c1223

Trying to book LHR to TUN.

AF1181 (departs LHR 1945, arrives CDG 2200) is available
AF1784 (departs CDG 2305, arrives TUN 0030+1) is available

The Air France website doesn't show that as a possible connection. If I phone them up will I be able to purchase this? I assume 1hr5mins is enough to connect at CDG in the same terminal? Having never actually done it, I'd be interested to know if there's any reason why I don't simply get off the plane and walk to the next gate. The 1st flight arrives into 2E and the second flight departs from 2E. Then again, I've never transited CDG so don't know what their setup is!

Slc2012

I heard recently that the MCT at CDG is now 1h20. Perhaps, it’s the explanation.

Fabo.sk

Official MCT is 1 hour 2E - 2E.

AF is not obliged to sell all legal connections. They can selectively block connection pairs in any way they see fit. At this point they decided the connection is not to be sold. Probably because of delays all over the system.

irishguy28

No, I don't think so. But please try and let us know what they say.

We've seen anecdotal evidence that Air France has increased the minimum connection time at CDG - at least during the current "challenging" travel conditions - so that they appear to no longer view this is a viable connection.

From 1 September 2022 onwards, the late TUN flight departs 15 minutes later, and the connection you wish to book becomes available to book:

I would caution you against buying the two flights on separate tickets. If you end up missing the CDG-TUN flight, you're stranded in Paris and you don't have the automatic right to be rebooked the following day.

I would advise you to book an earlier LHR-CDG flight and take your time connecting in CDG....or travel on or after 1 September!

Note also that there should be direct flights from London on Nouvelair (from Gatwick) and Tunisair (from Heathrow and Stansted)

orbitmic

If you mean buying two separate tickets and self-connecting, I am 100% with irishguy28 here. There is every reason in the world not to book that:

1) If AF deems that it is not safe enough to offer as a connection for them, there is even more reason to find it unreasonable for an individual;
2) You'd assume the whole risk. If your first flight is late and you book CDG-TUN on a separate booking, you are not protected and will simply lose your flight as a no show. That is even true if the first flight is late because of AF (they may make an exception if the delay is massive on their part - e.g. 5-6 hours but even that is not guaranteed);
3) 2E-2E transits don't mean just "walking to the gate because you are transiting from a non-Schengen arrival, so you will arrive in the arrivals circuit and need to re-clear security to make it back to the departure circuit. At that time, it shouldn't take too long most days, but there is still plenty of mess in airports these days and for such a tight connection, even adding 10-15 minutes to do so may make you miss boarding;
4) As you would be self-transiting rather than on a formal connection, AF will refuse to through check your luggage (in the same way BA and most US airlines would refuse in similar circumstances) so if for any reason you have to check a bag, you are at least 80% guaranteed to miss baggage check time and your flight as you'd need to pick it up at arrivals (which can take time these days), go through customs (nothing you can say if customs decide they want to take a look at your bags), go back to check in and check your bag.

So I would join the suggestion to book either nonstop for London, or a single ticket itinerary by taking an earlier flight from London if you do want the AF route.

c1223

Wouldn't dream of booking an unprotected ticket. I was just interested as to why a retime of 15 mins removes the connection, even though the MCT is supposedly 1hr. As others have said, it looks like the MCT is now longer than 1hr, because this isn't the only connection I'm not seeing marry up.

orbitmic

My guess is that it is a mixture of more flights than usual being delayed and constant luggage issues which lead to luggage not arriving with passengers.

Ultimately, this is very costly for airlines because if a missed connection leads to an arrival at final destination more than 3 hours late, they are liable to pay EC261 compensation to passengers (unless it is weather etc) and of course missing luggage costs quite a bit of money too.