CDG help!!!
 

I am doing my first international flight from JFK to CDG on Air France and am having worries. I am landing in Paris but am then taking the Eurostar to London. Between the trips are where my questions come in. One, how long will it take me to get from my plane to get my bags? I only fly in and out of small airports (Roanoke Regional in Virginia, USA), so flying into a big airport like CDG is a new experience for me. Question two, will I be able to get from the airport and checked in at Gare du Nord in 2 hours? I need lots of help! Any advice on de Gaulle will be very helpful!

Absolutely not unless you want to resemble those old OJ commercials running through the airport. Very common for flights to be delayed at either your departure or landing airport. Another 20 minutes on runway. Sometimes at CDG they park the plane away from the airport and have these buses pick you up on the runway causing another delay. Baggage claim? Depends on how fast they unload the plane. Five minutes to 1/2 hour wait. Keep your fingers cross that their is no strike of some sort in France. Everyday occurrance. 20 minute (speeding driver) to 40 minute drive from airport to Paris. Find platform for train station. I have only done the Eurostar from London to Paris. They required you to check in a minimum of 30 minutes before departure. I am sure it is the same for Paris to London route.

As to your question. Once off the plane, I can usually make it through immigration ect and pick up baggage at CDG in 1/2 the amount of time as it takes me at O'hare. Approximately 30 minutes average if all goes well.

Big variables:

- Whether your plane departs from the US on-time

- Whether your plane gets a jetway at CDG, or a remote stand and you have to bus to terminal

Small variables:

- Immigration and baggage claim shouldn't be too bad.

Pretty constant:

RER runs about every 5 minutes, and take 31 minutes to get to Gare du Nord. It's a short walk to the Eurostar check-in.

Keep in mind that you need to check-in 30 minutes before your train.

Another thing is that depending on your arrival time at CDG, it may be better to take the TGV to Lille, and then pick up the Eurostar from there. I don't know how the tickets work and fare difference, but the overall journey time will be shorter.

My flight arrives at 0850AM. Would a 1200 train be possible?

A 12h00 train should be fully possible, but a lot depends on your navigational skills. Nothing is difficult, but some people are better at following signs than others. I am amazed at how many people say that CDG is poorly signposted, but I would say that it is more a case of too much information on every sign -- if you can't single out the information that you are looking for (for example "Paris by train"), it can get confusing. Otherwise, it is really a snap.

12:00 train is probable. If your plane lands at 9:00 am, no delays, you should be in the actual airport by 9:30. CDG is not complicated. My very first international trip was sold to CDG. Was meeting a friend in Paris and had no problem navigating the airport and to Roissy bus no knowing one word of French. The Airfrance magazine on the plane will have a map of the airport in it. Just study that during your flight.

oops sorry for typos
solo to CDG
not knowing
my grammer is horrible tonight perhaps it is time for me to retire for the evening.

I would not attempt anything earlier than 100pm. If so you are going to be making the start of your long-awaited trip very stressful

NO, not 2 hours by any stretch. And since you are a first time traveller to Europe, you should take a taxi to Gare du Nord. Just follow all your fellow passengers like a herd and go through whatever immigration is required. Then follow them to the baggage claim. After getting your luggage go to the taxi line--do not accept any offer of a taxi from inside the terminal. Take the taxi to Gare du Nord. I agree that 1PM would be the earliest train.
Now, I wonder why you are flying to Paris to get to London. Many times the fare to England is less than Paris.

Also, your US credit card will not work in the automatic ticket machines.

Unless you have enough Euro coins on hand, you could easily spend 1/2 hour waiting in line at the ticket window to get your RER ticket...

bardo1 is right- the lines just for RER tickets can be long at the airport. We traveled to CDG from Oregon last month for the very first time and we originally had a 4 hour window to get to Gare Nord for our Thayls train to Amsterdam. We needed nearly all of that time. Our plane was delayed 45 minutes, then they loaded everyone in buses to get to the terminal, another 20-30 minutes. When we arrived there were only TWO agents at passport control for 3 flights that had landed at the same time. It was complete mayhem. Lucky for us we didn't have to pick up our baggage since we'd carried our 22" rollers & duffles onboard. We didn't know the RER machines wouldn't take US credit cards so after having them rejected we waited another 30 minutes in a line for tickets. Once we got on the RER train Gard Nord everything was fine but manuvering CDG after a long flight is not so easy when you're rummy from no sleep. Plus the French airport personnel weren't exactly the Welcome Wagon when asked for direction.
I say, take a taxi. Good luck.

I am actually going to switch my flight to an earlier flight. I will now arrive in Paris at 0630AM so that should give me enough time to get to Gare du Nord. I am HOPING that the 12 o'clock train would be enough time.
Thanks for all the help. Y'all have been more help than anyone else combined.

Anything can happen at CDG. Just this last Mar. after waiting in the queue for RER tix for about 5 mins, all the ticket windows closed and everything went dark. Seems there was a security alert of some sort and they shut down the whole system. We <b>RAN&lt;B/&gt; to the taxi rank so had no problem but if we had delayed at all the lines for taxis would have been huge.

Especially since discounted Eurostar tix are non-changeable you'd better allow more time. I'd want 3.5 to 4 hours just so I had some wiggle room.</b>

Relax. It's just an airport, and time-wise it'll take what it takes. Follow the crowds and just accept whatever happens.

<b><i>Relax</i></b>.

I live near Gare du Nord. When I am on a flight that arrives at CDG at 6:30 a.m., I generally get home before 8 a.m. (but I have a pocketful of change for the RER ticket machine)

Yes, you &quot;live&quot; near Gare du Nord and know Paris and its rail system very well. This is a first time traveller to Europe. I think we need to be realistic in recommending time and travel modes.

I certainly agree, Gretchen. That is why I tried to infer that there might be a nuance of difference between mulifat's proposal not to get a train before 1 p.m. and reality.

Well, I have a suggestion if she arrives too early for the 1PM train. Across the street from the Gare is a line of cafes that we visit at least once each trip to eat our fill of the best mussels in Paris fixed any number of ways. We usually try the Maison Blanche and eat out on the terrasse to watch the crowds go by. It is to the left and maybe a block down on the opposite side of the street as you would exit the Gare.

can't you just fly into London?

I sort of thought the same thing. This is an expensive way to get to London.

The reason I am doing what I am doing is that I am flying out of Paris. I am going on a tour that starts in London and ends in Paris. I looked at just flying into London and out of Paris, but its extremely expensive to do so on Delta. I have to fly Delta / Air France (SkyMiles).

Why not fly into London FROM CDG? Would save you the stress of rushing into Paris merely to catch the Eurostar. You can fly CDG to LHR on BMI.

Yes the Eurostar is great - but that's if you are starting from Paris. You aren't - you are starting from out at CDG. So most of the convenience of taking the train is pretty much lost.

I would suggest you to fly from CDG to LHR instead of trying to catch the Eurostar.

Eurostar works well if you are already in the city - from city center to city center - but if you are at CDG, flying would be much more convenient and not cost too much more.

Out of curiosity, how much you paid for your r/t Delta/AirFrance ticket?

We paid $465 all-in, MIA/LHR, CDG/MIA, United. When we bought this, July, August &amp; September were all available with same pricing but we already had arranged a trip to Pacific NW in August, so we decided to travel in early Sept, 10 days after our return from Portland, OR. In fact we could have traveled to Portland and then enbedded a trip from Portland to London and back to Portland from Paris ... for just over $500 including tax ... pretty crazy. We dont want to shortchange our Summer trip to NW region besides London and Paris are more enjoyable in September than in August.

I am paying $751 for the flights. I have a $400 flight voucher from Delta (thank you blizzards), so my total will be only $351.
I would like to use another airline, but since I have this discount, I feel obligated to fly Delta.

Like others mentioned.Why not just catch a flight at CDG to London? I looked at Orbitz and BA has a 9:40 am flight for $77.

Tom

I am seriously thinking about flying out of CDG into LHR. I didn't think about that when I first posted it. OK, probably a stupid question but I would have to go through customs and get my bad THEN go check in again? What goes on with this?

1) using the voucher - it is a moot point now, but I were you, I would shop around first before using the voucher unless the voucher was about to expire.

2) Ask AirFrance if they would interline with BA, if they do, then can you check your bags thru.

If you need to get the luggage first, then you want to have ample time between 2 flights, plus you want to know which terminal your AF flight arrive and which terminal your BA flight depart. CDG can be rather confusing with 3 terminals.

As for your bags it all depends...
In May I flew American from Ohare to Heathrow. And then Heathrow to Edinbourgh on British Airways. The tickets were booked seperately but because they are partner airlines, Ohare checked my bags all the way to Scotland. And yes they were there when I arrived.

One poster above mentioned Lille and another mentioned the Rail Europe website - both good ideas - you should call the RailEurope folks and see if you can bypass Gare du Nord. I will mean less stress and it will be a unique experience for you.

It really does make more sense to fly CDG to LHR in this case. Since you are arriving at 0630 you should have no problem connecting to British Midlands flight 174 that departs CDG at 0945. Not sure when you are traveling, but I just took a quick look and there were seats avaialble for around 110 Euro with all taxes, lots less if you are booking in advance. www.flybmi.com

By the way, if it is not too late you might ask Delta about flights on other SkyTeam carriers such as Continental or Northwest (though sometimes vouchers may only be used on the issuing airline.)