Air France tips?
 

I'll be flying Air France cattle class for the first time from BUD to SFO via CDG at the end of August. I usually take Lufthansa, and like them very much, but not $300 (33%) more much. Anything out of the ordinary I should know about traveling with them or any tips?

Pretty good in the air (food and service) but ground service at CDG atrocious. Read some reviews of CDG and you might wish you hadn't. Connecting AF -AF is not too bad, make sure you have plenty of time especially on the return.

I would caution you about the connection in CDG -- especially going from Europe to the US. Flights to the US leave from a separate satellite terminal, and have separate and extra security. Dealing with both will take a lot of time. 45 minutes to an hour is the barest minimum if everything works perfectly. I would not want to schedule a CDG connection in this direction for less then 2 hours.

I've found the reverse connection (arriving from the US and connecting onward in Europe) to be quicker. But I would still try to schedule at least 1.5 hours to be safe.

Agree with other posters. Used to live in France and had to connect through/fly out of CDG quite a few times. Avoid if at all possible. Very low concept of customer service. No comparison whatsoever with LH.

As mentioned, be very suspicious of any transfer of less than an hour and any hope of seeing your baggage arrive on the carousel at final destination. If you end up with a tight connection, forget it, and you will be harried out of the plane by ground staff, piled in a van and driven to the other plane. Your bags won't follow you.

CDG has expensive, poor food (unless can get in a lounge), involves miles of walking, has virtually no cashpoints, public side seating and is hugely confusing. There is a shuttle train now between terminals, but this used to take 20-45 mins or more, depending on which one. The place is 1/5 the size of Paris itself. Oh, and taxis drivers won't drive you anywhere unless they can get 30euro + out of you.

And this is without strikes or security alerts.....

Routinely voted one of the worst airports in the world. With AF not the world's favourite airlines either.

Real shame, because Orly is an old school, lovely place to fly out of, near Paris, friendly taxi drivers and staff, no crowds, no fuss and a whole different atmosphere.

Just to repeat what others have said; if you are leaving from or transferring at CDG, ON NO ACCOUNT should you check in baggage, because you won't see it again.

Well, OK, that's an exaggeration, your chance of seeing it again is in the range 25% - 75%.

I suppose you are booked on the connections below. The inbound is fine with 3 hours but the outbound at 1:05 is too close for comfort. AF suffer the delusion that the MCTs that they put into the GDSs to get shorter elapsed flying times are realistic. They're not. And if you miss your connection you will see how unhelpful they are at CDG. Unfortunately your only alternative is to overnight at CDG. I hope it goes well but be prepared for the worst and you may get a pleasant surprise!

AF1395 BUD2A CDG2D 1010 1230
AF 080 CDG2E SFO I 1335 1555

AF 085 SFO I CDG2E 1835 1400+1
AF2394 CDG2D BUD2A 1700+1 1910+1

If they've booked you on this one for the inbound, I would try to change it for the one above:
AF 083 SFO I CDG2E 1545 1110+1
AF1994 CDG2D BUD2A 1245+1 1455+1

I had the misfortune to transit this miserable airport quite frequently in the past and it's as said 'Routinely voted one of the worst airports in the world' with good reason.

Tableview and others, thanks for your inputs. Unfortunately, I am booked on AF 083 on the return portion. Nothing I can do about it. I guess I will have to read up on CDG and familiarize myself with the layout.

Fortunately, I will be staying at my home near Berkeley for three weeks, so there is plenty of time for my bag to catch up with me, if necessary. And, it won't contain anything I desperately need, either, as I have clothing, etc. at my home. The same applies on the return trip, although by then my bag will contain some items I will be bringing back with me to resupply, but again nothing I will need right away.

Even the lounge at CDG for BA and AA is unimpressive - besides being out of the way.

Baggage transfer - even 5 hours from AF internal to BA wasn't enough!

Bags fail to make connections at many airports. Amsterdam, which so many people are fond of (including myself) has suffered this problem for years. My bag missed my connecting flight roughly 50% of my flights through AMS.

I haven't used CDG as often but on a recent occasion when I was due to fly DUS-AMS-ATL my DUS-AMS flight was cancelled. A last minute re-route was organised with AFR/DAL through CDG with a very tight connection. I fully expected to arrive ATL minus a bag, but to CDG's credit my bag had made it with me.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (even with more time to connect).

I like an optimist.....

I chose my words carefully. I could have inserted 'ever' in front of 'seeing'.

My longest lost bag was 13 weeks at ORD on American on the way to Dayton, OH.. Cost them about $1300 all in all.

Air France via CDG
 

AF: good in-flight service.:D

CDG: The pits - avoid at all costs:mad:


Such a pity that CDG spoils AF.

OK, you've all gotten me nervous now, so I visited the Air France web site, and they have a little "calculator" that let's you prepare for transfers at CDG:

Connections at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport

I used it to learn that Air France flights from/to Hungary are in terminal 2D while Air France flights to/from the U.S. are in terminal 2E, and that you can walk between these two terminals in 10 minutes. But being that I still walk like a New Yorker, I estimate it'll take me 6 minutes. :) (Note: this is valid only for AF flights.) There's even a terminal map you can download.

A colleague of mine who connects through CDG regularly from SFO to MRS claims CDG is a very efficient airport, better than ORD or ATL.

I believe that the biggest problem with transfers at CDG is when pax have to transfer within T1 and perhaps also T1 to T2, or v.v. I have done the 2D to 2E and v.v. a few times and I can confirm that that particular combination is indeed a doddle.

Now that some optimism has at last crept in, I'd like to mention that in many transits through CdG I have never had a lost/delayed baggage incident.
A real pita is the bussing between Terminal 2 and Terminal G especially when your arrival terminal is 2 and the aircraft parks at G, your departure terminal is G so you have to suffer the bus ride back from 2 to G where you deplaned originally. AF never use 2 busses when the sardines can squeeze into one.

I have flown MAN-TLV-CDG with the attendant increased security and a 45 minute connection. No problems, no lost luggage and very nice airport (although I only used one or possibly two terminals in the 2E/2F range. Connection was easy.

I have done CDG-ATL several times with AF, I had no choice unfortunately.
Well………..! If in steerage, take a very soft cushion to sit on and I hope for your sake you are less than 5’6” and 150lbs.
As for CDG, take a gps with you.

Bonne chance!

Mark: Please read my post again. I will almost guarantee that you will not make your outbound connection from BUD to SFO. 2D is a long way from 2E, and you will not be leaving for SFO from 2E. Rather, at 2E you will getting on a bus or tram to take you to a satellite terminal off of 2E (see this map for gates L21-L53). Meanwhile, you will going through at least two sets of security.

If Tableview's schedule is correct, you will have only 1:05 to pass through this gauntlet -- if the inbound is exactly on time and not parked at a remote stand from 2D. In fact, I would say that your bags have a better chance of making the outbound connection than you do. See if you can get a longer connection.

You should make it in that time. I used to commute to valencia via cdg with a 1hr connection in cdg. This included parking in remote stand, bussing to terminal 2e, changing to 2d, security, then bussing back to aircraft.
The bags however well thats a different story.

AF does not allow the 2 bags to the US anymore and are very sticky on carryon luggage even more so other airlines with 0 flexibility.