I'm reading back posts about tight connections at CDG (I have a possibility of flying ATH-JFK via CDG with a 50 min connection for a good price--but it's sounding like that's a bad idea), and I keep seeing the term "legal connection." What does that mean?

To me it means that the according to an airline the connection time they allot is good enough. This doesn't mean that it's true in reality.

franco hit it on the head. It is the time between flights that they deem "enough". Not always true.

In the words of our dear Ira "Anything under 90 minutes for international connections makes me nervous"

Yep, what the above posters said. I've learned long ago that just because its a "legal connection" doesn't mean it should be a legal connection!

Tracy

"Legal connection" means they take no responsibilities, and there must be a disclaimer for that somewhere on the website.

Or it means "catch me if you can" says the 2nd airplane

I always assumed this was just a phrase folks came up with but that there were no laws in reality about any airline schedules. Faina, I have never noticed any disclaimers on websites about anything (and some people actually don't book tickets on websites), but maybe I never looked. Why would you need a disclaimer for anything, any plane can always be late and you wouldn't make a connection even if it were several hours later. Also, airlines DO take responsibilities if you miss a connection, as long as the next flight is their airline. They always put you on the next flight for free (at least, they always have for me -- specifically Air France in the CDG case). I don't think an airline takes responsibilities if you miss a connection and they had nothing to do with the incoming flight, regardless of the connecting time frame.

So if you miss the second half of a "legal connection" due to late arrival of the first flight on the same airline, they are obligated to put you on the next available flight? For free?

Hi enzian, Yes and yes.

Some airlines will even put pay to put you on another carrier.

Most in my experience really do try to cooperate, but that is only my experience.

It is just a bummer to miss that connection!

Thanks, Tiff! I assumed that was the case, but then realized one should never "assume" such things. We booked a fairly close but "legal" connection on SAS; seemed fine when I did it but I started to worry after reading all the problems. But this is at CPH, not CDG. I'll just stop worrying; it's too late to change it anyway.

I don't know what "legal connection" means but 50 mins is not enough time to get thru CDG imo!

For some travelers the bottom line question is probably "How much MORE are you willing to pay to ensure that you have ENOUGH time when connecting at CDG?"