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Minimum Connection Transfer Time at Paris (CDG): The Definitive Thread

Minimum Connection Transfer Time at Paris (CDG): The Definitive Thread

Old Apr 30, 2008, 8:34 pm
  #76  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 248
1 hour connection at CDG - in which terminal/hall will NW50 from Detroit arrive?

Using an award ticket and had no choice in the matter besides not taking the award at all. I am flying onward to Istanbul, so I do not believe I will have to go thru passport control. AF Flight 1790 departs from terminal/hall 2E. Will NW50 come in anywhere near 2E?

If I cannot make it is the best thing to go to the Air France Lounge (as there is no World Club) in 2E to try to rebook? There is one later flight that day.

I need to be prepared -please help!
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Old Apr 30, 2008, 9:06 pm
  #77  
 
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I would say... if ... and thats if you manage to make it... your luggage won't. Changing terminls, using the bus, and re-clearing security at CDG is a major pain... good luck! but just be prepared for the worst...
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Old Apr 30, 2008, 9:42 pm
  #78  
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Yeah, CDG is the WORST laid out airport I've ever been to! You have to take a bus everywhere, my luggage coming home from Berlin was lost and I had quite a bit of time at the terminal (2 hours). Good luck to you none the less!
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Old Apr 30, 2008, 10:12 pm
  #79  
 
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My understanding is NW also uses hall 2E. I would think if your incoming NW flight is on time you should make it to the Istanbul flight.
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Old Apr 30, 2008, 11:41 pm
  #80  
 
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Originally Posted by egoods
Yeah, CDG is the WORST laid out airport I've ever been to! You have to take a bus everywhere!
When Terminal 2 was designed, 30 years ago, it was not planned to allow for easy connections. Back then, there was no need for that. But times changed, Air France changed, and once T2 was built they tried to utilize it as a connecting hub even though the layout made that "difficult at best"!

I believe that even if you happen to be connecting to a flight in the same building at T2 (such as the E gates) that you still have to go through Passport Control and Customs, and then clear Security again before boarding your connecting flight. They do have special lanes for short connections, which can help you get through Security a little quicker. But even then, having only an hour will be really tough. As the others have said, pray that you arrive a little early and everything goes fairly smoothly, but expect the worst and then be pleasantly surprised if you actually make the connection!
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Old May 1, 2008, 5:15 am
  #81  
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NW50 probably won't arrive in the terminal hall (this isn't "Airplane" after all... or is it?) but everything everyone else says will go wrong, will.
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Old May 1, 2008, 5:45 am
  #82  
 
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In many ways it is hard to express just how messed up CDG is as a connecting passenger. NW 50 now does arrive at a gate, but keep in mind that 2E can mean a lot of things. In fact, the 80 or show gates of 2E are spread out in at least two buildings, one of which is a signficant shuttle train ride away.

Is there a later flight out to your destination? I would plan on missing your first one and taking the later. Also, do not check bags, the chances of them actually making it are slim. Finally, when you are doing the sprint through the airport and need to cut lines remember this: "Excusez-moi de vous deranger mais j'ai un problem" and then beg for mercy in english. I have no idea what it is about starting a sentence with "I am sorry for bothering you, but I have a problem" but it is kryptonit to the French.
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Old May 1, 2008, 7:57 pm
  #83  
 
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Thanks for the help so far (and the good luck wishes). So, if I am putting the different bits of info together here it sounds as if NW50 arrives at a gate at 2E. However 2E is made of two seperate buildings and may require a shuttle train ride. Where is the shuttle in relation to the short connection security lines?

Do you walk to the shuttle from the gate, take the shuttle and walk to the gate like a "normal" airport or is there something else I should know about it?

Do I really have to go throught passport control? Turkey is neither a EU or Schengen member and I am just transiting through.... That just doesn't seem right to me.

Yes, there is one other flight about 7 hours later that same day so it could be a back up. No way can I carry on only. Not possible. I will take a change of clothes in my carryon.

Is the Air France lounge the best place to go for rebooking help if I end up needing it? We are World Club members.
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Old May 2, 2008, 1:00 am
  #84  
 
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Originally Posted by HappyCheesehead
Thanks for the help so far (and the good luck wishes). So, if I am putting the different bits of info together here it sounds as if NW50 arrives at a gate at 2E. However 2E is made of two seperate buildings and may require a shuttle train ride. Where is the shuttle in relation to the short connection security lines?

Do you walk to the shuttle from the gate, take the shuttle and walk to the gate like a "normal" airport or is there something else I should know about it?

Do I really have to go throught passport control? Turkey is neither a EU or Schengen member and I am just transiting through.... That just doesn't seem right to me.

Yes, there is one other flight about 7 hours later that same day so it could be a back up. No way can I carry on only. Not possible. I will take a change of clothes in my carryon.

Is the Air France lounge the best place to go for rebooking help if I end up needing it? We are World Club members.
If you have not done so already, suggest you take a look at the CDG web site and study the Terminal Map. I am sorry that I don't have the link for you, but it easy enough to find. Do a search for ADP and Paris, and that should get you there.

The problem with Passport Control is that Terminal 2 is really like 6 separate terminals. In order to get from one to the other, you must actually "enter" France, outside of the Security and Passport areas and then transit from one terminal building to another. Thus the need to show your Passport to get in to the country and then get out of it again.

CDG is an airport in transition. The new satellite buildings that are open and being built will make it more of a connecting airport eventually, with a multitude of gates that are airside, inside of Security and Passport control. But that day is far in the future! NW flights used to arrive at a remote parking place and then you were bussed to E. Now that the first portion of the E satellite is open, they use a real gate out there, but you have to ride the train back to the main E building unless your connecting flight happens to be departing from that same satellite building (not likely, but good luck!). Once you get back there, you can clear Security to any other E gates, but if you have to go to C, D, or F then that is a real hike outside of security and passport control.

At each Security check point, there are multilingual AF employees who will check your BP and if you have a short connection time they are very good about shunting you into the express security lane. Otherwise, you have to wait in line with everyone else.

Lastly, I always try to use a Lounge for last minute changes rather than going to the check-in counter and standing in a long line. There are quite a few AF Lounges at CDG, including one in the new satellite building. Very nice lounge, as I recall from last year. You should find them quite helpful for rebooking, if that becomes necessary. It is on an upper level, so look for signs that lead you to an elevator. The signs will say "Salon Air France", but maybe you already knew that! I believe that is the only Lounge that WC members can use, but any AF Lounge can be accessed if you are a PE (SkyTeam Elite +) travelling on an international ticket.

Last edited by mrcimino1; May 2, 2008 at 1:11 am
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Old May 2, 2008, 7:54 am
  #85  
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I have just transited through CDG a couple of times. NW 50 comes into 2E - but not so sure your flight to IST will -- if so - you will be very close, and will simply need to take the tram or walk. There is a new concorse - S3 - that is where NW 50 has been coming and going from in the last couple of months. I have been transiting through 2D coming and going to other Schengen countries and need about 20-30 min to make the connection.
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Old May 2, 2008, 12:03 pm
  #86  
 
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mrcimino1, Thank you!!! Your post was so thoughtful and thorough, exactly what I needed! I have looked at that terminal map on the AF website and can see what it looks like but found it difficult to understand what it really means. I am going to read this again a few times. I need to have a clear plan in my head to make the most of my 60 minutes. By the way, I did not know Salon Air France was what I should look for, thanks for that too!!

This will be the third time I have been to CDG but once we just exited and went to Paris and once was a transit a few years ago to Zagreb. I had 75 min for that connection and made it, but it seems as if things are different in the terminals now.

mdb - thanks - you have given me hope!
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Old May 2, 2008, 12:20 pm
  #87  
 
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Originally Posted by HappyCheesehead
I have looked at that terminal map on the AF website and can see what it looks like but found it difficult to understand what it really means.
Welcome to the CDG experience .
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Old May 2, 2008, 9:49 pm
  #88  
 
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This was my experience in late March 2008

I had posted this in another thread where I was asking about the CDG setup for NW 50.

So here is what happened at CDG

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I arrived at 2E early and stairs were rolled up to the plane though a jet way was right there. We walked downstairs to a bus that then went to the end of 2E, turned around and went the opposite direction, then between E and F (see www.adp.fr for maps), made some unexpected turns and ended up on the opposite side of E almost directly across from where my flight landed. 2E and 2F are parallel to each other. So, you can imagine, they had to take this circuitous route solely because there is no way to just get directly through (or under) 2E to its opposite side which would have been perfect for my arrival location. I presume this is due to the massive amount of construction going on. There, you go up some stairs and through passport control - NOW OUT OF THE SECURE ZONE. After passing many potential doors that are blocked, you finally find signs to 2F, but, of course, it is not easy to know EXACTLY which PIER (there are two) or specifically the GATE in particular for your connection, so you just hope you end up near it. You can walk easily between 2E and 2F, however, upon arrival at 2F, the staircase that would put you in the middle of 2F so you could then find out the pier and go the right direction was blocked by machine gun wielding members of the armed forces. I don't know if this has become a routinely blocked stairwell or just some threat was going on. So, then you had to play the lottery as to which end to go to and proceed up to the departures level. At the departure level, I stopped by an AF counter and they pointed me in the correct, and opposite, direction. There was no line at all at the security point and once through that you can head to your gate. It is important to find out from which pier you are departing, or you would have to go through a different security checkpoint. Way too much time in the lounge between flights in a typically overheated building.

Upon my return, I arrived in 2D (scheduled for 2F originally), got baggage in 20 minutes (I had separate tickets DTW-CDG and then CDG-MAD), proceeded down the stairs that I located while waiting on the baggage and followed signs to 2E. My passport was checked and I ended up on a shuttle (AIRSIDE, BUT OUT OF THE SECURE ZONE) that goes directly to 2E. There are two stops for the shuttle, but because specific GATES are never listed on any information website and because I never saw monitors in 2D with flights other than those going from 2D, I played the lottery again. I got off at the first stop and went directly to a counter. They issued my BP, directed me up the stairs and to a train that took me to the correct section of 2E where I went through security and was on my way to the lounge and ultimately the gate. I carried on the bag I was forced to check by AF in MAD and they said it was not possible to check all the way to DTW. Honestly, I wanted to retrieve the bag because I knew they would let me carry it on in WBC, but, had I really wanted to check it through, it would have been problematic. Interestingly, it WAS checked through from DTW to MAD even though they were two separate tickets.

Use of CDG is not seamless, but if you scout things out and are willing to ask questions, you can get to where you are going in a decent amount of time. I would say the time from arrival to my connecting gate upon my arrival from the US took about 15 minutes. Probably 20 minutes on the return because the shuttle waited a while for more passengers. It would have been scarier had there been long lines anywhere, but it was Easter Monday and I assume many Europeans were not traveling in the morning time.

The main issue is POOR SIGNAGE and the LACK OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION ON ACTUAL gates. I had been there before and expected issues of this nature, but it would be unsettling for the casual traveler.
NW.BTR.Than.The.Rest is offline  
Old May 3, 2008, 9:28 pm
  #89  
 
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I think that the OP has a different situation than what others have posted about. He is continuing on to a non-Schengen destination after arriving at CDG. IIRC, there are airside shuttles that will keep you in the non-Schengen portion of the airport without passport control. There will be security. AF has a new webpage dealing with CDG "correspondances" (aka connections. Find it HERE.

I would post over at the Flying Blue forum - some very knowledgeable CDG folk over there.
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Old May 4, 2008, 12:06 pm
  #90  
 
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Originally Posted by Mill Creek Don
I think that the OP has a different situation than what others have posted about. He is continuing on to a non-Schengen destination after arriving at CDG. IIRC, there are airside shuttles that will keep you in the non-Schengen portion of the airport without passport control. There will be security. AF has a new webpage dealing with CDG "correspondances" (aka connections. Find it HERE.

I would post over at the Flying Blue forum - some very knowledgeable CDG folk over there.
It appears that AF has made a significant investment to improve the transfer situation at CDG. This must be fairly recent, as most of the posts here refer to the "old way" of getting around there. This includes my somewhat dated info, as the last time I enjoyed CDG was Sept. 2007.
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