I were you. I don't mean to scare you but Im trying to be practical because I have been through this before. You also have to worry about the plane being late.

<BR>We ALWAYS have very bad experiences in CDG. It takes the plane about 20 minutes from landing till it reaches the gate! Then, as you were told before, rarely you can find anybody who will assist you with directions. A lot of times they change the gates and terminals at the last moment. Usually you have to take a bus around this huge airport to reach your gate. And if you are lucky anough to reach your plane in time, the chances that your suitcases will also have such luck, are slim. And all this is true if the your plane arrives on schedule. <BR>Learning from past experiences, I NEVER agree for a connection in CDG that gives me less than 2 hours. <BR>Ada

I have been into and out of CDG more times than I care to. In 1998 we made a connection home by the skin of our teeth, and only because the departing flight was delayed for a navigational system check -- so we were told. <BR> <BR>NOW. Do not assume that because you are transfering within Terminal 2 that it is easy. Terminal 2 has 5 halls, A, B, C, D, and F. (E is being finished.) <BR>We landed at Hall B from Zürich and had to find our way over to Hall C for the departure for Atlanta. We were directed to take the bus, which was stupid. Had I known how to find my way about, we could have made the transfer easily by walking from Hall B to C. As it was the bus took the grand tour on the way from C to B. <BR>My point is this: if you know the set up of CDG, Terminal 2, you can walk from one hall of T2 to another hall much faster than you can take the shuttle bus. I am of course assuming reasonably functional arms and legs and no more than normal carry on luggage. <BR>http://www.airlinesgate.com/ <BR>The above location will show you a general map of CDG. <BR>If you want a more detailed map of T2, I have one I can send you as an attachement to email. Let me know if you want it. My address above is accurate. <BR> <BR>I cannot find my map, which is a jpg, on the web any more. The URL I have bookmarked is no longer responsive. <BR>Fortunately, I copied it to my hard drive about 8 months ago for future reference. <BR> <BR>

I've done that several times and have always made it (my connection times were usually 45-60 min) except when my flight arrived late, of course. YOu can't dawdle, that's for sure, but I've made it. There are terminal maps on the airport's web site www.adp.fr (go to the site map, choose Roissy, then Access, then Terminal Maps) if you wish, there is also a good overall map of the airport on the Air France web site.

Thanks to all of you for the input. Especially thanks to Bob Brown and Christiana - the terminal map sites were a big help, and I am feeling more optimistic. Christiana, do you agree that it would be better to walk/run from Hall C to Hall F rather than take the bus? We won't need to go through customs but what about a passport check?

I am not sure what to tell you about passport checks. September 11 made a host of changes. My expectation is that I would be closely checked both coming and going. <BR> <BR>When we flew to Europe last month, our route took us first to T1 at CDG on US Air and then to Munich on a Lufthansa flight. Nothing was stamped when we entered France. <BR>When we left from Munich on September 20 to fly back to the USA, the German border authorities were checking everything carefully. The man who inspected my passport asked me why I had no stamp for ENTERING Europe. I explained that we came in at CDG and there was no passport control to amount to anything. The German fellow made some disparing remark about "Die Franzosen sind nicht verläßlich," stamped my passpsort, and let me go. So I do not know what you will encounter. Usually for international flights all non EU citizens must go through a separate passport check. <BR>But, in the past, it has been minimal. <BR>But a new set of procedures is in effect!!

I can only say good luck, I don't think it's possible. I made a change in Paris, flying Tel Aviv to CDG, then CDG to Houston, I had over 2 hours, the flight in was late, had just 1 hour from landing and made it with about 15 seconds to spare, and that was rushing every step of the way.

Annie: you will go through passport control at CDG. France and Italy are both in the "Schengen" immigration zone. Passport control is always in the first Schengen country that you arrive in. If your connection is close, Air France often has a minibus waiting for you to bring you to the right terminal. Also, they will get you to the front of the line at passport control.

Hello, Annie. I must add my pessimistic note to those above who mentioned the time it takes from touchdown at CDG to your actual 'arrival' into the terminal. On both of my travels through that airport via Air France, we were a few minutes late touching down, but another 15 to 20 minutes were spent taxiing, and then when we actually stopped, it took another 15 minutes before I could get out of the plane, and this was followed by a 10 or 15 minute ride on one of those little shuttles from the plane to our arrival gate. All I remember after that was running as fast as I could to catch my flight at its departure gate for Geneva. Good luck, kiddo!

Annie, <BR>Most (all?)airlines establish minimum connection times for their flights. Since your particular airline is Air France and they issued this ticket,it is their responsibility to get you to your destination. <BR>The worse thing that can happen, is that they will put you on the next flight to your destination. <BR>I think it is better to go along with the 45 minutes layover than to book the initial flight to Paris and then opt for their later connecting flight to your final destination--If you make the 45 minute connection flight, you are way ahead. If you opt for the later connecting flight,you have zero possiblity of making the earlier connection. <BR>p.s. I am assuming that you already bought your Air France ticket since your original question states,"We will be on an Air France flight"