Air France Frequence Plus - Transfer between terminal 3 and 2B

Hi;

How do I get from Terminal 3 (CDG) to terminal 2B?
And how long will it take?

I am flying from Montreal to CDG on AirTransat and need to go to 2B to take Easyjet flight to Barcelona.

Should I take the CDGVAL or the bus?

Does it mean that I have to check through immigration and security at both terminals?

Thanks

I doubt that there is an airside bus between T3 and 2B and, in any event, your luggage will not be checked through and you will have to go landside to collect it. To go landside from T3 to 2B, you do take cdgval to T2 and turn right as you get to the top of the escalator after leaving cdgval until you reach 2B.

You go through immigration on arrival in Paris as you enter Schengen. Barcelona is within Schengen so there should not be any immigration between CDG and BCN. And, yes, you do need to go through security at 2B (no security to go through on arrival at T3).

Oh, and welcome to FT. :)

In order to reach CDGVAL, you need to exit the Terminal 3 building and walk in the open air about 400m, following signs toward CDGVAL and Roissypole.

In order to reach CDGVAL, you need to exit the CDG3 building and walk in the open air about 400m, following signs toward CDGVAL and Roissypole.

You will also need to clear immigration upon arrival in CDG3.

Thank you for all the replies but I still have some questions since I am not familiar at all with CDG.

So, if I understood correctly, I go through immigration at CDG3, then collect my luggage.
Walk out of CDG3 to catch the CDGVAL going to CDG2.
I saw on the CDG map that the CDGVAL terminal is near 2E . Can I walk from the CDGVAL terminal from 2E to 2B with my luggage?
Is it far? Are we walking inside or outside?
Do I have to take a shuttle bus from 2E to 2B?

Then, check in with easyjet counter at 2B, right?

What is the minimum connection time that i should leave myself in order to make the flight and not being rushed???

Many thanks

So, if I understood correctly, I go through immigration at CDG3, then collect my luggage.
Walk out of CDG3 to catch the CDGVAL going to CDG2.
Right.
Can I walk from the CDGVAL terminal to 2B with my luggage?
Is it far? Are we walking inside or outside?
It is an easy 5-7mn walk, even with luggage, within the terminal building and with moving walkways. I would be more worried about the walk from CDG3 to the CDGVAL.

Then, check in with easyjet counter at 2B, right?

What is the minimum connection time that i should leave myself in order to make the flight and not being rushed???
No personal experience, as I have never had an international flight arriving at
CDG3, so no idea about immigration and customs there.

Once you are outside CDG3, you need about 30-35mn to reach the check-in counters at 2B.

You will be on 2 separate tickets with no protection between the two so you need to make sure you don't take risks. Flights can be delayed, and then I would expect it to be hard to predict how long it will take for all the luggage to be delivered from an Air Transat flight especially in the summer. I would count a good 15 minutes from picking up luggage to the cdgval, then 5 minutes transit, then another good 15 minutes to 2B if you are not sure where you are going and have luggage (OT - @JOUY31 are there moving walkways going to/from 2B? I know them to/from 2E/2F and the station but I thought that in the other direction it was mostly actual walking?). All in all, I think that anywhere below 3 hours between the two flights would be taking a real risk (especially assuming you have checked luggage). Of course, all might go fast, your plane might arrive early and you might get bored, but you can never take this for granted and if there are delays and you miss your flight, you can be 100% certain that neither Air Transat nor Easyjet will show any mercy.

(OT - @JOUY31 are there moving walkways going to/from 2B? I know them to/from 2E/2F and the station but I thought that in the other direction it was mostly actual walking?).
You're right. Moving walkways are located between close to the CDGVAL station and 2D. You then walk through 2D and beside the food court between 2B and 2D.

Thanks everyone for all the precise details. i am one of those people who likes to be prepared. In anycase, we speak French so I can always ask questions if we ever get lost.

Just one more question since everyone is so helpful on this board: beside Easyjet, is there another cheap airline that offers direct flight to Barcelona.
My cruise leaves on Friday at 17:00 and AirTransat only flies on Thursday and arrives in BCN at Friday noon.
I don't want to take any chance of miising the ship.

Many thanks

Thanks everyone for all the precise details. i am one of those people who likes to be prepared. In anycase, we speak French so I can always ask questions if we ever get lost.

Just one more question since everyone is so helpful on this board: beside Easyjet, is there another cheap airline that offers direct flight to Barcelona.
My cruise leaves on Friday at 17:00 and AirTransat only flies on Thursday and arrives in BCN at Friday noon.
I don't want to take any chance of miising the ship.

Many thanks

It all depends on whether you've already booked your flight to Paris. Air France (not always known as a 'cheap' airline) does economy r/t Montreal-Barcelona for £664 (in August - don't know your dates), which is around CA$ 1,100 (book it on Expedia).

If you've already booked Montreal-Paris, then there are other options to BCN, but Easyjet is probably the best of the low-cost carriers.

-- Henry

Also, arriving CDG 12:00 for a 17:00 cruise from BCN is taking a big risk! Allow 2-3 hours for connexion and flight, then you still have to get from BCN airport to the cruise terminal.

Thanks Henry;

My travel dates are next year, June and July 2013.
The reason why I chose Airtransat is because it is a direct flight from Montreal.
But Air Transat only has flight Thursday night, arriving in Barcelona on Friday morning.
And since the ship leaves at 5:00 PM, I wanted to get in a day earlier.
That\s why I am flying YUL-CDG with Air Transat on Wednesday, then take EasyJet CDG-BCN the same day (Thursday).
To go back, I can take AirTransat directly from BCN-YUL on Sunday morning (we are talking in July 2013).

I have not booked my flight yet but I wanted to see if it is feasible.
If it is too complicated or expensive, I have the option to cancel my cruise (before March 2013) and rebook another cruise at a different date.

Anyway, thank you for everyone who posted. You have been very helpful.

Stefanny

Hi Stefanny,

T...
That\s why I am flying YUL-CDG with Air Transat on Wednesday, then take EasyJet CDG-BCN the same day (Thursday).
To go back, I can take AirTransat directly from BCN-YUL on Sunday morning (we are talking in July 2013).


Since you still have plenty of time, I would recommend looking into a single ticket, rather than 2 loose tickets from different airlines. You can find plenty of combinations on Air France, or Air Canada + Brussels Airlines, or Swiss.

The advantage of a single ticket is that you would not have to worry about your luggage in your connecting city.

In your plan, should Air Transat be late, you would be at risk of missing your Easyjet flight, and missing your cruise.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

Some of the flight options for YUL-BCN:

AF through CDG (with easier connecting at Terminal 2)
AC to Swiss through Geneva
AC to SN Brussels through Brussels
Lufthansa through Munich
KLM through Amsterdam

In your plan, should Air Transat be late, you would be at risk of missing your Easyjet flight, and missing your cruise.You are right that a through-ticket is a safer alternative as the risk of non-connection shifts to the airline rather than the passenger but let us not get too paranoid here.

The OP is proposing to arrive on Air Transat in CDG on a Thursday morning for a cruise departure from Barcelona the next day at 5pm. This leaves ample room for connection. BCN is not a remote outpost in the jungle only accessible by a weekly pirogue service from Paris. Easyjet have 4 flights a day from CDG to BCN. There are indirect services via MAD with UX and there are AF flights (although an AF oneway flight would be expensive). There are also overnight trains available in case there is a serious problem with flights. As a worst case scenario, it would even be possible to make it by a day train (TGV+local Spanish train) on the Friday morning

So, by all means, the OP should be prudent and contemplate potential connection issues in case of delay or other mishap, check the reliaiblity of Air Transat for time-keeping (as these kinds of airlines often have problems on that count), build in plenty of slack in her schedule and have a plan B and a plan C costed and ready to activate if needed but I cannot see any reason to rule out completely a connection at CDG on separate tickets is there is a very substantial price differential. The OP should also bear in mind in her calculations potential baggage fees if flying with an LCC and with a lot of baggage.

Thanks Henry;

My travel dates are next year, June and July 2013.


I just think that your dates are dangerously far away for you to be too confident about what bookings you'd currently make will mean. So many things can happen in one year! Air Transat could perfectly decide to change the day of their YUL-BCN flight or conversely decide that they will transform their daily YUL-CDG into a 6 weekly (unlikely, but you never know!) or again change the times and make your CDG transit time longer or shorter by a couple of hours. Of course, if anyone change their plans, they will offer you to rebook you on a different date if you want or at worst you can cancel and get a refund, but you will not get the same comfort on the airlines that won't have changed their plans (e.g. let's say you book your CDG-BCN at 10 because your YUL flight is expected to land at 7. If Air Transat change their time and the flight effectively arrives at 10, you can accept the new time, travel on another day or get a refund but U2 who have not changed anything won't let you move to a 2pm flight for free).

I would say that this is one more reason why a single itinerary may be a better choice in your case. I do take your point about the direct flight but I would personally consider that the 'cost' of multiple tickets on the outbound is way more than the small inconvenience of a short connecting flight in MAD or CDG on the return. With the system you propose, all could go brilliantly, but equally, imagine that Air Transat fail to deliver your suitcase (not all lost luggage are lost in transit, sometimes a bag is simply not loaded or despite all security checks even loaded to the wrong destination). They will then deliver it to you late... in Paris where you will be unable to retrieve it unless you make a special trip there just to pick it up! They will undoubtedly send it back to YUL for you if you want, but it is not very likely that they would send it to BCN.

So, I think that multiple itineraries are potentially risky in general but if you are going to book so far in advance, booking separate itineraries is particularly so.

I completely agree with Orbitmic. It seems very dangerous to me to buy this itinerary on 2 separate tickets, and furthermore on a charter and a low cost airline with all the schedule changes that can occur until your travel dates. Definitely consider a single ticket-itinerary on one of the airline/hub mentioned by Genevaflyer.