Transit in Charles De Gaulle Paris

Julski

Hi, I'm flying from Dublin to Shanghai via Paris (CDG) in October. I need to transit from terminal 2E (arrive with Cityjet/AirFrance) to 2F (depart again with AirFrance). My worry is that transit time is 60mins which appears to be very tight. I have heard it is an absolute nightmare and options are:

1. Go into terminal 2E through security and customs etc again out to 2F
2. Hop on shuttle bus which goes from 2E to 2F outside security etc

Can anyone tell me (who has done it recently), what is the best way and how long it takes!!
Thanks!

steve-o

CDG is a little scary to some people, but it's really not too bad - just know your gate number and follow the signs.

It's possible to walk straight across from 2E to 2F, but that means going through customs and immigration twice (entering and leaving France), so it's simpler to stay airside, taking the shuttle bus.

60 minutes is usually plenty, but there's a always chance your bags won't make it. And there's a good chance that you'll go from 2E instead of 2F anyway.

Davidth88

Air France are very good about that sort of thing. If your Cityjet flight is late then you may well find someone sitting at the bottom of the stairs waiting to whisk you off in a minibus.

T2 can be annoying, you arrive on a cityjet get on a bus that seems to go in ever decreasing circles until it arrives somewhere. The you rush away and find actually your gate was right next door to the one you arrived in :-)

You will be fine.

My abiding memory of T2 is arriving late for an internal flight connection within France , rushing and panicing , arriving in a sweat at the gate , getting on board the aeroplane to find it's right next ( about 50yds ) from the one I had got off 40 mins earlier . To add insult to injury , I then watched a guy walk over to the plane I got had off , pull my bag off and saunter 50yds and place my bag on the aircraft I was sitting on .... at least I knew my bag was there right :-)

Random

i had air france flight to new york from dublin via jfk. we were running late and we had a minibus waiting at the bottom of the steps to bring us to the right terminal.

i noticed the same happened to other people on a recent flight too (i had plenty of time to spare though)

failing that there's a regular bus between the terminals.

Julski

Thanks a mil. There seems to be a general theme to replys and hopefully we will make the flight! I don't care if I have to run around like a headless chicken only to get on the plane next door as long as I get on the plane! Next flight to Shanghai is not til midday the next day I think and I don't fancy an overnight!

Julski

Hey all,

Made it there and back safe! Just to give you an update and to let anyone else know who has to transfer in CDG with AF. When Cityjet plane landed (on remote stand), 3 dispatchers boarded plane and called out "Anyone transferring to Shanghai, Singapore or Johannesberg come with me." We followed him off plane where a mini van was waiting for each of us. They drove myself and my sister to the correct terminal, took us to front of security line, through security and to our baording gate. Literally door to door service. We just made flight - would not have done if we didn't have personal service. But I suppose for AF it is easier to get us to flight then to try find our bags to off-load and re-book us for next day's flight. Anyway I was really impressed with the connection service.

We flew back from Beijing via CDG and due to plane having to do a go-around only 500ft from the runway (thunderstorms) we landed with only a 25 minute transit time. THis time there was no assistance but the crew on board gave us a map to show us where to go. On their passenger lists it showed who needed to transfer. Our flight to Dublin was literally down stairs from where we got off. Just about made it again. St. Christopher was definitely with us on our travels!!!!

RussCrowe

Hi Julski,

Sad to say that was not my experience previously. What can happen is that you land on time, and then go on the world's longest taxi (felt like the pilot had landed in Beauvais, and was driving the rest of the way. In fact was talking to a CityJet gal only yesterday and she remarked that on the London City to CdeG flights, the taxi took longer than the flight!

Anyway, the thing to remember about CdeG terminals, and the connector, is that the bus service is an orbital, so if you need to get to Terminal E, and you've come in to Terminal F from the Cityjet connector, then you're actually better off walking, as the bus service takes a whole pile of time to get around to where you want to be. (approx. 45 mins according to the nice City Jet lady.

Anyway, take care. See you about the place