uncjibble

I'll be arriving in CDG in a few weeks on American from the US and then I have a separate ticket on Air France to Rome. The connection time is 3 hours, which I've learned might be a bit tight.

My question regards the logistics and baggage. My understanding is that we will have to go through customs when we land which can be up to an hour(?). From there can we go straight to our AF gate, or will we have to go through security and all that again?

Also, we're planning on travelling very light, and only each bringing a carry on that meets the AF size limit. However, I'm not sure we can make the 23lbs weight limit. (I haven't found a scale to weigh yet so I'm not sure!) This wont be an issue on American coming over, so we don't plan to check our bags on that flight. What I don't understand is how it will work with our bags in Paris. Will we have to leave the secure area to go check our bags? How long would that take? Can we just bring them to the gate and if they don't make the cut, and pay at the gate? I don't have a problem paying if we need to, I'm really just interested in what will be the easiest plan in terms of making our connection.

Finally, is three hours enough? Do I need a contingency plan?


Thanks for any help!

JOUY31

As the issue raised by the OP relates to a transfer at AF's hub, I am moving this thread from the France forum to the Air France forum. Thanks for your understanding.

Jouy31
France forum moderator

AlienInTheFatherland

Upon arrival at CDG T1, you will need to enter the Schengen area, implying passport control/immigration.

I believe you will then have to transfer from T1 to T2, which is a bit of a hike on the monorail, albeit well signposted.

You will need to go through security at T2, but no passport control, since your flight to Rome is intra-Schengen.

For this transfer, even if you are on separate tickets, three hours is sufficient as long as your incoming is roughly on time.

Note that it is possible, due to recent events and the upcoming European Football Championship, France may suspend Schengen agreements, although I would not imagine this will present a problem for you on a three-hour connection.

MSPeconomist

Yes the OP will need to get from T1 to T2 as AF uses T2.

Ditto

Note that there has been recent reports on weight check of carry on luggage in CDG

3 hours should be more than plenty for such a connection, assuming your incoming flight lands in time.
If your AF fare includes a bag, I would go and check it in, it if doesn't, you can probably risk it and try to go through, worse case scenario they will send you to check it in. (assuming of course there are no delays and you have time for that)

SDQBound

3 hours
Unless things changed in the last 12 hours, AA arrives on 2AC, so OP will just have to walk to 2F.

tbaiyun

2A to 2F is eventually the longest walking distance in CDG.... I think there's a bus landside circling 2A-2C-2E-2F-2D or something (maybe 2G too, that will be super bad), just outside the terminal, but since the parkway by the terminal is such a chaos, OP may not find the sign to wait for that bus....

carnarvon

Bus to 2G is a separate line leaving from 2F (departure level).

Walking from 2A to 2F is not that bad.

SDQBound

Again, unless things changed suddenly, a walk from 2AC arrivals to 2F is not far. 5 minutes to the Sheraton and then probably 5 more minutes to the AF check-in area in 2F.

Goldorak

Exactly.

mpheels

Just a heads up that officials were checking passport/ID for all arriving passengers from Schengen airports yesterday. We arrived at CDG on AF 1505 from FCO, and all passengers had to go through passport/ID checks. We arrived at 2F, but were not permitted to deplane into the concourse. Instead, they were funneling passengers through a single check point between the 2F piers. Airport officials had all of the corridors on the ground floor roped off, and were holding passengers in hallways to keep the line for ID check from spilling into the main corridor. To make our connection in 2E-Hall L, we had to go back upstairs through 2F, then go through passport control a second time at Hall L in order to "officially" leave the Schengen zone.

02BNFR

We had to transfer from T1 to T2F last week. AF was enforcing the 12kg per passenger carry on limit at 2F and if you exceeded the limit, they sent you back to the baggage check line which was so long that we almost missed our flight, and indeed our bags did miss the flight. All in all, it was a very bad experience.

SDQBound

Trying to understand why it was a bad experience Air France tells you very clear at many stages of the booking process and even during OLCI and printed on the BP that the maximum weight is 12kg, so they enforced what you should have expected to be enforced.

Would you consider it to be a bad experience if you show up at an AA check-in desk with a bag over 70LBS and they make you pay for overweight or even refuse accepting the bag?

carnarvon

I wish they did this more often (and check sizes more than weight actually).

The reason is I am tired of having to worry about rack space when I happen to board a bit late, due to people who carry more hand luggage than they are entitled to; the most infuriating being when they shove one of their bags in the racks above row 5 when they are seated at the back of the plane.

SDQBound

A few months ago I boarded towards the end of the SkyPriority boarding. The person boarding in front of me had the smart idea to put his carry-on bag directly above my seat, so I assumed he was sitting in the same row or a row behind, not a big deal for me as there was still enough space. To my surprise, the gentleman continued his way towards economy, where there were plenty of empty bins. I politely told the FA who was standing at the W/Y division that the gentleman forgot his bag in the W cabin. The FA was very nice and asked the gentlemen to take his bag back to Economy.