What if I miss my flight at CDG?
 

Okay...we are going to Rome in February on Air France via CDG. One of our tickets was bought with FFlyer miles and I had a really hard time getting a flight through Delta on the dates we needed (school break). I was on the phone with Delta for over an hour and was so pleased when we finally found a flight through airfrance - plus the price was really great. Bad thing was that I was so exhausted by the time I finally got the reservations that I didn't focus on the connection time at CDG. For the outbound flight we have a connection of 1 hr. and 10 minutes (some folks on this board have already said that it is slim but there is a chance we can make our flight). We arrive in Terminal 2C and have to get to Terminal 2F.

On the return flight from Rome we only have 45 minutes to change from Terminal 2F to 2C.
As I've been told chances are slim that we will make our connection. While we'd prefer to get home on that day 'cause our child has to get back to school we'd all enjoy a night in Paris (we were there last April).

So, here's are my questions...
- If we are not able to get a flight out the same day and have to stay overnight is there a desk at CDG that can find us a hotel in Paris? If we have time I'd rather stay in Paris than at the airport.
- If we have to stay overnight at the airport any recommendations for a family of four that is not too expensive?
- What are our public transportation options other than cabs (we usually cab it into Paris) Would prefer to stay near to the Marais or Bastille area if possible, so what is the bus option and the RER option to those areas?
- I've been lucky in all of our travels and never missed a connection or lost our luggage but everything I'm hearing about CDG and Airfrance has me feeling slightly nervous. If we miss our flight- what happens to our checked luggage?
...thanks for your help...

Air France is pretty well know for selling tickets with tight connections. (it gets them in trouble sometimes!). IF you were to miss your connections then Air France would be responsible for paying for your overnight room.
Once we got on a plane at CDG for flight to Houston (had flow from Italy that morning). We sat an hour, then they announced the flight was cancelled for mechanical reasons. It was a real hassle but Air France did get a room close to the airport and the cost was on AF of course. THen we came on home the following day to Houston.
They did offer to have us out the same day and into New York by midnight...and then on to TX. We had gotten up at 3 AM in Italy, and also the lady in the other couple we were with had a chronic illness.... so we opted for the overnight. IT was comfortable and we got a good rest.
So if AF issued your whole ticket then they take responsibility for any trouble you encounter on misconnects.

The above is true, IF you booked this together, but it sounds like you just booked two separate flights??? Key here is if these two flights are on one record?

I had tickets on Air France for a flight from CDG to Boston which was overbooked, and we were offered cash compensation and free overnight accommodations. The hotel was filled with disgruntled people from other Air France flights who had been bumped or otherwise missed connections from other flights. Between the happy, voluntarily bumped and well-compensated folks like us and the involuntarily bumped and missed-connection folks, it seemed like Air France was responsible for the entire population at the Hotel Ibis Roissy Ville, including several large school groups. My guess is they keep that hotel going.

45 minutes sounds like a tight connection considering that you will have to go thru security again before boarding a USA flight. If you miss it there are lots of hotels near the airport that you can go to. I guess you could go stay in Paris but for the cost of transportation and the time you would stay, why would you? If you must go into Paris, you could always get the Air France bus and stay at the Le Meridien Etoile which will be one of the stops it makes. From there you can take the metro wherever you want to go. The Air France bus also stops at the Arc de Triomphe.

The second option is to take the RER B3 to the Chatelet stop which is right in the center of the city. From there you can find a hotel within walking distance.

Here are a few that come to mind...

Hotel Britanique (close to walk to)
http://www.hotel-britannique.fr/

Novotel Les Halles (decent walk)
http://www.accorhotels.com/accorhote...he_hotel.shtml

Hotel de Champagne (decent walk)
http://www.hoteldechampaigneparis.com/

I would just print pages from the hotels with their telephone numbers in case you have to call from the airport.

Here is the site for the Paris Metro/RER
http://www.ratp.fr/

We recently flew to Paris with Airfrance from Johannesburg. We had a 50 minute connecting flight and guess what? we missed it not because of the distance between the arrivals and departure terminals but because of the chaos at immigration!!

You might want to check the Air France site...my understanding is that all flights to the US , except for Detroit and Cincinnati now leave from Terminal 2E

There are two issues with missing the flight connections... If you bought one as a FF tickets and paid for the second, then you have "2 contracts". What does this mean? If your connectiong flight is late and you miss your connection then they can call you a "no show" and void the connecting ticket. I would hope that Air France understands that you had to seperate the tickets for FF reasons. I would call Air France directly to confirm.

Second, if the flight is delayed due to mechanical reasons then Air France is responsible to take care of you. BUT, if it is die to weather or maybe even a strike in Italy (Italians love to go on wildcat strikes) then they are not resepnsible.

I would also cross my fingers and hope that AF allows you to check in for your Paris connection at your departure point. A few times I bought 2 seperate tickets (one on FF and one with cash) and in this case Lufthansa won't let you check on for the connection because it is not a connecting ticket. They do check luggage thru to your destination.

That also reminds me... If they have time to put your luggage on the plane at the connection then they cannot depart without you. After the Pan Am Lockerbie tradegy, there was a new law that said if your luggage is on that plane, then you have to be on that plane too. I hardly doubt that they would take the time to look for your suitcase and remove it. They will however spend the time to find out where you are.

Six months ago I flew Delta from Rome to NYC with a connection in Paris. The flight to Paris was delayed, leaving only 30min for the connection. As soon as we got off the plane, there was an Air France person waiting with a "NYC" sign in her hand, and she took three of us the terminal by car (driving very fast!). I recommend you mention the short delay when you check in Rome, and to the on flight staff.

We missed our connection in CDG at the end of Christmas break. Our first flight from Vienna was delayed due to snow. The first available flight to Atlanta was more than a day later (I guess because of the end of holiday rush; this was January 2). We ended up with a mid-day to mid-day amount of time free.

AF issued us all kinds of vouchers and put us up at a hotel near the airport. The hotel was nothing special, roomwise. They actually gave us 3 separate rooms for the 4 of us (2 parents and 18 & 20 yo children). Each room had 2 twin beds. We only ended up keeping 2 rooms. The hotel served buffet style meals which were DELICIOUS! I couldn't believe the variety and amount of food they laid out.

There was a tour company that ran minibus tours into downtown Paris throughout the evening - we took one from 8:00pm to 11:00pm and there was another group going after that. This worked for us since we'd never seen Paris and got a fun view of the highlights. We stopped at several places and took pictures, etc.

The biggest downside was that we did not get the luggage. It had been checked to the final destination. Even though it did not go ahead of us, it stayed checked. I was glad for the change of unders in my carry on bag! (Will be a change of clothes from now on) We had checked our winter coats; luckily Paris wasn't very cold that night. The next morning I had a run in with the shower head in the bathroom and it drenched my only shirt. I ended up wearing a buttoned cardigan to breakfast and drying the shirt with the hotel's hair dryer!

I was amazed at the whole process - the hotel probably did a huge percentage of its business from stranded passengers. Not to mention the tour guide company - it looked like they were working that one hotel and keeping two minibuses filled.

My daughter missed a day of school (she didn't mind!) and had fun telling people she was stuck in Paris.

I agree with that idea, take a change of undies in your carry on.

I don't think there is an accommodations desk at CDG, but I'm not real sure about it. If you really think you may have to do that, I'd prepare a list of maybe 6 hotels to call yourself. AF won't be responsible for getting you a hotel wherever you want, of course, and I doubt if they would be helpful because you are really asking for tourism help at that point. I know there is such a service at the main tourist office in Paris, of course, and that is near the Pyramides metro stop. There is also a hotel reservation service by the tourist office at their Gare du Nord office (9-6), and that wouldn't be out of your way as it's on the way from the airport. I'd make note of that, as a backup. Mainly I'd prepare a list of hotels myself, though.

I don't know about the rules and missing checked baggage. Generally, baggage takes longer than people, so I don't think that will happen. Regardless of rules, things happen as I was on an AF connecting flight and they claimed my bags were on it, but they weren't, they were mistaken. They were on the next flight, and I got them okay, but they wouldn't have allowed me on the flight to begin with unless they thought my bags were on it (same rule, I suppose, but they were wrong). I had been delayed in transit and was trying to get on the next feasible AF flight. I don't think you have to worry a lot about your bags making the connection and not you.

if you don't make your flight, i doubt your luggage will either, and yes, they will hold things up to take off the bags, if you never show up.

We missed a connextion in Paris for Madrid due to a delay of the flight NY Paris, they moved us to the next flight. No big fuss. Yes, they missplaced the luggage and sent it to our hotel, which was in Jaen because we only stayed one night in Madrid. Everything turned out ok at the end of the day.

I meant to tell you bring in your hand luggage some underware, and basics or buy lost luggage insurance.

As others have said, if the two legs are booked together, probably as Delta/Air France code shares, then Air France would take care of your accomodations--and you don't get to choose. They will put you at an airport hotel because, chances are, they will put you on the earliest flight possible the next day.

My experience: I flew a similar itinerary to Florence via CDG, even with similar connection times. Going with the 1 hour 10 min connection was fine.

Coming back, we had a shorter connection which never came into play since our plane never left Florence--equipment trouble. My 3:30pm flight to CDG became a 7:45pm flight.

On arriving at CDG we had to collect our luggage and report to a special desk where we stood on line to 1) be rescheduled on another flight the next day and 2) receive accomodations vouchers. Considering the witing time in Florence, I was surprised that none of these arrangements had been arranged beforehand.

By the time I stood on this line, caught the hotel shuttle, checked into the hotel, and got to my room, it was about 11:00pm. I had been rescheduled on an 8:30am flight the next day, with instructions to check in by 7:30am. This meant getting up at 6:30am, so I didn't use my dinner voucher. I took a bubble bath instead--needed to get relaxed. But I did use the breakfast voucher before catching the shuttle.

And I missed a great opportunity. I was supposed to go on business trip the day after my return but I had been able to avoid the meeting. It would have been fun to call and say, "Sorry, I can't be there. I'm stuck in Paris."

We have a similar connection from Florence to SFO to catch a 10:15 a.m. flight at CDG. Unless I am incorrect, I do not think there is another flight available after 10:15 a.m. until the next day. Anyway, while I wouldn't mind staying in Paris I really don't want to miss my flight home.

Wow! Thank you all so much for the excellent information and advice. If we have to spend a night then I will let it be on Air France expense account and not mine - if we have time to go into Paris then we can take a cab. My preference is to get to Rome the same day and to get home the same day...Thanks Everyone!

Nikki: Funny! same situation!
The Ibis was comfortable for the one night. We also encounted several groups from other AF flights that were misconnects, cancelled etc....some disgruntled ,some not~~~ and we too got the feeling that AF makes up the bulk of that hotel's business. (:>)

risab, the original poster:...chances are that you WILL make connections. as I think the majoritiy of them do. YOur return times DO sound a little tight however.

I will be coming from New York and have 70 minutes CDG connection time for a flight to Barcelona. I have been watching "flight status" on Air France website for the past 2 weeks and the connection has been missed only once. And,if "missed connection" happens to occur when I travel in a few weeks, there's another flight 3 hours later, and another one an hour later. I am less concerned about making it to Barcelona the same day than about luggage. I am undecided about whether to check luggage to save time at security and risk it being lost temporarily due to connection; or to travel lightly with carry on (within Air France requirements--a small suitcase and large "purse") in case of "missed connection". I have personally spoken to people whose carry on bags were searched multiple times at CDG recently--as in dumping out stuff, putting it back in and dumping it out again.

Air France advises me to check luggage through from JFK to Barcelona and let the burden of the luggage making the connection from CDG fall on the airline. This will also enable me to walk to the next terminal without having to go through security a second time. If I choose to take only carry on from Barcelona to Paris so I will not have to wait for my luggage, I will be able to take liquids or gels because it is inter European travel.

We just flew (to SFO) back from Venice via CDG today. I had emailed my TA from overseas checking on whether the one hour connection would work out; she had emailed back saying it was a legal connection but it was tight and to avoid a lot of carry on.

As it turns out, we were surprised to be met right off the jetway with a special airport agent, "Ned," who was hired by the travel agency to make sure we made our connection. He walked us from Terminal 2F to 2E (seemed a long way incidentally and we walked quite rapidly). He cut to the head of the lines (security, immigration, boarding) with our passports and my bag; we would have had some breaks flying biz class but not this many, and we would have lost precious time figuring out where to go. We were extremely happy to have this help and would use this service again.

As it turned out the plane took off an hour late--according to the captain, due to the extremely thorough security (we were all patted down, and the agent went through by carry on bag at some length). So we likely would have made the flight, but only after an extreme amount of stress.

cases checked with no connection are misplaced also, or arrive later as lost luggage.
happened to us this summer going and coming, so i would not even consider thinking that is a sure option for not losing luggage.

check your luggage through to barcelona.. the ONLY way you can possibly make that flight.

Lincasanova, thank you for emphasizing checking baggage. I will do so and walk directly to 2F! Annw, glad you made your connection; I could get lucky too!!

I just did it last week in about 40 minutes and I waited in the first line....which in true CDG fashion was a checkpoint along a long narrow hallway with two persons checking boarding passes/passports a about 500 people in line. I did see people rushed to the front by AF employees ... I would look for assistance or just walk up the narrow hall and cut the line. The secret is to hussle ....also book seats toward the front of the plane ..... the time disembarking may make the differance.

It's me again...seeing that folks are still responding to my original inquiry.

We are changing from one Air France plane to another at CDG (to Rome) and I have read on another post that if you are changing planes from Air France to Air France then chances are they will hold the fight until all passengers from other Air France flights are aboard...anyone have any information on this??

Also, we are planning to check two pieces of luggage but we also are planning to bring on carry-on bags in case we don't get our luggage and need some extras (we've traveled a lot and this has never happened to us- but reading about Air France and CDG I want to be prepared)

However, will we be taking up extra time if we have too much carry on (one bag per person)?

I flew JFK-CDG-Florence in October, with a connection time of about an hour and a half on the outbound. We were late getting out of JFK and in CDG, most U.S. flights are now routed to terminal 2E, often referred to as the remote terminal (you have to take a bus to the terminal). I missed my connection and there were at least four of us on the JFK flight booked on the Florence flight and they didn't hold it for us (we arrived at the terminal at the time our CDG-FLR flight was scheduled to depart).

I was booked on the next flight, but my bag stayed behind in Paris and I spent five hours in the Florence airport waiting for it to arrive (the Florence airport does not have evening delivery service and could not get it to me until the next day; my only option to get my luggage that day was to wait for it).

I have learned that the best way to connect in CDG is to allow as much time as possible and be sure to pack a change of clothes in my carry-on.

If AF didn't wait for all to board a particular flight it's because there are later flights that same day. I don't know for sure, but it just seems likely that may be the reason.

There are frequent tales of travel trauma at CDG on this board, but I have to say that I never had a problem. Some tight connections, yes, but never missed one. I hope I have not just jinxed that record!

<< However, will we be taking up extra time if we have too much carry on (one bag per person)? >>

The Air France carry-on weight limit is 26 lbs.

Woody

two words.....BUSINESS CLASS. Our plane left Vienna late and with a scheduled 45 minutes between flights, the AF staff met us to the plane, drove us to immigration in record time, and held the plane.

I would not count on AF holding your flight. While I do fly with them on most transatlantic crossings/connections, I find them to be of the same caliber as US Aiorways in Philly .... in other words, the average customer and service to them means nothing.....

I realized I already posted to this thread last year. AF sounds like the French version of US Airways. We were bumped twice last month on both inbound and outbound flights with US Air (SFO/Vegas). It was their fault ("mechanical") so they paid for the hotel stay.

It would be nice to think that being bumped at CDG would be great so you could spend an extra day in Paris, but sadly usually the hotels the airlines pay for are near the airport and are good just for sleeping and bathing at most.

The issue above about luggage which richardab mentions I wonder if this is for international flights alone. Going back to my US Air outbound flight some of the passengers' luggage went ahead to Vegas. Doesn't make sense if they know that the passengers are stranded why they send their luggage ahead to the destination. Anyway, a good thing to do always is pack some extra clothing in your carryon.