Tight connection from Madrid to CDG

Will both flights (Madrid to CDG and CDG to Seattle) be on one ticket? I hope so, because otherwise, if you miss your connection, Delta will probably require you to pay for a new flight.

You will not have to go through customs at CDG, and if the flights are on one ticket, you can check your bags through from Madrid to Seattle. In October we flew from Warsaw to CDG on Air France and from CDG to Pittsburgh on Delta - all on one ticket. The Air France flight did not arrive at the same terminal as the Delta flight left, but they were right beside each other (E and F if I remember correctly) and it was a short walk from one to the other. We had an hour and forty minutes between flights. Our first flight was on time and we made it to our departing gate with plenty of extra time.

If you already have your Delta flight (and it sounds like you do), I would call Delta to see if you can get the Air France flight added to the ticket. Since they are partners with Air France, that might be able to do that. I would not want to fly on two separately-ticketed flights, particularly with such a short connecting time.

There is no way I would rely on making a less than 1.5 hour connection at CDG with a different airline, even if I didn't have checked bags. In addition to retrieving your luggage and rechecking it, you likely will have to go through security, again. Go with the advice above, and see if you can get the Air France flight added to your ticket. If that's not possible, you should fly in the night before and stay at one of the hotels that is in the airport.

These will be 2 different tickets unfortunately. Delta will not add the Air France ticket to my original without a $300 per person change fee, which I really do not want to pay.
If we elect to take only carry-on only so as to avoid baggage claim it looks like Air France gets in at 2F and the Delta leaves at 2E so it may be do-able, if no delays. But may chicken-out and stay at airport hotel instead, although hotel in Madrid is already paid for through tour group we are in. Thank you for all the help.

If you decide to spend the night at CDG, don't think of it as chickening out. It will be the right decision. Will you be able to check in online for your flight while in Spain? The check-in deadline for Air France flights to the US is 60 minutes before departure time. The usual advice for CDG is to arrive 3 hours before an international flight and in your case that suggestion applies because you are flying on two different tickets. The minimum connection time at CDG is 1 hour for intra-terminal connections but as they state on their website: "If you booked your flights separately (you have arranged your own flight connection or you need to pick up baggage at CDG) these minimum connection times don’t apply. You should allow extra time to clear baggage reclaim and passport control, transfer between terminals, then check in and clear security for your outbound flight." Obviously, you will not need to collect luggage if you go with carry on only but even with that a scheduled arrival at 9:05 is cutting it too close for comfort. If you have not been able to check in and obtain your boarding pass, you will have to leave the transfer zone and go out to the ticketing area and go back through security. To do that you should follow the signs for arrivals (″Baggage-Exit″) and then go to your Delta check-in desk in the departure terminal.
If you decide to do carry-on only luggage, you should make sure that it meets the intra-Europe size restrictions so you do not end up having to check the item on your travel day. By the way, Is this a non-stop flight from Paris to Seattle?

It would be very foolish to try to book a flight from Spain the morning of your flight from CDG. The rule of thumb at CDG is 3 hours before your flight -- you need to check in and then go through security which can take that 3 hours. There is no way you can make this flight. And while the budget airlines are great in many ways, they have zero interest in customer service -- that is the bargain you make.

Always be within a cab ride of the airport the night before a high stakes flight. I'd come in the afternoon before; stay at an airport hotel; take the RER into town for dinner.

I once bought a double rather than a queen mattress because I had a brand new set of double sheets -- the dumbest purchase I ever made -- classic penny wise pound foolish. Trying to save one night's prepaid hotel cost in Madrid at the cost of having to purchase a walk up one way ticket to Seattle is in the same category. Stuff happens. I have had both planes and trains come in 5 hours late; I have often had planes come in half an hour to an hour late -- that is not even remarkable. And I have sat on planes for half an hour while they waited for a gate. Worst idea ever to cut it this fine -- I wouldn't do it with 3 hours on paper -- because it may not be that on the ground.

I agree with Janet - her opening sentence says it all. You should NOT put yourself in the position of flying into CDG on a totally separate ticket from Madrid the very morning of your transatlantic departure back to the States. Considering you need to be at the airport for a 10:30 departure to the States at 7:30 am, you can see that flights that land at 9:05 or 9:15 will barely get you off the plane and luggage claimed before your Seattle flight will have taken off (and that's if either one of those flights actually arrives on time, never a given!!)

You need to come back to Paris at least the day before, and to allow for problems out of Madrid, I would do it two days before (unless you have enough money to buy yourselves one-way tickets from Madrid to Seattle on the spot if you are stuck and don't make it to Paris).

Thanks all for the advice and I hear you. I now plan on leaving my tour group a day early and getting to CDG the day before and spending the night at the airport.

Even if you have been to Paris before, that final night with dinner in Paris is a nice way to end the trip. I'd stay at the Novotel which sits on top of the RER line to Paris or another AT not NEAR airport hotel and take the train into the city for a last leisurely meal and stroll. We have done it both ways -- arrived at CDG too late to do that and had the worst meal we ever had in Europe (including Russian cafeterias which are terrible) at the CDG Hilton and arrived by 6 and taken the train to town for a lovely last evening in Paris.

Next time fly open jaw -- we flew into Paris and out of Madrid a couple of years ago and it worked beautifully.

Given that I agree with everyone's advice to get to Paris the evening before if you are on separate tickets, you may want to reconsider paying the $300 change fee to get the open jaw ticket (the one leaving from Madrid through Paris to Seattle all on one ticket). When you add in the cost of the Paris hotel and the hassle of the separate flight, it may be money wisely spent.

Just a small addendum . . You can get a room at the Ibis, a few steps away from the intraterminal shuttle, for about $100. We've done that several times. It's clean and comfortable. Soulless, but who cares? It does the job. If you decide on it, be sure to reserve the Ibis that's at the airport; not the one that is close. There are two listed as being in Roissy. The other has a shuttle bus that will take you to the airport, but why not just be there.

someone made a good point -- given the extra costs here, you might see if for the 300 change fee you could book a flight out of Madrid instead of Paris. We flew directly from Madrid to Chicago; I would think there would be Madrid to Seattle flights. Maybe not -- but worth a look -- by the time you pay to get to Paris and for the hotel, it might be well worth doing.

I'm not aware of any direct Madrid-Seattle flights, certainly not on Delta. Getting between Terminals 2E and 2F at CDG is not necessarily as quick as it sounds; the place is huge. Easy CDG says you can walk in 5 minutes, but that's not the experience I remember; maybe there was construction or I took a wrong turn.

The Europe nonstops from Seattle are Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. I wish there were more!!!

It might be worth it to book out of Madrid even if it required a connection.

I agree with Janet; if it isn't too costly and you can change your flight onto a Delta ticket all the way home from Madrid, I'd do that. However if you do go to Paris, no need to stay at an airport hotel. A 10:30am flight is easily possible from the heart of Paris via the RER and metro (assuming you aren't travelling with multiple bags per person).

The flight from Paris to Seattle on Delta is probably a connecting one and not a non-stop so having to connect for a flight from Madrid may not be a big change.

by doing the flight from Madrid, she gets to use her hotel that is already paid in Madrid, saves the flight cost from Madrid to Paris -- and so the whole thing is easier than an independent flight to Paris. And because it is one ticket, if there is a problem with transfer the airline takes care of it. Well worth it if the cost is only a $300 change fee. Too bad she didn't book open jaw in the first place but we all make mistakes in travel planning. Next time.

I do think staying at the airport is wise with only one night in Paris and a morning flight. For one thing she gets another hour of sleep. It is easy to take the train into town for the evening and back to the airport. But if she prefers staying in Paris, then that works too -- she needs to be on her way to the airport at 6:30 if she does that. This means being up at 5:30 or so -- if she stays at the airport she can sleep in till 6:30, get breakfast and be at the gate 3 hours ahead easily. Or she can get up at 7 and go check in and then get breakfast at the airport.