2 Seperate Flights - PLEASE HELP

I would think it's enough time. Worst customs line I've ever been to at CDG was about 45 minutes and last time much shorter. I wouldn't lolly gag though.

If your question is can it be done? The answer is yes it can.

However, your question should be; can it be done reliably with a very good chance of success? For that you need more than 2 hours. If you missconnect, you may be purchasing tickets to NCE at the last minute and it will cost you a great deal more. It would help you greatly if you could get your bags tagged to NCE when you check in at YYZ. Immigration at CDG can be maddening and can easily consume 1 hour or more. That´s just inbound. Then you will need to check in and drop off your luggage for Nice.

If you cannot get your two PNRs connected, I would not attempt this with fewer than 4 hours between flights. CDG is not the place to self connect.

Immigration/ Passport Control times can vary depending on how many planes arrive at the same time. For “Customs“ you only walk through a door that says “Nothing to Declare”, nothing more.

You wrote that both of the flights are with Air France. So Air France from Toronto to CDG then another Air France flight from CDG to NCE? If that is the case, then you should be able to check your bags in Toronto all the way to Nice. Your luggage will automatically be transferred onto the Nice flight at CDG, foregoing the need to pick up and re-check at CDG, saving you time and energy.

You logically should be able to check your luggage through to Nice if all three flights are Air France. However, they were booked on separate tickets. You will need to call Air France and ask them to make an arrangement for that Paris-Nice to be joined to the Vancouver-Paris ticket, else you will only be able to check your luggage to Paris when you board in Vancouver, and have to reclaim your bags in Paris. Logically they should be able to do this at the check-in counter in Vancouver when you show them both flights, but logic does not guarantee that they will make the necessary arrangement timely when there in person. You can't make this change in Toronto as you will not have your bags available for re-tagging, and they are not going to find them for you when they transfer them between planes.

I see tdw types faster than me regarding this.

If you do carry-on only then this is a non-issue.

If your flight arrives on time it should work. We had a 2 hour 40 minute layover at CDG which became only 40 minutes when our flight departed 2 hours late. We also had to change to terminal 2F. We were seated fairly close to front of the plane so we got off quickly. Our luggage was tagged through to final destination so no worries there. Once in terminal 2F, we had security to go through followed by line for passport. We then ran to our gate and immediately got on our plane as it was boarding. We were lucky. Hope your flight goes well!

Another option would be to ask Air France if you could make the
tickets into one ticket.

Airlines are in general very reluctant to do that, but you could always ask.

I reread this and saw this is your first time in Europe. You will be doing yourself a huge favor by just taking carry on luggage. Look up the carry on size requirements for Air France, specifically.

We have traveled numerous times to Europe for 2-3 weeks in varying climate and have never checked a suitcase. You will save time in CDG, and it will make it easier changing hotels.

Don’t stop for coffee etc. in the airport until you at your gate. Sometimes they are much further than the signage first appears. Have a great time!

1. Airlines do not combine two tickets into one ticket, so scratch that off your list.

2. Most legacy airlines will check bags all the way through to your final destination if you are flying on two tickets issued by the carrier (a friend and I have done this a number of times on Delta). I would call Air France to see if it is their policy to do this.

3. You could also ask this question on the Flyer Talk forum, which is populated by airline frequent flyers; this will probably get you a better answer from someone who has tried to do exactly what you want to do. There is an Air France section. The newest thread that is identical to your question is from 2016: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-france-klm-other-partners-flying-blue/1838101-checking-bag-thru-two-tickets.html

4. If you can get your bags checked all the way through, you are in good shape for time on your transfer.

5. Even if your first flight is late, most airlines will honor the second ticket IF both tickets are purchased from the same airline. Again, you could call Air France to double check this.

6. If you have to go through Passport Control, collect bags, recheck bags, and go back through security again, your are engaging in a highly risky endeavor. I would give myself 4 hours to do this.

7. Air France has a nice section on its website on transfers at CDG, including drawings and videos of the path you will be traveling: https://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guidevoyageur/aeroport/preparer-correspondance-paris.htm

8. If you can pull off the trip with just carry on luggage, you are also in good shape.

If you can get your luggage tagged through to Nice, which you probably will be able to do, or if you have carry on only, you will be able to stay airside as you change terminals, avoiding the public side. You will go out the customs door in Nice. You will go through passport control at CDG and you’ll have another security check as you enter the departure terminal. If your plane is on time, you should be ok. If you think you are running short of time throw yourself upon the mercy of the people directing the lines at passport control to help you.

Actually, I have the same itinerary coming up soon too, arriving CDG and leaving for Nice. We have 90 minutes. It’s plenty of time for us, but we have two differences: European passports so it’s through passport quickly, and we’re booked on one ticket. But with fewer people traveling these days and the August vacation finished, I think you’ll be ok.

If you don’t want to have to worry about your luggage, follow Jean’s advice about carryons. This website is full of packing light tips, and you can always ask more questions.

Once you are already at the airport, it’s better to take the plane for many reasons. I’ve done this route both ways dozens of times. I think you made a good choice. Just get a window seat; it’s spectacular, especially coming in over the mountains and turning out over the Mediterranean as you are landing in Nice. Never gets old. Bon voyage.

If the views are important, the train will be the better choice.

Hate to milk this Badger, but between the Paris region and Marseille, the train is too fast to take in the view. Along the coast, where the train slows, there are some beautiful views. Flying over the mountains into Nice is spectacular--but on either conveyance you have to have an unobstructed window seat.

it is OK. You don't lose points for typos. Only one person with the teacher badge on. You'll be OK.

Along with getting your bags tagged through to Nice, you should be able to get your boarding passes for the Nice flight at the same time. Ask in VAncouver.

We fly Air France a fair amount since they are in the Delta miles network. We have made the transfer from terminal 2E to 2F two or three times. We have never had a problem at CDG airport, while others may complain. Still, two hours is pushing your luck a bit on separate tickets.

As others have stated, make sure than AF has checked you through to Nice so you don't need to find your luggage and go back through security once more.

If you miss your flight, perhaps AF will just put you on the next flight?

To understand what can occur in this situation, approach it from AF´s point of view. If you can purchase individual tickets from YYZ to CDG and from CDG to NCE cheaper than you can purchase a YYZ to NCE ticket, and why else would you purchase separate tickets, AF will unlikely help you undermine their fare structure. A YYZ to NCE connecting ticket will typically cost more because your baggage will be handled and AF guarantees your ultimately reaching your final destination. When you purchase individual segments, you potentially save money but you assume risk.

There is a good chance that YYZ will ticket your luggage to NCE. But if you miss your CDG to NCE flight, and 2 hours is very tight at CDG when self connecting, I should be very surprised that AF would guarantee your tickets and place you on a later flight.

If YYZ will not ticket your luggage to NCE, there is a luggage check in cutoff time at CDG which I believe, but you should confirm, is 50 minutes before scheduled departure. This means that you will have little more than an hour to deplane, collect your luggage, get through passport control, make your way to the departure check-in desk, and complete the luggage drop off.

It will be critical that your luggage is checked YYZ to NCE, that you are checked-in in advance for your CDG to NCE flight, and that you remain with other connecting passengers to your departure area (there will be additional security screening) and do not exit into the terminal.

In April 2019 we connected at CDG to a separate flight from Paris to Venice. It was a Wednesday morning and the airport was not very crowded. It took two hours from the time our Boston - Paris flight landed until we arrived at the gate for the next flight. We allowed five hours for the connection, but three would have been fine.

Some thoughts.

Just wondering if the COVID-19 situation is making CDG transfers quicker (fewer passengers) or slower (possible impact on security and immigration/passport control?).

It would be comforting to know what AF will and will not do in terms of combining your separate itineraries when you check in at YVR. Will AF allow you to check cargo hold luggage to Nice, you second itinerary destination? Best to get an email response from AF to have documentation to wave at YVR check in agent.

Two hours at CDG should be adequate (1.5 hours has been tight in my experiences) provided you arrive at CDG substantially on-time. If you had a single ticket with Nice as you final destination, AF would get you there if you had been delayed getting to CDG. A question to ask is would AF give you the same courtesy with two tickets?

Is this enough time? I called Air France as both of the flights are with air france and they said we would be fine for time.
I really need an expert as this is our first multi plane ride and first time in Europe and want to be as prepared as possible for what we need to do.

No personal experience with your situation.

From what I have seen on this forum, some folks have been able to get their tickets 'linked', so that when an agent pulls up the booking, ALL parts of the trip show up so that getting boarding passes for segments at your departure airport can be done. Also there are reports that they have gotten the airline to check the bags through to the ultimate destination, obviating the need to retrieve and re-check them at an interim stop.

I suspect getting your 2 tickets to be made 'one', is unlikely without having to pay some change fee or fare difference or both.
The only way to determine that is contacting the airline.

When AF said it was enough time, was that person aware you had separate tickets and checked baggage?

Are these your flight Numbers-- AF6583//AF0351//AF7701

If so you should have success as I found this being sold as a single ticket on the AF website. (It show 1hr 40 min in Paris)

Good Luck

From what I have seen on this forum, some folks have been able to get
their tickets 'linked', so that when an agent pulls up the booking,
ALL parts of the trip show up so that getting boarding passes for
segments at your departure airport can be done.

Each reservation has a confirmation number, which is also known as a PNR (Passenger Name Record). You will hear people talk about "linking" PNRs/reservations. There is no true link -- just a note gets entered in a data field on each reservation. An agent has to actually read the note to act on it; there is no automaticity created by doing this.

Linking is most often used when 2 or more people are traveling the same itinerary but on different reservations (and don't want to get split up!) -- e.g., two friends traveling together who bought their tickets separately. You can ask Air France to do it for your reservations. I haven't heard of airlines linking back-to-back reservations, but perhaps they will do that.

I'm not sure that there is much advantage of linking reservations over just showing up in Vancouver with both confirmation numbers. I guess linking would allow the gate agent for the CDG to NCE flight to see that your group is on an incoming flight (if s/he reads the note!) and perhaps that would give you an extra few minutes before the door is closed for that flight (but it's rare that airlines hold planes for passengers now).

Even if your first flight is late, most airlines will honor the second
ticket IF both tickets are purchased from the same airline. Again, you
could call Air France to double check this.

Let me clarify point #5 from above. The airline is under no obligation to honor the second ticket if you miss that flight due to your plane from ticket #1 being late, but most airlines historically have rebooked to a later flight without charge. As I consider the current financial situation of most airlines, though, they may be less willing to do that now.

https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/warning-dont-miss-an-air-france-flight-856826/

Aug 28th, 2010, 10:07 AM Warning: Don't miss an Air France flight!

My daughter and I missed our flight from Toulouse to Los Angeles on
August 9th. We were told there was only one flight out in the next
four days and we said we'd take it. The charge was 824 euros each,
which translated to roughly $1087,00! Basically we had to buy another
ticket for a trip we had already paid for....Our original round trip
ticket had cost $1740.00......I felt they could have given us a little
break! Is this always the way it works if you miss a flight??? Mary

But there is hope. https://thepointsguy.com/guide/missing-a-flight/

However, most airlines have long had quasi-official policies of
waiving fare rules and change fees when passengers need to rebook a
flight that they missed. Without these rules, you could be forced to
pay hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of dollars on the flight you
eventually book after missing the one you were supposed to be on.

This policy is known as the “flat tire rule,” though you won’t find it
on most airlines’ websites.

Air France: Air France has a generous official policy. As stated on
its website, “Missed your flight? The missed flight policy will cover
the cost of a new ticket* for the same destination for a departure
within 24 hours of the original departure time.” Of course, it’s
limited to the cost of the original ticket. You’ll also want to get in
touch with the airline ASAP once you miss your flight.

Like Edgar, I am wondering if the current COVID-19 situation is speeding up or slowing down the immigration, customs, and luggage transfer processes. If things are moving faster, you have a decent chance of making the connection if you do not have to wait for checked luggage and can check in online for your CDG to Nice flight before you get to France, Unlike some others here, I am not convinced that Air France will check your luggage through to Nice. Why should they if a connecting ticket would have cost more than the unprotected connection that you have created? I have been in a situation similar to yours except I had an eight hour gap between the flights and the airline would not check my luggage through to CDG unless I paid a fee. I do not recall the exact amount of the fee but I remember it being so much that I decided to take my chances. I made the second flight but then again I had 8 hours. I might have made a different decision if I had only two hours. The funny thing is that on my return home, the agent in CDG saw the two flights and checked my luggage through to the final destination without me asking. That lovely gesture meant that after I landed in the US, all I had to do was drop my luggage off after passing through customs and not transfer it when I changed terminals. This particular experience was with United and I have Premier 1K status with them so I thought they might be receptive to my request. The same thing also happened a few years before that with American. Obviously, neither airline is Air France but I thought I would throw my experience out there.

Bets said exactly what I was thinking

Flying over the mountains into Nice is spectacular

I would also suggest you use carryon sized bags for AF; ie, both carryon and personal item, each. This way you can turn on a dime. If the initial AF agent at your home airport won't check your bags through to Nice, you can just keep them and carry on. There is no reason you can't pack enough for two weeks with your two bags each. There are many packing light videos online, but keep in mind...some are extreme packing. I suggest you watch Jessica Dobson on Eagle Creek's website or Alex at Travel Fashion Girl. Sarah at Adventures with Sarah also has some interesting packing ideas. Oh, and Vivienne Files. A capsule wardrobe is the way to go.

Study the airport online before your flight so you know exactly where to go so you don't waste time. We all make novice decisions on occasion and as this is your first double flight, don't let it bother you. You will probably make it, if you don't, you will get to Nice eventually and it won't be the end of the world. Enjoy your trip!

A quick note about carry on luggage at CDG: size and weight limits are very strictly enforced. What US air carriers will accept, AF and other European carriers will not. What AF might allow out of a North American airport could easily exceed the strict controls they have at CDG. Carry on luggage in its entirety, to include wheels and handle, must not exceed 55 x 35 x 25 cm, nor weigh more than 12 kg.

From my own experience, AF makes no exceptions in reference to carry on bags, particularly for domestic flights.

In my experience, Air France and its affiliates KLM and Delta offer good prices on domestic flights combined with trans-Atlantic. I've flown through Pariis to Marseille several times and the cost was only slightly more than the simple trans-Atlantic fare. But yes, it must be purchased as one itinerary, not pieced together by the customer. Even if Air France charges a change fee it could be cheaper. And the airline would contend with a missed connection. But you're running out of time for making changes.

(To explain: I am suggesting what is nicknamed an 'open-jaws' ticket, more formally known as multi-destination. They are purchased using a multi-destination search function. You can see it on the Air France website. With time running short, the telephone may be your best tool. At very least, an agent can explain what would happen if you cancelled your existing ticket and booked a new multi-destination itinerary on-line.)

Note that the op, a first time (and only time) poster, has come and gone with nary an additional word.

Hate to milk this Badger, but between the Paris region and Marseille,
the train is too fast to take in the view.

Sure you can't read signs close to the track and there are areas where sound barriers block the view. But you will see a lot more of the landscape when it is not 10 km below you, here is an example of what the views are at 320 km/h: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY0su68O3VE And if I'm not mistaken, the train to Nice never exceeds 300 km/h.

Along the coast, where the train slows, there are some beautiful
views.

Yes, apart from the mountains and the sea you will also get an opportunity to actually see the towns along the way.

Just did the flight, walk down the long hallways, through security between 2E and 2F, followed by passport, and have 50 minutes before boarding for Nice. It took us about an hour and I'm really slow this morning. We were one of the first off the plane, but the plane was quite empty. Passport had only one lane, no separate EU or automatic passport kiosks. So if your bags are checked through or you have only carry on, yes, you are fine.

Everyone is masked but social distancing is not too easily maintained.

Edit: I'm curious, too, about how it went for you. Please report back. I think that at this time, under current conditions, you could even have a chance of making the flight if you had to check in again. Maybe.

"Only thing I'd say is that if you find yourself at the end of a very long passport control line, flag down an agent and explain your situation. I've seen people to do this in a time crunch and get moved right up to the front."

I hope not.

Sorry, but your failure to plan appropriately should NOT delay others.

Plus as soon as they start this it's a snowball. Now the people who did plan are behind the 'we need special treatment' group and are delayed so they now need special treatment.

Luckily in my travels I actually rarely see this work. The "line workers" just tell you to get back in line.

I agree with Carol.

A 2-hour, international self connect time is not sufficient to guarantee success on any recurring basis at any airport. At CDG it's craziness. If you make it wonderful. If you are late, inconveniencing others to claim special priority in line is inappropriate.

I don't have a lot of sympathy because I have been a part of the snowball effect.

So I get to the airport in plenty of time to clear security etc...

But the "we got here late crowd" gets moved to the front of the line. After an hour of that my two hours in advance arrival (as suggested for a domestic flight) was cut to an hour. And then guess what, at some point they came through and had to drag me and my fellow "on time" travelers out of line and move us to the front of the line so we would not miss our flight.... It literally snowballed out of control with "late arrivals".

So having lived through this I know that "I have a late connection" quickly turns into 100 people with a tight connection and so on until those who had plenty of time are now "late". Sorry but that doesn't seem polite either!

Very strong feelings. Simply, plan responsibly. Don't depend upon others to make up for your own poor judgement.

If a situation develops badly and undesirable results are outside of one’s own control, expect understanding and compassion from others.

If the situation develops badly and is a direct result of one’s own short-sightedness, poor planing, and unrealistic expectations, others should not be forced to be inconvenienced or delayed on your behalf. Everyone in a line is waiting to reach an important destination. Inadequate planning is not sufficient reason to be given special privilege.

Brittany wrote this question on the 20th of August and has never been back after her first ever post.

It is just about a month later and she said that "we are travelling next month", so either they have gone or not gone but unless she returns to fill us in we'll never know.

In any event I think the time for advice to help make decisions is past.

I know that on a 50/50 it all depends on the day and which way the dice come up.