martinfoss

Hi all!

I'm in the prosess of planning a holiday trip for me and a friend to the US this summer. Even though CO is the most practical choice (They fly directly from OSL to EWR), I did for various reasons, check out AF's schedule


Anyway.. The flight from Oslo, arrives at CDG at 09:05, and the flight no JFK (AF12), departs at 10:15.

According to AF's website, I will arrive at terminal 2D, and depart from 2E.. Is that doable in 1hr 10 min??

Flying down the night before is not an option, and neither is taking a later flight from CDG, as one of the reasons for eventually chosing AF is it's early arrival time..

KLouis

Absolutely doable, provided your first flight is not late.

JOUY31

Fully agree.

rangerss75

Sorry to sow confusion, but I'm not so sure. Everything will have to go just right for you to make it: an on-time arrival, with the hope that you don't get parked at a remote stand. If the JFK flight is from the satellite at 2E, the journey is quite a long one, and from plane to plane will take you at least thirty to forty minutes either by walking or by shuttle bus.

You will need to know exactly where you are going, so plan ahead. Make sure you're quickly off the plane, head straight for 'connecting flights' and join the line for those who have a short connection. You may have to go through a security hand-baggage check first. The shuttle bus will take you the two stops (2F is in between) to 2E. Then you have security all over again and the queues can be quite long. Then you have the little train from the main terminal to the satellite, if your flight is from there.

If you are lucky, someone might come to meet you from your first flight. But, I suspect, if your flight is late and they know that there are seats available on later flights to JFK, they won't make too much of an effort. If there are very large numbers of connecting passengers, they sometimes hold the flight. I was on a flight to the US recently and there was a group connecting from a flight from somewhere in Europe. Obviously, they would never have been able to seat them all on a later flight, so the flight was held for about thirty minutes, and they all piled on just before take-off.

Personally, I would never accept a connection with a terminal change at CDG of less than 90 minutes. I suspect this hasn't helped, as KLouis and JOUY31 (based on their experience) are equally sure that it can be done!

Edited to add: Have just been reading the thread about the FT and AF management lunch and have learned (as you do every day!) that there is a direct shuttle from 2D to 2E. That will make things easier, but anything under 90 minutes still makes me anxious!

martinfoss

Thanks, especially to rangerss75..

The reason I asked, was, that I was looking at the possibility to take the train from NYC to Chicago (We will start our trip in Chicago), instead of flying in via EWR, and AF have so far the earliest arrival in New York that I have been able to find so far.. The train leaves New York at 16:00, so CO, with arrival at EWR at 14:00, is, out of my own experience, just a little to late (Last year, we flew CO, and arrived in Manhattan just before 16:00..) Also, a certain Mr. Springsteen makes me unable to fly out the night before..

So thank you, I've just made my decision to stick with CO.. They also have the advantage that I can fly directly home from Newark on our return..

rangerss75

As you're also in the BA Executive Club, is BA a possibility via LHR? I know the airport is horrendous, but BA must have very early flights to JFK and don't you get the time advantage of the UK being on GMT? (Go on, tell me that Norway is also on GMT....)

chrissxb

if you take the shuttle bus from 2D to 2E you clear immigration in 2D and then only security in 2E. this is definitely doable with the green/orange/acces1 lane system instaured by ADP. no need to worry at all. I've done it in less time. the bus departs downstairs in the 2D terminal. in case your airplane gets a remote stand thats even better since the bus arrives exactly where the other bus leaves, just make a u-turn to clear security. have a pleasant flight

martinfoss

Well, yes, BA has an arrival about one hour after AF.. That's 3 hours before the train departs from Penn Station.. Although, I'm not sure how much time one would need from JFK to Penn Station.. I've done Newark to Penn in two hours once, but then we arrived at Penn at 16:00 (arriving with CO..). AF would still give us an extra hour..

Yes, I'm a BA club member, but to be honest: I seem to join a new program for every new airline I fly I joined FB for my last trip to the US, I joined BA for a trip to London, and I have as well joined Eurobonus for an upcoming trip to Seattle on SAS.. I'm not really chasing any status in any of them, but seem to join "just for fun.."..

However, after my trip to US last year, FB is the card where I have the most points, and another trip next year, might give me a chance to do an award booking sometime in the not too distant future.. So, I would really prefer Skyteam on this trip..

Appearently, some posters here have usually made it, but I would hate to miss that train.. Guess i have to talk to my friend about this, at least..


And by the way: Norway is GMT+1

JOUY31

Personally, I would not recommend it. Today, my BA morning flight to LHR was delayed by 30mn upon departure because, arriving from TXL to LHR, the aircraft had landed on the northern runway, needed to taxi around T3 and wasted additional time to cross the southern runway and ... be towed to T4. Of course, when arriving from CDG to LHR, this same aircraft was unlucky enough to have ... three (!) holding patterns around Bromley, again land on the northern runway, taxi around T3, and cross the southern runway. All in all, we only had an 1h10mn delay for a 40mn flight ... , but that is not a problem as I had scheduled a 3h30 T4/T4 connection . For a T4/T1 connection, anything below 4 hours is a unacceptable to me. So, CDG may not be great (but it is improving), but any connection in LHR is begging for trouble, IMHO. And today's experience is nothing special. I am still praying for my baggage to be there at my final destination, but it should be ok as I am not using the disaster prone T4/T1 tunnel baggage transfer ...

Update from the T1 First lounge in LHR, where I did enjoy the Beychevelle 1976 and the Piper Heidsieck rosé that are indeed superior to the current AF lounges offering, my onward flight is currently delayed by 30mn ... sigh ...

JOUY31

Here´s some more information about my transfer today in LHR... Nothing special, just an every day occurrence

KLouis

Just to make the original poster a little more nervous: You plan a train transfer in NY and you are nervous about CDG? Have you wondered about how long you'll be standing at immigration at any NYC (or US for that matter) airport? Times for me vary from 10 min. to 2 hours. If you want this to be short, you'll have to check how many international flights arrive at the same terminal within +/- 1 hour (sort of impossible), pray for the immigration computer system to be fully functional, and also walk away from your plane at a pace that would guarantee you a place among the top 6 in the Olympic Games. In other words, many unknowns to be able to plan with time frame of 1-2 hours. Good news though, once through in EWR, Penn is "close", taking the small train to the main station (alltogether 10 min.) and hopping onto the next NJ transit (sometimes you may get an Amtrak) that brings you there very, very fast (in about 20 min. if I remember correctly). From JFK, on the other hand, you could get the small train to Jamaica and then the subway to Penn. Altogether longer (a total of somewhat less than one hour), and definitely not the best way to travel, but cheaper and faster than a cab. My advice is to plan everything from scratch, if you can still do it.

martinfoss

Decided to drop Amtrak, and fly CO OSL-EWR-ORD instead.. But thanks anyway.. ^