hi! i am about to book my TGV train between CDG and toulon. my concern is on my way back to CDG...the train arrives at CDG at 1030am. my flight is at 120pm. do you think that's ample time for me to make the flight? if not, then i will need to take train the night before and spend a night in paris. thanks!

Where does this 1:20 flight take you and which terminal does it leave from? If it's a long-haul flight you need to be at the terminal 3 hours ahead of time. The TGVs come into Terminal 2.

What day of the week?

Those "3-hours before" recommendations are just that...recommendations. Sometimes they are justified due to a variety of airport conditions and sometimes they aren't.

Checking any baggage?

Prepared completely to get through any and all security points?

Know how long it will take you to actually get from the train arrival point to your check in counter?

We are assuming here that the train will be on time (probably the most likely of all the factors involved).

the flight takes me to reykjavik (i think it's a 3 or 3.5 hr flight)
not going to check baggage.
i don't know how long it will take to get from train arrival point to check in counter.

Take the train the night before and sleep at an airport area hotel - dozens of them such as the www.accorhotels.com chain with shuttle buses to the terminals. More expensive hotels right in the airport. TGVs can be late - any train can be late for unforeseen reasons - if you have a non-refundable ticket always be in your departure city the night before IMO - you never know what will happen - trains have suddenly gone on strike for example several times the past years or just can be running slow - and CDG is a huge airport to navigate and again if like St Cirq says not in Terminal 2 where the TGV station is you then have to take the people mover to other terminals - nope 1:30 hours between train and plane is asking for disaster - things that rarely go wrong may well go wrong when you really count on it.

The OP has 2 hours, 40 minutes. For a flight to Reykjavik he should probably be at thee terminal 2 hours before flight time, so if he can get from the SNCF station to the terminal in 40 minutes, he should be OK (but yeah, only IF the train is on time).

This would be quite risky, unless you are prepared to purchase a new ticket if you miss the flight (probably with no credit for the missed flight).

You need to know check-in deadlines for your airline. Iceland Air, for example, 90 minutes. And, the departure terminal. Terminal 1, for example, requires taking the CDGVAL from the train station to the terminal.

Only you know whether you'd be sure not to miss a very early train from Toulon.

Experienced travelers would travel to CDG the evening before and be safely at/near the airport for a morning departure the next day.

merci! thanks for your advice. i'm glad you are telling me to better be safe than sorry. it would be terrible to miss the flight due to an unforseeable train delay because the flight is non-refundable. i'd be very disappointed if i missed my flight on my way home especially because it includes a 1 day stopover in iceland so i can soak my old bones in the blue lagoon thanks again!!

Non-refundable tickets is one of the reasons that travel insurance exists. Standard policies cover missed connections.

Don't think travel insurance or most of them cover late trains - are you sure of that kerouac?