Navigating CDG terminals on international flight with domestic connection

Yes, you will have to clear security and collect your luggage and then head to Terminal 2F. I think that you have a tight schedule for separately booked tickets but it is what it is. I thought JetBlue used Terminal 2B but I could be wrong. In any event both Terminal 2B and 2E are linked to Terminal 2F via pedestrian connecting corridors. The difference is the amount of time that you will spend walking. 2E to 2F should take less than 10 minutes while 2B to 2F should take less than 20 minutes. It is all very well signed. Here is a link with information for landside transfers: https://easycdg.com/airport-guide/travel-between-terminals-move-around-paris-cdg-airport/on-foot-terminal-2/

That is pretty tight for separate flights. It had taken us as long as two hours to get through immigration at CDG. Usually it is more like an hour to 90 minutes, but you will need to hustle. I suggest looking on the CDG site for precise information on the layout and path you need to take. If your plane is late, you are likely to be in trouble here.

This is plenty of time for a connection BUT on separate tickets with immigration, check in of luggage and then security I would think you would have to be lucky to make this or at least the odds would be very very high of missing the flight. And there is no protection so you are stuck having to buy another ticket.

jdickson64,
In June 2023 my daughter traveled from San Francisco to Bordeaux with her then 9 and 12 year olds. She had about 2 hours connection time at CDG, changing terminals. Both legs were Air France. AF changed the departure time for her Paris-Bordeaux flight and left her with just an hour to get from 2E to another terminal (2F I think). I spent some time on the phone with AF and gor her Bordeaux flight changed to one that left later, but from a still different terminal. She made her connection, but did have to move quickly. This was helped by her being in Premium Economy (quicker deplaning), having only carry-on bags, and expedited lines (Premium Economy again). Also, because the change had to be made due to Air France making the initial change, they were put in first class for the Paris-Bordeaux flight, not that it mattered on the short hop to Bodeaux.
In other words, you can do it with carry-ons easily with three hours, if the plane lands on time. Or, if you are on one ticket through to Bordeaux, in which case the airline will transfer your bags. If you have to retrieve bags, I am not so sure. From your post, I am assuming you are on two separate tickets. Go online to the CDG website and familiarize yourself with their maps of the terminals. That will be a big help. It also helps that the terminals are well-signed. Connecting passengers should follow the yellow "correspondances" signs. Best of luck, and enjoy your trip!

The OP here has booked the tickets separately and so will have to go through passport control and collect their luggage and then head over to their departure terminal. This will take them out of the secured area and they will have to go through security again for the continuing flight. I have done this type of connection at CDG (and Newark/Liberty) and usually allow 6 hours between self-connected flights but I hate to rush when traveling. I am wishing good luck and an on time or early arrival so that they make the second flight.

If there is any way you could do this with only carry on then you stand a good chance. You would change terminals airside after going through passport control. Passport control can be quick or slow. It’s hard to know in advance.

Be sure to have had a look at other options getting to Bordeaux that afternoon -- plane or train -- in the event that you are not able to make that 12:30 flight.

Thank you so much for all the input, this is very helpful. A question for the forum. I know there is a train available from the terminal to Bordeaux. If we did that instead of the connecting Air France flight, my question is once we collect our bags do we have to go back through security? Would a three hour time difference between the flight arrival and train departure be sufficient.

No, if you take the train, there is no security to go through again.

With three hours, if the flight is on time you almost certainly make the train. Note that luggage is slow at CDG so even if you get through immigration quickly you are likely to wait for that. But with 3 hours barring calamity you should be fine.

Here is an example of the kind of dumbass stuff that can derail a trip. We waited nearly an hour for luggage and when it was all in, ours was not. So we went to the luggage office and were told our luggage had been checked off the plane and loaded on the belt and so if we didn't have it, it was stolen. We had been literally at the belt watching each piece of luggage as it unloaded so we KNEW that was not true. A handful of other people were in the same boat. So after much fussing someone went to look and what they discovered was that a bunch of luggage had been trapped in some kind of luggage machine fail under ground. So our luggage was liberated and arrived. But it took a lot of fussing to get them to even follow up and it meant it took 90 minutes to get our luggage AFTER we were through immigration.

but barring a very late plane or something ridiculous 3 hours should be very comfortable for a train from CDG