TGV 9861 from CDG to Brussels - when will the summer schedule come out?

European train schedule changes made in June are usually more minor than those in mid-December. Since TGV tickets typically go on sale 3-4 months in advance of departure, these should be confirmed no later than March. But I'd also check again after February 1.

Two hours to clear immigration and get to the TGV station is not generous in this huge airport. If you had any flight delay, you probably would not make the train. Checking luggage would further endanger the plan. I would not pre-purchase the train ticket unless you're willing to lose the amount paid.

Probably. The train timetables change twice a year, in December and June. June is usually a minor adjustments only, so probably TGV 9861 will be unchanged, but you will have to wait until the new timetable is published to be sure.
But, second problem: Land 11:15, + taxiing, exit plane, walk through corridors = 30 minutes. Immigration (passport control), could be 10 minutes, could be 1 hour. Pick up luggage (~10 minutes), customs (zero time), find and walk to station (depends on terminal, 10-30 minutes).
You can do the arithmetic yourself, worst case: 11:15 + 30 + 60 + 30 = 13:15; and your plane could land 1 hour late.

Folks thanks for the quick replies. So helpful.

Re: making the train, there are a few things working for us. Our Air France/Delta flight's usual gate is at CDG Terminal 2e, so the TGV railway station is right below in the same building. We are at the front of the plane, good at moving quickly, good at negotiation airports. 11:15 is the time at the gate as far as I know, not touch down time.

In the not so sure column: our flight is on time 75% of the time, but when late it can have a tendency to be quite late. I'd estimate that half of this plane's late arrivals would make it impossible to make the train. Call it a 1 in 8 shot of missing the train.

So we have to ask ourselves: are we feeling lucky, Yanks? Well are we? :)

All things considered we'll probably roll the 8 sided die, buy early advance train tickets for way cheaper, and eat the cost if we miss the train.

Are advance train tickets fully non-refundable in France? I know that in German if you miss your train and bought an advance ticket, you incur a penalty but get a good part of what you paid credited toward purchasing the same destination later that day ...

Yes, the cheaper TGV fares are fully non-refundable and non-changeable. Even refundable, full-fare tickets have deadlines attached. German trains don't require everyone to have seat assignments, as TGVs do, which probably influences their relatively more flexible rules.

thanks again Laura, very helpful :)

Curious why you didn't fly to Brussels? and if necessary open jaw so you are into Brussels and out of wherever. You always risk blowing the ticket when you book a flight arrival and train the same day -- stuff happens and a major delay costs you the ticket.

Janet hi! We're travelling on FF miles (been working the sign up bonus carousel and have nearly 500k miles/points banked) so choice is slightly limited. On the workable departure dates we could have flown a FF award from Chicago to Brussels on United or from Seattle (home) to SLC to Paris on Delta. Even though we wanted to start or trip in Ghent we chose to fly to Paris for several reasons.

First we save the $600 we would have had to pay to get to Chicago for Seattle. This isn't such a big thing as I'm happy to pay for convenience.

But also we very much prefer flying the long leg of a flight to Europe from starting in the western US, not the east. Since we have piles of FF miles we fly business class, and having more time on the plane (11 hour flight from SLC vs 8 hours from Chicago) to us has proven to be a big advantage in beating jet lag quickly compared to less time. on departure day we're up at 4am regardless. In an 11 hour flight we have time to relax, eat dinner, then lay the seat flat and go to bed for a seven hour sleep (and our kid sleeps 8 hours or more). We wake at 9-10am in Europe and have 90 minutes to have some breakfast and coffee. We get off the plane really quite well-rested. On this type of flight we're usually completely over jet lag after the second night in Europe.

On the shorter East Coast flights though we only get 4-5 hours to sleep, wake at 6-7am Europe time, feel very tired walking off the plane, and usually don't get over jet lag for 4 nights.

Plus United business class is the worst (it's at the end of its life cycle and being upgraded but not soon enough; Delta is very good, very comfortable bed if you don't mind a bit narrow, and configured to be far more private than United where you feel like you're tent-camping with strangers.

So anyway that why Paris to start. If I ever run out of FF miles I will cry bitter tears as I (once again) suffer in coach!

oh and BTW now we're working out a scheme to start our cycle touring from Lille France up into Belgium. That way the train is only an hour and we arrive in Lille in time to ride bikes half way to Ghent! I love it when a plan comes together ;)

Are you checking luggage? We waited over an hour for the bags to be available in baggage claim at CDG once upon a time. No more checking bags on the flight over for us.

That, Celeste, is really useful information. I think we'll be able to do all carry on, though we might have to bring a kids bike for our tour. Will definitely make the effort to carry on everything though!