Falco Peregrinus

I was exactly in the same situation recently, arriving from BUD at 2B at 9:30 and connecting to the US at 10:15. I only made it because the 10:15 flight was delayed by more than 45 min, otherwise it is technically impossible to do the 2B 2E connection in 45 min. Let me tell you why:

• 09:23 Landing, perfectly on time
• 09:30 Taxiing, heading to the gate
• 09:35 I Reach the gate
• 09:40 Aircrafts door open
• 09:46 Passengers deplane
• 09:49 Noticing the line of 15 people at immigration, I decide to go downstairs (09:52) and connect with the airside shuttle
• 09:57 Airside shuttle arrives
• 10:03 Shuttle stops at 2F
• 10:05 Shuttle starts again and goes to 2F via a crazy itinerary although 2E and 2F are relatively close to eachother
• 10:12 Reach 2E, run and climb lots of stairs for 3 minutes until I arrive (10:15) at 2E's security area, an abominable mess of 300 or 400 people dispatched between a dozen of lines... there is apparently a business class (elite?) line somewhere but the dispatching agent are not very helpful and send me to the slowest line. Reminds me of typical supermaket experiences...
• A few people try to bypass the line, yelling "excuse me, our flight leaves at 11:00, we have priority!"
• 10:35 End of security checks, endless race to the boarding hall
• 10:40 While I am running I hear "Last call for...". My gate is naturally the most distant....
• 10:45 Completely exhausted and unable to say anything but my name, I am the last passenger to board the bus.
• 10:52 Reach the aircraft (actually the aircraft was sitting outside 2C... ) and board (the captain first denied us boarding since the bus driver opened the doors and released the last passengers while the crew was checking the number of passengers on board. Our late arrival was less than expected, to say the least...)
• 11:00 Double seat assignment "Er, the ground staff thought you would not make the connection (I arrived on time, didn't I?) and they gave your seat away... We will have to call them to tell them you are on board." I was more than happy to hand out my boarding pass showing FB PLATINUM, expecting an onboard upgrade... nothing.
• 11:15 Take off...

I was on a K fare and nobody expected me at 2B.

Serpentos

Absolutely shocking horror So the ground staff can virtually decide whether or not you'll be able to make it ? there is a point I dont get...

B707

uhoh thats sounds not very good what if we dont really not get our flight to IAH ? how is the procedure than we have to be at 12:00pm in AUS how will or can there rebook us to another flight ?

haggis79

@Falco: and it seems you were lucky your flight didn't leave from the E80-E86 gates, as this would have given you another bus ride, right?

I personally have finally come to the point where I only book a ticket through CDG if either the connecting time is more than 90-120 min or the next flight to my destination after the one I booked leaves not too much later...

Falco Peregrinus

It was E76, only a relatively short ride to the aircraft (sitting outside 2C). Not sure what you mean by "another bus ride", I had 2 bus segments: 2B to 2E then 2E to my flight to the US. Is there a 3-bus segments option? I know there is a remote boarding hall close the northern runway. Does one take another bus there to board?

haggis79

there sure is... last time I flew to the US (coming from NUE) I had nearly 2 hours of connection time and it went like this:

- arrive from NUE on a Régional operated (ERJ 145) flight perfectly on time
- wait for cabin delivered baggage to be offloaded
- board bus to Terminal 2D
- walk (or rather, run ) from 2D to 2E (no bus, as 2D is in the Schengen zone)
- go through safety and passport control at 2E and follow down many stairs
- take the bus from 2E to the remote satellite (~10 mins)
- enter the remote satellite and arrive at your gate just as boarding starts
- enter the next bus from the remote satellite to the aircraft that is parked outside 2A - so that meant driving all the way back to 2E and to the other side of the airport. In that last bus we all agreed that CDG is a bus station, not an airport ;-).

Granted, in your case it may have been possible to take a bus from 2B directly to the remote sattelite of 2E...?

rosenkavalier

hi everyone, this is my first post on a non-Star Alliance matter, so please be nice.

i am booked on VIE-CDG arr 1215 and connecting onto CDG-BOS dep 1315.
from what i read, one hour is really not enough to connect between 2D and 2E. there is another VIE-CDG that arrives at 0930, but that means i have to depart VIE at 0715.

MY QUESTION: should i change to the earlier VIE-CDG? its too early in my opinion, but since AF only has one flight a day to BOS, i don't want to risk missing the connection and possibly wasting a day.

Thanks a lot!

Serpentos

Welcome on the AF Board !
Frankly, it is NOT possible, despite my natural optimism. Are you skyteam elite or flying business to BOS ? If so, you're entitled to enter the AF lounge if you get an earlier flight. or go landside and relax in the Sheraton lobby.
Hope this helps

chrissxb

but - if you can't make your flight, you'll be probably rebooked via ATL or JFK. its very unlikely you waste a whole day. AF10 / DL 5522 come to my mind. so if you take the risk, thats probably what you get.

up to you - and once again: Welcome on the AF Board

rosenkavalier

hi, thanks for your advice and welcoming words, serpentos and chrissxb.

no, i am not skyteam elite and flying first time AF economy, on a youth fare...if there is any rebooking, i will probably be treated like s#*t in terms of hotel arrangements and getting the earliest flight to BOS. so, i will take your advice and take the 0715 flight from VIE .
problem solved.

chrissxb

not necessarily. the flight I was thinking about leaves CDG at 15h50 for JFK, you should get that one whatever happens - and with the slight chance of getting the nonstop to BOS I had booked this one. there are two later flights to the eastcoast ... I'd take the risk. there's definitely no hotel needed at CDG.

rosenkavalier

OK, i will sound totally pessimistic but....

a) suppose my VIE-CDG arrives a few minutes late, i run like a madman and somehow make my connection to BOS, will my bag make it though?
b) if i miss my connection, and they book me either JFK/BOS or ATL/BOS, what are the chances they will correctly pick my bag out of the thousands and re-tag it for the appropriate flights?

thanks for your patience!

kshastry

Guys, after reading through experiences of CDG veterans, I also wanted to get re-assured (warned rather) about my upcoming US connection.

I will be arriving to CDG at 8:40 AM, 2F (from BLR) and connecting to IAH flight at 10:15 AM, 2E.

My baggages would have been checked through to IAH.

1. What is the odds of making it to this flight?
2. I am ticketed on DL, flying AF metal all the way (DL coach class U). Should I miss the connection who is responsible? Whom should I contact?
3. Given that I am on a discounted Y fare bucket, how does this affect my rerouting? My ultimate destination is SFO. I am ST elite if that helps.

chrissxb

you never know when your bag arrives.

maybe. maybe not. but I made 45min domestic/Schengen to US connections and others on the board made it, too. sometime we didn't make it. isn't that the adventure part of airtravel?

1. I'd say you have quite good chances to make it.
2. Always contact the operating carrier - AF. At the transfer desk, they'll take care of AF AND DL tickets.
3. there are later flights to ATL with conx to SFO, I'd say - don't worry. if they re-route you, you'll be given new boarding passes. always be patient and polite helps alot with french GAs. don't-you-know-who-i-am-attitude leads to a middleseat in row 52

KLouis

"Ach sei Er gut, Er muss nicht alles wissen." (Marschallin, Der Rosenkavalier, Akt 1)