Continental to CDG
 

Hi,

Could somebody that has flown Continental from Newark to CDG tell me if the plane connects with terminal 2 or does the plane stop in the tarmac and you have to take the shuttle buses? I have been adviced it is faster to walk to my connecting Air France flight ( also in terminal 2) Some people say they were forced to take the shuttle buses when they have arrived to CDG???

Continental uses CDG2A. Sometimes you get a gate, sometimes you get a bus. No way one will know - probably not even Continental until prior to arrivals. I'm lucky in recent times, 3 for 3 with gates. Others can go 5 for 5 with buses.

I think it's about 30-40% chance you'll have a bus.

You definitely don't need to ride the bus between different terminals at CDG2. You can always go through immigration, and then walk to whatever terminal your AF flight departs. But if you're connecting to a non-Schengen destination, then you may be better off riding the airside bus to 2B, 2F, 2E or 2C, as you won't have to go through immigration in that case.

The planes never know if they will hook up to the terminal or not. It's pretty much first come first serve since so many flights arrive at almost the same time at the beginning of the morning, both from North America and Southeast Asia.

Thanks for the replies.

rkkwan,

Just to make sure I understand:

If we don't get a gate, we will need to take a bus that brings us to the terminal 2A, and once there I don't need to take another shuttle to terminal 2F, I can just walk there?

If we have a bus (instead of connecting to a gate), does that add significant time to the process?

My connecting flight is to Nice. I seem to recall from your response to a prior post that you recommend is faster to walk betweem 2A and 2F that riding the shuttle buses?

Thanks for your input!

Yes, if your plane doesn't park at a gate, they'll send 2-3 buses to take all passengers to Terminal 2A. It will add time, sometimes not much especially if you're sitting in the back of the plane (since everybody else will be standing in the bus waiting for you), other times I've read about the bus stuck on the tarmac not moving for many minutes.

You're connecting to Schengen. I highly recommend you to go through immigration at 2A and then walk over to 2F. Do not take the airside shuttle from 2A to 2F, and do not take the landside shuttle from 2A to 2F. Either will make multiple stops between 2A and 2F, and who knows about the immigration line between the two sides of 2F? [Took me about 30 minutes to get through that immigration desk during a trip 2 years ago.]

Best is to walk from 2A to 2F.

Thanks rkkwan, you have been very helpful!