jsl1903

Hi

I have a quick question - looking at some flights from LAX on Air France arriving in CDG then transiting on to NCL with Virgin/Cityjet - the connection time is 60 minutes. Is that doable/sensible? Bags should go all the way through but wondering about passport checks/security although the impending doom of Brexit may change everything...

Thanks

Goldorak

Yes it’s doable, but of course short. Brexit will not change anything as UK is not even part of Schengen. You will go through security in CDG, but not immigration.

SDQBound

Just a quick security check and then a walk or short ride to your departure concourse. 60 minutes is just alright, not too close but not too generous to lose time.

lax01

So I transferred at CDG (from LAX) from AF to AF so this might be a little different....went from 2E to 2F and then 2F to 2E (on return flight) - it was not a ton of time but it was doable

The one thing I was worrying about (which I fortunately didn't have to actually face) was if the incoming flight was delayed 30 minutes (or more), it would be have been extremely tight.

There was also additional security when transferring back to US-bound flight which I wasn't expecting...we had Sky Priority though so I didn't really sweat it - we still board the flight with plenty of time to spare

Craig6z

My recent transfer from DL in 2E to AF at 2F seemingly was uneventful, but apparently my luggage didn't have the same experience. Landed precisely on-time from LAX at a remote gate stand (and I mean remote, it was a 12 minute drive to the terminal at a good clip of speed), and we were in the first bus leaving the plane. At that point I had a 80 minute theoretical window to make my connection, and it turned out that the flight out of 2F ended up boarding 15 minutes late.

Actual time from getting on the bus to being at the 2F gate (with Sky Priority) was 38 minutes.

When I arrived at the BUD baggage claim about 11:40am, after about five minutes I got two emails from AF that my luggage (each referencing a different bag tag number) did not make the flight. Went to the baggage desk (which is manned by a Malev contractor) and the woman seemed to already know that there we a number of Air France passengers with miss-connected luggage. She was efficient at filing our paperwork but indicated it looked like the bags wouldn't land until 23:35. This I found curious, since AF had another flight arriving at 19:30.

Checked the Malev contractor's website on and off during the day, and there was no status changes. Finally at 21:15 I received an email from Air France that one of my two bags was loaded on a flight, but the tag number for the second bag wasn't memorialized. Tried a few times to call local Budapest numbers for the contractor that I found, but no one answered. Decided to call AF's baggage number in the US (there turned out to be about a 15 minute hold queue), and the CSR could not offer any more detail. She said until they scanned the bag tags coming off the plane in BUD, we wouldn't know if the second bag made the flight. The rep did say the single email scenario I offered is something she encountered often, and almost always multiple bags actually make it.

At 23:50 I got an email that two bags had arrived at the airport. Told the hotel front desk to please call me when they arrived, and was a bit perturbed (albeit not at the front desk) that the wake up call was at 02:35am.

Bottom line after all that exposition, an 85 minute scheduled 2E to 2F connection was certainly doable from my standpoint, but apparently AF's baggage handing operation feels otherwise. I'll chalk it off to the remote gate stand. How frequently a DL 777 ends up at a remote stand is for others to comment.

lax01

We decided not to check on the outbound flight but did on the return...being Sky Priority and Global Entry meant we beat the bags to the carousal at LAX by like 25-30 mins...that was fun and LAX was a total cluster-F around mid-afternoon

pilotct

Do the AF JFK 777 flights typically come into the same 2E pier or does it change regularly? Have a tight 70 min connection out of 2F to BUD so just trying to gauge timing. I am in J so that should help with passport and security.

Goldorak

No way to predict this in advance. 70 min should be fine.

cheaptom

I know this is an unusual itinerary, but I may have to do this because of inflexible dates and limited miles to spend on two different airlines. I may take a TN flight LAX-CDG. My next flight, on a totally separate ticket, would be AF from CDG-NAP.

Can someone please help with what Gate/Terminal the TN flight will likely land in and then where the AF flight will depart? And where does security and immigration come in? I will have carry-on only, and I want to leave a very safe and long connection time. Thank you!

Goldorak

TN is in 2A and AF to NAP will be in 2F. You will go through immigration and security in CDG. On separate tickets, you need to schedule ample time but there are not a lot of flights to NAP, so it may mean to wait for a while in CDG.

Xandrios

I'm looking at a ATH-CDG-LHR connection with 50 min layover at CDG. I'm asuming this would be a 2F to 2E transfer around 17:30PM on a monday. Sounds risky to me, though I have never tried this particular transfer myself. I do have skypriority and european passport. What do you guys think?

Thysk

You should be ok. It ll depends on which terminal of 2E you'll be departing. If it's 2E-K, you can just walk the part, without having to bother with the train. I landed at 2F and within 10 minutes I was sitting in the AF lounge at 2E-K. As long as you have a digital-ready id/passport, you can use the selfscan kiosks, which should take you a maximum of 2 minutes.

Xandrios

I think generally the LHR flight leaves from the K gates. But I don't think that's guaranteed at CDG.

These transfers (also to the L/M gates) can be made without having to re-clear security right? Just a passport check from what I understand?

Goldorak

LHR flights indeed depart from K in 99% of cases.

Correct

Xandrios

Thanks for the confirmation, much appreciated!