Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
It's doable in AMS, and in fact I've done it, but it's not pleasant. Lines for passport control can be long.
In CDG, there's much more risk of missing signs and getting lost, adding to the time needed to get to the departure gate. I also think of CDG as being more random compared to AMS, so that it's more likely that your flight will be late or will be delayed getting to its gate, it's more likely that you'll see long lines, etc.
This was probably related to construction at the time, but I have been on an AF 777 from LAX where we parked remotely and walked down airstairs to waiting buses to take us to the terminal. I was near the front of the Affaires cabin and so was on the first bus and even then it was over 30 minutes from opening the door to leaving the bus at the terminal. We had to wait to cross a bunch of active taxiways. I can imagine the people in the back had a much longer wait. (much slower walking down an airstair than walking up a jetway)
It is doable in AMS -- if there are no delays but you don't really have any margin. And it's not like ATL where the next flight leaves in an hour or two. I've never had any IRROPS issues in CDG (because I don't use it much) but I have at AMS and even in with the closer relationship NW had with KLM it wasn't always easy to get re-routed. There is a reason KLM's unofficial motto is "That is not possible" and I haven't heard that AF is a whole lot better.
If the choice is 6 hours vs 1 hour I might chance it. If it was 3 hours vs 1 hour I would go for the 3 hour layover rather than risking an overnight.
But as with everything, YMMV
