hfly

You should be okay, on the outbound, it would seem that you are flying AF and your likelihood of not going to the trailer park is much higher. If you get a gate, you have already ut down the experience by at LEAST 40 mins or so, so 1:45 should be fine.

The return is a toss-up.

wco81

AF uses Citijet, a regional carrier to connect from CDG? Or is that only for Italy?

Question is whether they use the same terminal for their trans-Atlantic connections and then connecting flights to Spain and Italy.

I believe they only have one CDG-SFO flight a day so if I miss it, I'd have to wait another day unless I take another routing.

ClipperDelta

AF uses Cityjet - an Irish carrier - for some of their intra-Europe flights (I believe ZRH, GOT, DUB and some Italian cities). Cityjet planes are always parked remotely so a bus ride from/to the a/c is a given. The terminals from which they depart are usually 2F, and in some cases, 2D. Transatlantic AF flights arrive into 2C, 2F, 2E or 2A (and very occasionally into 2B). DL arrives into 2E.

ecaarch

Rest assured in the knowledge that if anything goes wrong, the AF ground agents will give you all of the courtesy and help befitting a US citizen at CDG.

Djlawman

Update on this --Seeing the now 1 hr. 5 min. connection time (due to rescheduling of the Delta flight, taking off 1 hr. 35 mins earlier from CDG), I called and talked to a nice agent at Delta. She said that my connection was no longer a legal connection, she can't book it, and, after working with her supervisor, they were able to confirm us in 2 BE seats on Delta flight 51, leaving later, giving us a much more reasonable 2 hrs. 20 mins. between flights.
There were no remaining FF seats in BE on flight 51, but they worked it out to transfer our reservation and BE FF awards to that flight. (made sure to tell them it was our 25th anniv. vacation)

aceflyer2

I'll go one better....if you have a choice, avoid CDG. Have you considered AMS?

DFW Consultant

Last weekend I was flying from Berlin TXL to JFK with a connection at CDG. I was supposed to have 1hr 45min but my flight was around 40 min late. Air France had an agent waiting for me who ran me from 2C to 2D through the car park (a shortcut I gather). Luckily there was no security line and I made my flight no problem.

MileJunkie

I can't agree more. My 86 yo mom and I just came back from ATL-TLV round-trip, and we had to connect at CDG twice in two weeks. I can honestly say that this is the worst airport I've ever connected thru.

On the way there, at 6:30am local time, we had to stand in a 50-60 min line to go thru security to terminal F. Every couple of minutes, AF personnel would pluck out people from the line who had departures within 20-30 mins and let them get ahead of everyone else. That was one of the reasons this line was not moving for minutes. Another was that there were hundreds of people and only 2 X-ray machines working.

What a mess! Never again - if I can help it.

Bulldog

Any opinions on the likelihood of making this connection in CDG?

Flight 1
Air France 1523
From Munich DE (MUC) Terminal 1
Departure Time 1010
To Paris Charles De Gaulle FR (CDG) Terminal 2D
Arrival Time 1155

Flight 2
Delta 8637 (codeshare of Air France 366)
From Paris Charles De Gaulle FR (CDG) Terminal 2C
Departure Time 1315
To Philadelphia PA US (PHL) Terminal A
Arrival Time 1535

It is all AF metal, and is a 2D to 2C connection. It seems 1h20m should be enough, but I have never had anything go right in CDG.

Thanks.

Bulldog

Buckaroo

FWIW - I was in Paris 2 weeks ago (not connecting, but departing) and arrived at CDG about 3 hours before my flight - it took a solid 2+ hours to get checked in, clear security/immigration, walk to the bus terminal, ride the bus and get to the DL trailer park. I was traveling on a paid BE ticket and checked in at the BE desk.

On a side note, the unfriendly AF agent that checked me in tried to check my rollaboard that fits in the DL "Sizewise" box (and is well within published size limited) that I travel with daily. It wouldn't fit in the AF sizer box, and I argued with her until she gave up (I was on DL metal, it fits theirs, etc.) - she then warned me they would take it away at the gate - but no one else said a word.

With all the summer touristas in play, that airport is a zoo.

If you have to check in again at CDG and get boarding passes, it will be a nightmare. Worst airport I have ever encountered in the "civilized world"...if you can call the French civilized. (I can say that because I am French)

Good luck.

JOUY31

It is straightforward and easy if your flight from MUC is on time.

If you arrive in the CDG 2D building, either from a jetway or a remote stand, later than 40mn before your flight to PHL, things become tricky or you can be lucky enough to have some AF staff driving you from the remote stand if you have one directly to 2C and rushing you through both immigration and security.

Enjoy your flights

hfly

If I have connected through CDG 100 times and 50 of those have become "close" for whatever reason, I have been driven a grand total of twice, one time where they dumped me at the wrong gate and disappeared. Their tarmac transfer is hit and miss at best and rarely do they bother with less than an hour to go, which ultimately makes the exercise absolutely pointless

mwenk

Speaking from experience: you can make it, if you hustle, but your bags most likely won't.

Gargoyle

mwenk, Welcome to FT!

While I've probably only done a dozen or fifteen CDG transfers, my experience is like hfly's. Half have been close, 3 missed connections, and one time where an agent met us and hustled us through the airport (with shortcuts through construction areas). That time there were 17 of us who would have missed the connection, she kept trying to radio for a bus to meet us (which never showed), and I kept warning her about one elderly overweight pax with diabetes who who was breathing very hard and having trouble keeping up.

Generally the FA's announce on late inbound flights that ground personnel will be there to help, but in reality said ground staff is usually nowhere to be found.

opus17

I've only ever missed one connection, but I've aged about 10 years on making the rest.

Best advice -- 6 weeks cardiovascular training, wear sneakers and a light tracksuit, and pack very, very light on the carry-ons.