travelgourmet

Get a looooooong layover and have a nice snack.

Unfortunately, there aren't many nice snacks at CDG. I think it a contender with AMS for weakest food offerings of any airport I regularly fly through.

TDudette

DH and I made it in less than an hour also. Our 2-hour layover on the way back became 1 in Amsterdam and we still made it. Absolutely no time for dawdling or toilet.

It's truly luck of the draw. If you can get the same price with a little longer wait, you'll be less stressed-especially with a group.

TDudette

ps- I do believe Air France will deliver your luggage to your hotel should you get separated from it. True???

P_M

TDudette, please see my second post above. As the Queen of Misdirected Luggage I can assure you that your luggage will ALWAYS be delivered to where ever you are staying, by any airline. After 8 incidents I know this--too well.

TDudette

Sorry, P-M, I was on hyper-read and missed that particular detail. Do you plan your own trips or have a devilish secretary??!!

P_M

I plan my own trips so I suppose I am that devilish secretary. heehee....

phillyboy

P_M, I grant you the title of Queen of Misdirected Luggage. I know that they will always deliver it to you - eventually. I have had several experiences with lost baggage (not 8 like you, probably 4 or 5), and they always, finally, were delivered to me. The "best" example was when my bag was lost between Cancun and Los Angeles - containing gifts for my kids, and my tuxedo which was packed for a work-related event.

I was only in LA for 3 days, so I had to rent a tux, and by the time I left to return to Philly, still no bag. Ultimately, it was delivered to me, in PA, TWO WEEKS after I got home, and almost 3 weeks after it was first lost. For good measure, it had been broken into (this was in 1980's, when you locked your bag) and my tux and some other personal items were gone. It was not much fun dealing with Mexicana Airlines to negotiate a settlement - I think I finally settled for $100.

tejana

If it were just two of you I would say it go ahead and try it. Air France does this all the time and they have arrangements in place to give you the best possible shot - I've made 45-minute layovers before because they have special lines for people with quick connections, but it was definitely a little stressful.

alanRow

My experience is that Air France is very good at making these impossible connections - probably the only thing they are good at.

In any case the worst that can happen is that you end up on a later flight to BCN

Dlemma

Personally, I would not connect through CDG with anything less than a 3-hour layover. Too much can go wrong and if you are switching airlines there is the risk that your gates will be at the opposite ends of separate terminals. Also, your incoming plane might not even have a proper gate, but instead they herd you into cattle cars (aka people movers) that take you to the actual terminal. This eats up time.

The better solution is to connect through some other airport. Schipol in Amsterdam is my first choice.

BigRuss

CDG sucks.

As for connecting -- we once made our flight no problem with a 55-minute gap (although the fact that the earlier one landed 20 minutes early didn't hurt). We had to go through CDG because our original flight got canceled but despite our concerns with the French embarrassment that is its largest airport, the connection worked.

We landed at our final destination at 2:45 pm. The bags came sometime later that night -- close on 11.

annhig

We landed at our final destination at 2:45 pm. The bags came sometime later that night -- close on 11>>

was that on the same day, Russ?

glad you made your connection.

Christina

I connect through CDG a lot, and have never had a 3 hour connection, and have always made it. One hour is tight, though, although I've made a couple of them. BUt I have no qualms having a connection at CDG with a 2-hour window.

NOw once my bag did not make it, although I did, and AF did deliver my bags personally to my hotel out in the country even though it was maybe an hour from the airport (it was in Aix and I landed in Marseille). So they did do a good job of that, it got there the same day by 7 pm.

phillyboy

Thanks for all the responses. I ultimately booked flights through Orbitz from PHL on USAirways, going through Madrid with a 2.5 hour layover, then onto Barcelona on Spanair. The price was $592 per person, which I felt was a great deal. Roughly the same layover on the way back.

I've been calling USAirways for almost 2 weeks, trying to get an answer to a simple question - while in Madrid, will we need to go through customs and immigration, claim and re-check bags, or do we go straight through to Barcelona? Every time I call, there is a wait time of at least 25 minutes for an operator, and I didn't have time to wait. Also tried asking through their website, and was told I have to inquire via phone with questions on International flights. Can anyone answer this one for me?

Thanks,
PB

P_M

If you booked this as one ticket that tells me they have a code-share agreement and your bag will be checked thru to BCN. In that case you do not have to claim and re-check.

If you bought these tickets seperately and there is no code-share agreement then you will have to claim and re-check.

If you bought these tickets seperately and they DO have a code-share agreement then you do not claim and re-check.

I feel about 99% sure there is a code-share agreement, but US Airways s/b able to answer that question for you.