Originally Posted by
yohanson
I just had a 3 hour "layover" in OSL that was on two separate tickets. I flew from the US to OSL on Delta and then flew Norwegian to SVG. I could have booked an earlier flight to SVG and almost wish I had but I was connecting in CDG and was worried about getting from 2E to 2G. It turned out I had plenty of time in CDG.
Anyhoo, from the time I deplaned from my CDG-OSL flight, checked in for SVG and checked my bag, went through security and got to my gate, was about 25 minutes. 2 1/2 hours+ is a long time to sit in an airport with no lounge access.
Well, sorry to see that you didn't like OSL on your first transit there. Just for your information:
- I have OSL as my base. I visit the airport on average more than weekly. My experience is that luggage handling takes 30 minutes on average from the moment the plane reaches the gate for medium sized aircraft. Delays happen quite often at OSL, even 15 minutes will be sufficient to not make the connection when having just 75 minutes from arrival to departure. Getting from the luggage carousels to the departure area is a breeze, though.
Anyway, I would personally advise at least 2 hours connection time when traveling on two different tickets.
- DY is a budget airline. It doesn't offer lounge access at all (used to do so for about 35 euro at a contract lounge for international departures, not sure how that is nowadays. It still offers fast track security for 12,5 euro). Up to about one year ago, no one had lounge access on domestic flights in Norway, not even from OSL, not even premium passengers with diamond cards on legacy carrier SK. Then SK decided to open the most rudimentary lounge in the history of airlining just above gate 15. It's not much, but it's something. No other airport in Norway offers any lounge access at all, unfortunately: it's just not common in this country...
Anyway, I share your thoughts on CDG and taking precautions. Airporting doesn't get more French than that. I've had my share of adventures there and decided to avoid the place like the plague for the rest of my life.
Small tip: next time you fly DL here, you can try to fly via AMS, as KL offers direct flights to SVG. Saves a lot of hassle on OSL and on having 2 different tickets.