Tight connection at CDG
 

We are scheduled to fly from Atlanta to Bucharest on Sept. 21. We connect in Paris at CDG. The tickets were issued by Delta, but I believe both flights are operated by Air France.

Outbound, we have 1hr 45 min connecting time. From what I can tell, we will land at 2E and depart from 2B. This looks like opposite corners of the airport. From my one previous experience at CDG, I know the shuttles can be slow. Would we be better to walk?

Also, I assume our bags will be checked through to Bucharest, and that we will not need to go through passport control at CDG. We will need to go through security again at terminal 2B, I assume? Any idea how long this line is running these days?

On the return we have 2hrs 10min, which doesn't worry me as much, since there are two later flights to ATL that day. These seemed like decent connection times when I booked in June. Now it is looking tight to me, especially when I think of the new security climate.

1h45m is NOT a tight connection at CDG. If you do a search there's a poting about 1h connections at CDG.

1 hr 45 min is OK -- IF you land on time, IF the plane has a gate right away, and IF you actually park at a gate and not have to take a shuttle bus from the plane to arrivals.

But if any of those things happen - then all bets are off. If the plane parks out on the tarmac, and if security lines are long - then it could easily take twice that long.

Is there a later flight to Bucharest? if so they will put you on it so don't worry. (If there isn't another flight, well - there are worse things than a day/night in Paris)

Because you are doing a non-Schengen to non-Schengen connection, using the shuttle bus means not having to go through France immigration twice.

I always recommend walking for US to Schengen connection, but your case is different. I don't know which may be better.

1:45 should be okay.

Hi N,

With 105 min, I estimate that you have a 70% chance of making your connection without having to run (too much).

>I assume ... that we will not need to go through passport control at CDG. <

Not necessarily true. We were told the same thing on our last passage through CDG.

Plane landed somewhere near Sweden. We waited for the shuttle buses. We waited on the shuttle buses. We were driven to the terminal. We were herded up stairs and down stairs, through corridors and passageways to Passport Control.

There, we were told to fill out a yellow card. They didn't hand out the yellow cards, though. You were to fill it out when you got to the head of the line.

After 10 min, I munitied, got a handful of cards and distributed them to the people in my line.

Fortunately, we were all Americans and Brits. :)

((I))

I read your post with interest because I have a flight to Rome on Air France with only 45 minute connections both ways...I was using a FF ticket so our options on flights were really limited...and I didn't know all the negatives until I read the board after I already booked the flights.

I just can't imagine how we're going to make it to our flights. We need to get from 2F to 2C.

Has anyone out there successfully made a 45 minute flight at CDG?

45 min is really tight even for same-terminal transfer, let alone 2F to 2C. You have to go through security at 2C. Even if you make it, chances of your luggage making the connection is remote, I'd say.
Air France (and others in the SkyTeam alliance) routinely book tight connections at CDG - when I booked flights with CDG transfer, the default choice had 50 min connection - I manually selected a later flight with 3 hour connection.

Thanks, everybody. I know that 105 minutes is not 60 minutes (or 45 minutes!), but all those nasty possibilities that janisj mentions can happen. My only previous experience with connecting through CDG was 80 minutes, and the end result of that was an unplanned 24 hours in Paris.

I appreciate rkkwan's information about the shuttle. This may tip me towards trying the bus.

And I did check for later flights - there are some that day, which would get us to Bucharest in time to salvage most of the plans with our relatives (whether there's room is another story.)

"Has anyone out there successfully made a 45 minute flight at CDG?"

Yes. A couple of times, though always non-Schengen to non-Schengen. On one of those occasions I had checked luggage and it made it too.

And it's not as if this is some obscure airstrip in the back of beyond with one flight to civilisation a day.

Miss a legal connection at CDG and, if you organise it properly, you've got time to get the RER into town and have a decent meal in the best place in the world to eat in before your back up connection. Or catch up with a exhibition at the Grand Palais.

Organise it wrong though, and you'll end up eating at CDG, which compares unfavourably with Skelmersdale as a place to eat in (and with the Lubianka as a place to spend any time in). So don't waste energy fretting over missing your connection: invest it in devising your backup plan - including the eatery, stroll or art gallery. you'll visit during your free Paris stopover.

risab,
If you're originating in the US, most US-CDG AF flights have been moved to 2E http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34862278

Are there later flights in case you miss your connection?

>>Plane landed somewhere near Sweden. <<

:-) No kidding, Ira! I honestly believed we were taxiing in from Boston the last time. It was the middle of NOWHERE, you couldn't even see the terminal buildings from where the plane stopped.

I've been on flights to LHR where the taxiing to the gate & exiting the plane took longer than the flight

Okay...my flight connection to Rome is actually 1 hour 10 minutes - so I guess we'll be okay (provided our plane is not delayed...ugh).
But, we do have only 45 minutes on our return. Air France told us that it would cost us $200 per ticket to change to a later flight...so,
here's the plan- We'll take a chance and if we miss it then we'll have to go the next flight out-
if we're delayed a few hours and time allows we'll head into Paris - if we're delayed over night we'll definitely head into Paris, head for Marais, and enjoy ourselves. I guess things could be worse.

Our luggage plan is to try to take as much in our carry-on as possible in the event luggage is delayed.

Our main concern is getting our flight for four back to the US (all together) so that our kids do not miss another day of school.

CDG's runways are parallel, E-W. Some are north of Terminal 1/3, some south of 2. Because they are pretty far apart, if you land on one of the northerly runways, and coming into CDG2, the taxi may be kind of long. And vice versa.

But it's really not that unusual. For example, last week my flight landed on AMS's new runway NW of the airport. It's over 2.5 miles from the terminal, and the taxi, at relatively high speed, took 14 minutes. Yes, I timed it.

Other airports with far away runways include NRT, DFW, IAH, etc... It's becoming pretty common.

I have made a connection in 55 minutes, but not with the recent terminal changes that I experienced in May. It used to be easier than it is now! I think anything over an hour and a quarter is ok if absolutely everything falls into place...your flight is on time, you get off the plane fairly quickly and don't get lost in transit.

We are flying Air France from IAH to Budapest on Thanksgiving Eve with a CDG connection. That is a terrible travel day with a history of delays from IAH.

The AF connection time was 65 minutes, with the next and only fight 6+ hours later. My husband is misserable with the stress of tight conections and Thanksgiving will only make it worst!

I booked the later flight since they(AF) couldn't guarentee a seat on the next flight-said they would give us the first seats that were open. That could, of course, be the next day.

An unplanned lay over in Paris doesn't fit in our plan going, but I left the tight connection coming home as it doesn't matter as much. There was no problem changing to the later flight to Budapest.

Fortunately, I booked last Jan when the Bus Calss tickets were a good deal. If we wind up with the full layover, we can sit in the lounge and use our computer and Ipod to past the time.

Don't worry about the next flight out being full if you miss your tight connection. That flight will have plenty of seats due to the next batch of passengers mising their tight connections.

CDG has been notorious for the tight connection missed flight problem for years, and no one fixes it. Otherwise, no one would eat in the undistinguished airport restaurants!

Okay...sorry noe847 for piggybacking on your post (hope you don't mind)...

One (possibly) last question...
My outbound flight arrives in 2C and my connecting flight departs 2F (with 1 hr and 10 min. connection)- do I have to do a connection via a bus or can we walk and make the connection.
On our return flight has the 45 minute connection (2F to 2C) which we know may go either way.

I do have amnesia - a few years ago we changed planes at CDG coming from Vienna back to the US but I have no recollection of the change- whatever it was we did make it and so did our luggage.

Thanks folks for your info. thus far.

risab - You can take the shuttle or you can walk. If you're going to a Schengen country, I highly suggest you walk. Walk means going through French immigration, and go through the TGV station/Sheraton from 2C to 2F. Not very long distance. Then reclear security at 2F.

In recent years, I have made 6 connecting flights at CDG with only a 50 minute connection time. Yes, it was really tense but I made all connections. If at all possible, try to get seats closest to the front of the cabin so that you get on the first shuttle bus. But, even on the second shuttle, you should make connections without much trouble. CDG is awful but flights through there are often the best available. Oh, and AF never lost my luggage, either. I did spend 10 hrs at CDG last November but that was due to weather and a cancelled flight (mine!) to Florence when debris was kicked up into our engines while on the de-icing line.