Should I be worried about a 55min layover at CDG?
 

I am flying NYC - Venice via Paris this weekend, but after reading someone else's post I am nervous about the short layover (55mins) at CDG. I didn't realize I would have to go through customs in Paris - is it pretty fast? I am concerned because I am flying on Continental travel rewards, so I don't know what will happen if I miss my flight...has anyone had such a short layover at CDG? It's a pretty big airport...what if I have to change terminals? Maybe it's a common layover and I'm being paranoid! Alternatively, has anyone flown AF on Continental miles and missed a flight? Thanks - and sorry for the length of the post.

Air France's flights from the US arrive at Terminal 2C. You'll go through immigration there, but don't need to pick up luggage.

AF flights to Venice depart from 2F. It's about a 15 minute walk from 2C.

55 minutes is tight, but if you miss it, they'll put you on the next flight. No difference whether this is a paid ticket or a CO award.

THANK YOU rkkwan! It's so helpful to know the terminals in advance. It sounds doable, and if I miss it I am glad to know I won't be stranded!

I suspect there are some who will chime in and say, "Your luggage will never make it" (something I don't put much credence in as a rule) but you might carefully consider what you include in any carry-on.

On my last trip through CDG it took about 45 minutes just to get us to the terminal (where we waited an hour and a half for the luggage to arrive...it was there though).

I believe (someone correct me if I am wrong)the flights still arrive, park on the far end of the airfield and you have to take the shuttle bus to the terminal...which takes some time.

I would anticipate it be a long process and think of it as a welcome surprise if you make the connecting flight. Can you change the connecting flight before you leave to relieve some of the pressure? If you can't change it...do some research before and find out when the next flights are...at least you'll be prepared.

Just make sure that when you check in that you have them check your luggage thru to Venice!!!! They do not always automatically do this.

I'll be the one who chimes in and says your luggage will never make it. Only because this happened to me. Actually it only happened to my daughter; my own bag made it but hers missed the flight. And our connection was a little longer than an hour.

We made a 45 connection there, but we had carry-ons. CDG does lose (at least for a few days) many bags.
We , and others we travel with, only take carry-ons to begin our European trips.
We always check (since through purchases we have added a bag or two)returning.

Hi mp,

Make sure that your carryon has essentials for one day, and don't get upset when you miss your flight.

((I))

The only difficulty my daughter and I had in December did not involve our brief layover. It was the fact that the gate was changed (while we were waiting)and absolutely no announcement was made. We just happened to walk by the board and look at the info.If we had not done this (read: if God had not taken pity on us!) we would have had quite a run from one gate to the other!

I went from LAX-CDG to Bucharest with Air France. We had a layover of an hour an half, and we went through very smoothly, and we sat at the terminal for at least an hour. However, a friend came last week an had an hour layover and did not make it (she had to wait for 6 hours). It just depends.

Last fall we flew Tampa-Miami-CDG-Florence on AA and checked our bags all the way through to Florence. Our layover was longer than 45 min but our bags did make it. We did NOT have to go through immigration or customs. We picked up our boarding passes from AF just downstairs before you get to the immigration line and they then put us on a bus to go to our connecting terminal.Maybe you won't have to go through immigration. We could not get our boarding passes for the AF portion of our trip until we got to Paris because they are not affiliated with AA.

Keep the above points in mind as everytime I fly into CDG for work-we taxi anywhere from 12 to 25 minutes. The airport is getting so big and with the collapse of the new terminal it sometimes seems as though we are parking in Rouen.For those booking flights this summer-do allow a minimum of an hour and a half connection.

I have no idea why Air France doesn't allow more time for the change. BA allows 1.5 hours usually. Some people I know haven't made the connection in either direction on AF. They aren't the only ones because they wait with a lot of people that didn't make it. They get booked on the next available flight. One time that was a 4 hour delay.....they didn't even give them a phone card. They took it with a grain of salt (on the way home not going) and sat and chit chatted with the others. I had one change with BA that was a little over an hour and just made it to the plane. Sometimes the line is long going through the security.

mp413, would you please be so kind as to post when you get back? I have the same situation in November: EWK/CDG/Florence and on return Venice/CDG/EWR. I have 70 minutes to make the transfers at CDG. Have a wonderful time in Venice-if you haven't been before, you'll love it!

My last encounter with CDG was typical. We allowed two hours and made it with twenty minutes to spare. The plane stopped at a remote lot after 15 minutes of taxi time. We then had to go down stairs and board a bus. It took three buses to unload the plane and we then traveled over to the terminal where we had to disembark and go up a stairwell into a jetway and into the terminal. Our luggage took thirty minutes to arrive. Customs was an unmanned walk thru. We then had to
check our bags and go thru security since we were changing carriers.

Well I am in Venice now so can't talk much...but I just wanted to let other travellers know that I DID make my connection, with quite a long time to spare. This, however, was totally conditional upon certain factors, such as a) my plane arrived on time (which isn't so common, according to the AF flight attendant I asked), and b) I was on a very early flight (arriving in CDG around 6:20am). I imagine later in the day things get more backed up, but that early in the morning there were no flights to hold landing or take-off up, and the airport was practically empty so customs and security were a flash. Thanks to all who responded!

P.S. Someone said I would be arriving and departing from different terminals, but actually landed and left from in 2-F. Not sure if that was an anomaly or if it's a new system, but wanted to let other flyers know.

Thanks for the follow-up. That's good to know.

Unfortunately I have loads of experience with CDG. I never aloow less than 2 hours! You might be lucky and make it. But who wants to rely on luck? I am not even talking about the luggage. I can't believe they'll make it.