diana_butler_180

My plane is scheduled to land in Paris on Bastille Day, July 14th. Because of a change in plans, I need to go from Paris to Florence, Italy, preferably on the same day. A travel agent found me a flight leaving at about 7:30a.m. and my plane lands at 6:10a.m. and baggage could be check through from Atlanta. She said it was only about $140.00 one way most of the time but because of Bastille Day, the price has been raised to $400.00. I wonder if this is really true because I haven't seen any other big hikes in fare on that day.

Kathie

You suspect the travel agent of inflating the price. Do your own search for flights that day from Paris to Florence. Also, since this flight would be ticketed separately, your luggage would not be likely to be checked through. And if you miss that next flight you'd have to buy a new ticket.

Be aware that some of the budget airlines use a different airport.

Sarastro

<i> A travel agent found me a flight leaving at about 7:30a.m. and my plane lands at 6:10a.m. and baggage could be check through from Atlanta.</i>

1. 1+20 is no where near sufficient time to make a non connecting flight at CDG.

2. It is very unlikely that your baggage will actually be connected from ATL to FLR if you are on separate tickets. I have heard of it being done between partner airlines if you have a very significant status with one of the airlines. I would not bet the ranch on that happening no matter what your travel agent tells you.

3. Why would Bastille Day have any specific and unique effect on flight prices from CDG to FLR?

Odin

Why would a TA give out false info about the airfares? Are you able to use Expedia or other booking sites to check it yourself?
If it is the flight at 0720 from CDG to Florence, it is over $400 one way and you have not left enough time between arrival and departure anyway. Arriving at 0610 and expecting to depart at 0720 is too tight a connection IMO.

Holly_uncasdewar

I wouldn’t count on your luggage being checked all the way to FLR if you’re adding that CDG to FLR flight to your original ticket. And if it’s not, then you will not have enough time in CDG to deplane, go through passport control, and get to another terminal for your next flight. I wouldn’t accept anything under 2 hours for that, at a minimum. As for flights being higher on Bastille Day, that sounds kind’ve odd to me. I could understand hotel rates being higher, but not planes leaving Paris.

janisj

These are unconnected flights -- that is a crazy idea . . .plus your bags <i>might</i> be checked through but you won't know for sure until you are at Atlanta and then it will be too late to do anything about it.

My guess is the fare is higher (if it is) because you have left this quite late, nothing to do w/ Bastille Day.

>>I need to go from Paris to Florence, Italy, preferably on the same day<<

You only say 'preferably so it isn't a 'must'. Plan on a much later flight or fly the next day.

ira

Hey db,

Have you considered using www.kayak.com to check prices?

JAMH

All you have to do is check the price online and you will see that one way fares from Paris to Florence on Air France are US$419 for the 7:20 AM nonstop flight. It does not really matter if the price is increased because of Fete National or not. What matters is that this is the current price. It's a shame that you are working with a TA who you do not trust. If you need a roundtrip between Paris and Florence, the price will be only a tiny bit more. Are you flying from Atlanta on Delta or Air France? If so, it could be that the TA will be able to combine the flights into one itinerary giving you the protection of Air France having to get to Florence if you miss your connection at CDG.

bvlenci

I use www.skyscanner.net to find budget airfares, and if I needed to get to Florence, I'd also check flights to Pisa and even to Bologna, both of which have easy connections to Florence.

As you've been told, you need to allow plenty of time to change planes at CDG. I also doubt that your luggage can be checked through, unless both flights are on the same airline, or a code-shared airline. Otherwise, you'll have to pick up your luggage, go to a different terminal, and recheck it.

If you can get the two flights combined into a single itinerary, and the airplane guarantees the connection, then you'd just be put on a later flight if you miss the connection. However, this is something I've never heard of being done.

Looking at the possibilities on skyscanner.net I see an Air France flight at 13:10 for €295. All of the cheap flights are in the evening that day, which is strange, because on other days there are flights for as little as €60 all day long. Maybe the problem is that most flights are sold out for that day and only expensive ones left.

You said you need to go to Florence "preferably" on the same day. If you can wait until the 15th, you could find direct flights for around €60 (from Orly) and you won't have to worry about connection time.

Christina

Sometimes fares are high on one particular date, it could be because French people are going on holiday, that isn't crazy, and that is their first day off and then they get a long holiday weekend. It could just be it happened that way and the agent was guessing, who knows, but it could be the holiday.

Also, if you are relying on a connecting flight on the same airline, which it sounds like since you want bags checked through, you aren't going to get the cheapest fares, that limits you to only a few airlines.

AS a matter of fact, that appears to be an Alitalia flight and it is indeed 365 euro. They have one at 10 am, also, but it costs about the same.

There are no other airlines that fly that route in the morning, but you can get a cheap fare that day to FLR on Vueling at 135 euro but it doesn't leave until about 6 pm. BA also has a cheap flight about 150 euro but it doesn't leave until even later (and both may be from ORY)>

You can get a cheap fare to Rome on Vueling, BA or Iberia around 2:45 pm, if you want, but it's from ORY. also about 125-150 euro

Your best bet is an Air France flight at 6 pm, which is a Delta partner and it is a bit cheaper at about US$300.

Dukey1

In terms of luggage being checked through. You need to ask the gate check-in agent if it is possible and if it is they can EASILY do that but THEY will have to do it.

If you can get a combined ticket all the better and I agree that it is unfortunate when you are working with someone you do not trust.

nytraveler

Even on a single ticket with an airline(s) that will check luggage through you need to allow at least 2 hours to make a connection at CDG.

If it is different tickets/airlines you will have to pick up your luggage and recheck it - so in that case I would want at least 3 hours between flights to feel safe.

(We have a couple of times waited an hour or nearly so for luggage to arrive at the carousel at CDG. Luckily we were not connecting but just delayed getting into Paris.)

Not sure why you don;t trust your travel agent - it sounds like it's because s/he isn't telling you what you want. Airfares can bounce around all over the place and in 2 or 3 minutes you could easily have seen you were being given the correct fares.

Lois2

I would seek a new agent...all information given sounds bad.

tuscanlifeedit

I read this to mean that the OP has checked luggage that he would have to retrieve at CDG before getting his flight to Firenze.

In either case, it won't happen.

If I were really desperately pushing to make it, I would never check luggage for my flight to CDG. Carry on might increase the chance of making the expensive early flight to Italy, but it seems very unlikely.

dfourh

Many of the above comments are misleading. The 6:10 to 7:20 Delta to Air France is a legal connection - - the airline publishes it and sells tickets for this routing. Delta also issued a recent policy memo cancelling interlining of baggage with certain airlines (including some other Skyteam carriers), but keeping it for Air France. You need to present evidence of your connecting ticket at Delta check in, Delta will manually reflect the Air France flight in your PNR, and then just make sure your bag tags do show the ATL-CDG-FLR routing.

So your agent is correct: it is permissable, and it is a "legal" connection. It's not one that I would like to try, but if I did and missed the connection, my guess is that I would be able to talk myself onto the next flight, if the Delta flight is delayed. More and more my transatlantic flights actually arrive early (tailwinds), but with those pesky French traffic controllers, anything might happen.

Here's a link to discussion of Delta's new interlining policy:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ry-2016-a.html

And here's the connection as available for sale on Kayak:

Depart — Wed, Jul 13 11h 25m
3:40p — 6:10a Lands Thu, Jul 14 Delta 82

Change planes in Paris (CDG)1h 10m

7:20a — 9:05a Economy 1h 45m
Paris (CDG) — Florence (FLR) Delta 8335 Operated by Air France

Sarastro

Air France has <i>legal</i> connections through CDG of less than 1 hour; connections of 1+20 are often booked. Legal just means that if you miss the connection, the airline will place you on the next available flight, which is not necessarily the next scheduled flight.

What is misleading is the way in which diana_butler_180 poses the original question. If the CDG to FLR add-on segment keeps the original locator or passenger number record, then it will be the airline´s responsibility to make sure the follow-on flight is completed one way or another. The luggage connection would not be a big deal.

If the CDG to FLR leg is issued with a different passenger number record and the arriving flight is late or if the FLR flight is missed for any reason, the OP will be purchasing new tickets to FLR and possibly trying to find luggage.

Odin

Yes it is a legal connection when sold and ticketed as a through flight but the problem is the OP will still be left with eticket A for ATL-CDG and eticket B for CDG-FLR by doing that the above poster suggests.

AFAIK, connections need to be issued on one ticket as well as one reservation for it to be legal unless someone knows something to the contrary?

Sarastro

<i>the problem is the OP will still be left with eticket A for ATL-CDG and eticket B for CDG-FLR by doing that the above poster suggests.</i>

diana_butler_180 needs to clarify what the travel agent is actually purposing. Is $400 the cost to modify the original destination and add FLR or is it $400 to add a follow-on and completely separate ticket to FLR?

If it´s the former, $400 is money probably well spent. If it´s the latter, a 1+20 ground time is a huge risk at CDG as the OP will not be a connecting passenger.

Christina

I presumed since that was a partner and the bags wold be checked through, it was modifying the ticket to be to FLR with a connection. If not, I agree, I would never do it but there is another another flight around 10 am on Italia, which would be reasonable timing IF one wanted to spend $400. That Air France flight at 1:10 pm is priced the same as the 7:20 and 10 am or so flights when I looked, currently 372 euro. It is only 306 euro through Italia, though (same flight). So it's a tradeoff in saving 60 euro versus the fact that you could not waste as many hours at the airport if you book the 10:05 am flight.

These fares reflect high demand, so I personally would book the 10:05 am flight and not presume that if I missed the 7:20 I could easily get on the next flight, as seats may be full.