ned

I have booked a trip in October landing at CDG T2E from Singapore at 7:35am on Singapore in J. I would like to book a connection with Air France leaving for Lisbon. Two flights are available both leaving from T2F. We will have separate tickets for each flight and all tickets are awards. We will be flying with US passports and have only carryon luggage. The first flight departs CDG at 9:35am. Is this possible given the timeframe? The next flight leaves in the afternoon at 1:10pm.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

SteamyUncle

Definitely doable but quite risky indeed...
What you could possibly do is purchase the weekend + pass from AF (currently 25€), which gives you a discount and flexibility, and book yourself on both flights and cancel the second one (20€ penalty) if you make the first.
If your SIN-CDG is delayed and there appears to be no way to make it, you might be able to cancel the 1st one from the plane.
Just an idea of course...

Goldorak

I agree with SteamyUncle. The 1st one bears a certain level of risk for sure but the 2nd option involves a long time. If it was me, I would take the 1st one. As it is AF to AF, they will be able to check you in all the way in SIN.

Fabo.sk

OP says he's arriving on SQ, not AF.

I'd personally go for the second flight, if OP has STE+ or the second ticket is also J. There's worse places to take a nap than the new T2F lounge.

Goldorak

Oups ! sorry, my mistake.

737Av8tor

If the OP can transfer his SIN-CDG flight to Af they do 20 minute ramp transfers from AF to AF.

Fabo.sk

Across separate tickets? I'm doubtful.

flyerCO

Even on one ticket this wouldn't happen, especially since OP must clear immigration at CDG.

ned

I have decided to go with the second flight giving us plenty of time for the connection. I have an additional question for the experts. I have read the relevant posts and rules but am still not clear about a last minute change at the airport. If I arrive in time for the earlier flight can I change flights at the airport counter? This will be an award flight. When I was working and flying a lot, 35 years ago, I could walk to some airline counters, with almost any ticket on any airline, and if space was available I was on. I do not think this is probably now the case. If I try to change to an earlier flight at the airport can I do so if space is available, any space, or does it have to be award space? Is this type of change possible at all? Sorry for the senior moment. Thanks

Goldorak

It won't be possible to change your flight. They do it only in exceptional cases and usually only for their top FFP members. You can still ask, no risk.

Slc2012

I take the opportunity to ask another question concerning CDG transit. I booked a ticket from US (last flight of the day) with a transit time 1.5 hours from 2E to 2F. It was the best flight, not the cheapest, to have the last day available in US and with an arrival in the middle of the afternoon at the final destination.
First, I have a itinerary change on my way to US. I was rebooked automatically with a huge stop in CDG. After calling AF, we were rebooked on another flight with a reasonable transit time in CDG.
Second, my departure time changed a little bit, which reduced my transit time to 55 minutes from 2E to 2F.
Third, my departure time is changing again and my connection time is now 15 minutes. I just notice on my booking (no phone call, no mail !!!). With the new schedule, I will miss my connection flight beginning of the afternoon. There is a flight in the middle of the afternoon, but the flight is already full. Only the evening flight is available at 09.30pm !!!
Do you know why I was not been informed by a mail or a call ?
As a 9 hours transit is not an option, my only choice is to be rebooked on early flight from US. Not a nice choice, but better to stay 9 hours in CDG. Shouldn’t be an issue.
But notice, many flights are changing more than before the Pre-COVID period.

NickB

This would eventually have happened but is not necessarily immediate as these are queued by order of priority, depending on the proximity of the flight and the urgency of the matter. IME, this is SOP on pretty much all airlines I fly. A schedule changes first give to an automatic rebooking by a robot, which seeks the closest feasible flight to the affected flight without altering any other flight and, when it can't find any, the closest unfeasible flight.

Slc2012

I think, it’s what has been done. In fact, no emergency as there is no good option until now. Flight is in 2.5 weeks.

Goldorak

Normally it is as NickB describes when there is a schedule change leading to a connection below MCT. But it seems AFKL are having a problem recently. The same situation happened recently to a friend of mine who discovered the problem looking at his booking a few days before the flight. It was the return trip : long-haul flight to CDG connecting to Schengen. The connection was now 20 min which is impossible and way below MCT. But the booking appeared "normal" in the App without any warning message and AF never notified him.
It is of course advisable to call AFKL as soon as you discover those problems in order to be rebooked, as it seems AF will never call you. If you wait, you take the risk that alternate options will be fully booked.

I don't know if it is related, but recently for me, I noticed in AF app in the tab where you can see all your future and past bookings (so not the welcome page of the app) that 3 of my upcoming bookings had a small green statement "horaires de vols changés" (flight schedules changed). As I did not receive any sms or email notification for a change, I checked and, to do that, I had to compare what was showing in the App vs the email I received originally at the time of booking. In 2 cases, the difference was minor like 10 min, but in the 3rd case, it was 25 min. It's not normal that we are not advised of those changes as you have wrong times in your calendar. I am guessing that this is another glitch in AF system, in a list of glitches that is getting longer and longer every day.

You should call them ASAP. Don't wait.

PrincipalAgentProblem

In a few weeks I am scheduled to arrive into CDG 2F at 22:30, with my connecting flight departing from 2E the next morning. Is it possible to transfer to 2E (presumably clearing passport control) at this late hour in order to stay at the airside Yotel overnight?