Quick Help, CDG Please ?
 

My daughter will be traveling this week to study abroad in Pau, (POE) France. She willl of course by flying on Continental, of course. Her Flight arrives at CDG somewhere in Terminal A @ 7:40 am in the moring, after an all night flight. Her connection on AF leaves @ 8:40 am from Terminal 2D. Can any of you CDG frequent travelers shed some light on the quickest way to Term. 2D so she can make her connection. Thanking all who reply in advance.

of course twice? i was wondering about the first one and then i saw the second one. :)

An hour sounds like a very short connection for an International trip. I've never been to CDG, but with immigration and customs, an hour may not be enough time.

First, bags should be checked through to destination. No need to pick up in Paris.

Second, CO arrives at 2A. Ignore all signs about connections. Instead, enter France and go through immigration like one's going to Paris. After exiting immigration, look for signs to walk to 2D. Ignore all signs about shuttle bus/navettes.

Those are the best advices I can give her.

^ This is what I do every time in CDG when going to any of the other Terminal 2 concourses, it's worked very well every time.

There's an extremely good pinned thread on CDG on the AF forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=456112 . Chrisxb, the moderator, is terrific and can help you if your questions aren't answered by the tread.

There's also a good map here http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/Adp/R...9-cdg2abcd.pdf. To walk from 2A to 2D, you take an escalator/elevator down at the intersection between 2A and 2C, walk under the roads and parking seperating them and then an escalator/elevator back up at the intersection of 2B and 2D. It's perhap a 12 minute walk. She'll have to go through passport control entering France and a second security check of any hand carried luggage.

I've generally found clearing passport control and customs at CDG to be extremely fast and easy. On my last trip it was less than 10 minutes from the time I walked through the door of the terminal to waiting at baggage claim, and my bags were out in another 5 minutes. The one potential delay I could see is if the inbound flight to CDG arrives at one of the hardstands. Waiting for the buses, then making the trip over to the terminal, could take longer than clearing passport control, claiming bags, and walking to the other terminal.

But if the flight arrives on time, she moves quickly, and tries to get a seat near the front of the plane so she can be one of the first ones off, and toward the front of the passport control line, and follows the suggestions here about changing terminals, it's doable.

Tell your daughter to wear her running shoes and cross her fingers that she arrives on time. Regretably, flightstats shows an only 48% on time arrival rate, and the next AF flight to PAU either from CDG or Orly isn't until early evening.

If the flight arrives on time, my best time from the time I got off the plane at 2A sattelite, passport cotrol, luggage claim, cross to either 2B or 2D, passport control and check in for next flight has been 17 minutes. When I took the shuttle, like a newbie, it took 45 minutes. Of course the key is to forgo the VIP tags on my luggage. When I get those added on to the tracking tags, my bags roll out last.:D

>>of course twice? i was wondering about the first one and then i saw the second one>>

Of course, why dont you help answering the question, instead of criticizing the question

and, who said i was criticizing (other than you)? :rolleyes:

sensitive much? :rolleyes: