Flight from Raleigh NC to Florence with Paris Layover
 

Hey everyone! Currently, I am playing the flight hunting game for our flight from Raleigh to Florence for a trip this summer. One of them that I am looking at has a 1 hr 55 minute layover at CDG. Normally, that sounds like a perfect amount of time for a layover! However, we are coming in from the States and this will be our first stop into Europe. I am assuming that means we will have to go through customs (do we have to get our bags and re-check like we have to in the States??). I am also assuming that our flight to Florence will probably not be in that same terminal. I was just curious if anyone has experience with this airport and could give me an idea if I should worry about this layover time. My last Europe trip was 2 years ago and I can't seem to remember customs protocols!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

>> I am assuming that means we will have to go through customs (do we have to get our bags and re-check like we have to in the States??).<<

No you won't go through Customs or retrieve your bags -- you'll do that in Florence.

But you WILL go through Immigration (passport control) at CDG.

CDG is airport Hell IMO/IME and I absolutely hate connecting there. But if it is all on one booking and you miss your connection, they will put you on the next available flight.

How many more flights are there to Florence that day? In summer, I would want at least 2 more.

While you are flight hunting, check to see if you can land in Bologna or Pisa or Rome through CDG or some other European airport (but not Heathrow if possible). You would need to take a train from all those airports to Florence (with Pisa being the cheapest train ticket) but you might get a more favorable layover schedule and perhaps a lower price on the airfare except through Rome). Even landing in Milan is doable if you are heading on to Florence.

Just to give you an idea of the logistics:

Land in Bologna, 30 min bus or taxi ride to train station, 45 minute train ride to Florence

Land in Pisa, 10 min bus, train or taxi ride to train station, approx 75 minute train ride to Florence

Land in Rome, either take direct train from airport (about 90+ minutes) or 30 minute train ride to in-town station, then 90 minute train ride to Florence

If you think that extra travel is too much, or the air fares are worse than your CDG connection, sitck with your original plan and keep your fingers crossed!

I got curious so I looked up possible paths from Raleigh to Florence, and I was surprised to see there is a non-stop from Charlotte, NC to Rome with American Airlines. Leaving from Raleigh NC and connecting through Charlotte NC, prices for the fictional June dates that I used were cheaper than flying to Florence via CDG. Have you considered that routing?

You could even take the train to Charlotte....

Unfortunately, flying the non-stop from Charlotte to Rome appears to be about $300+ more per ticket than to get on a plane in Raleigh and change planes in Charlotte. However, I was using fictional travel dates for June and looking at round trip tickets only, not open jaw -- so things could be different using the OP's actual travel info.

Thank you guys so much for your advice! Funny enough, I actually live in Charlotte. However, after doing some research I realized that all flights are about 300-500 cheaper flying out of Raleigh. I have family and friends in Raleigh and we do the drive about once a month, so it's no biggie to fly out of there. Originally, I was planning on doing round trip tickets (into and out of Rome....Florence is our first stop and Rome is our last). However when looking at open jaw flights, the cost differential to fly into Florence and out of Rome was like $30 per ticket....aka, the cost of the train ride from Rome to Florence. Once I realized this, I went down the path of looking at itineraries, which led me to the discovery of the flight I mentioned. It leaves from CDG in the AM, so I am working on the assumption that later flights are available (I should check that!)

On a side note, I refuse to have a layover in Charlotte purely out of principle :) I live 15 minutes from the airport and that would be just torture to have a layover, fly to Raleigh, then drive home. Crazy how flights are priced. Makes no sense.

The flight pricing difference between Raleigh and Charlotte makes perfect sense in one word: competition.

Charlotte is US Air's monopoly airport. If you don't like US Air's prices, too bad, there is practically no other choices. Just look at direct flight destinations reachable from Charlotte. You see US Air, US Air, on and on.

Raleigh is a mixed carrier competitive airport. While European connections are to Paris via Delta and London via American only, all major carriers have presences and no major carrier can dictate prices on their own.