Train Suggestions for Germany France...

You could likely fly faster & cheaper from Munich to Paris - train is 7 hrs - leave plenty of time between flights for immigration & customs- check flights at

https://www.skyscanner.com/

Why train back to Paris airport - not Paris?

Rail Passes in France are not usually a good deal.

French Rail

https://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/

You can book Eurostar to London there as well

Thanks! We want to train (or fly) back to Paris Airport - because we will be staying in Normandie, and renting a car at the Airport.

Frank

How long is the total trip?

Why not make lemonade out of the lemons? First, what other areas of France do you intend to visit? If you where going to visit Alsace or Burgundy, you can hit them on the way from Munich to Paris.

Another idea is to book a flight from Munich to London and spend a couple of days, then take the Eurostar to Paris. The Eurostar is very expensive if you don't book nonrefundable tickets well in advance.

Gotca - then a flight will be easiest. Watch out for the extra fees on the budget airlines.

There is NO high speed train from the Munich airport to anywhere. The airport is served only by S-Bahn. You'll have to take one into the Munich Hbf and get a high speed train from there.

On a German Rail ticket, the 16 yo would be an adult (anyone older than 14 is an adult on German Rail). Thus it's 3 adults.

For mid-August, if you book an advance purchase ticket, all three of you could go to London from Munich airport (in 11 hrs) for about 330€. But I would spend at least a day in Munich before leaving for London to allow for a late flight. Those advance purchase tickets are train specific, non-exchangeable.

You can't get a direct train from airport to airport. You'll need to take the s bahn from Munich Airport to the main train station. Most trains from Munich will arrive at the Paris Est station. From there you can take the RER to CDG. Go to the Deutch Bahn (dbahn) website to book your train and seats. You may be able to find the less expensive spar preis tickets, depending on which train departure you select. Note that this trip is about 7.5hours long, so you'll spend most of your arrival day on the train. Have you looked at low cost flights from Munich to Paris instead?

Since I don't know where you're travelling to by train inside France, or how many train trips you'll take, I can't say whether a rail pass would be more economical than point to point tickets.

You can buy the Eurostar tickets to/from Paris on the Eurostar website. Do this as far in advance as possible to get the best discounted price.

This website is one of the best I've seen on train travel in Europe: https://www.seat61.com

How many other reservations are committed and non-changeable? Most car rental reservations are changeable with no penalty, so picking up closer to the German border makes sense.

Impossible to gauge your need for a France rail pass without more info about train travel plans, but the car rental is probably a sign that you're not using many trains.

A 16-year old qualifies as a "Youth" on Eurostar tickets but will be treated as an adult on TGV trains. In 2017, Eurostar can be covered by a rail pass plus fairly high seat reservation fee, but advance ticket prices will probably be a better value if you can commit to dates and times soon.

You should post this question on flyertalk.com because you should be able to just not board your flight to Munich without it canceling the rest of your itinerary. On domestic flights, people do this all the time because it can sometimes lead to cheaper fares. But the frequent flyer gurus over there should be able to confirm that. (you can't always rely on what the airline tells you since they will scare you into doing what they want you to).

But if you can't, then you should spend a day or so in Munich. It is beautiful and you would do yourself a disservice by not checking it out if you are already there.

As far as rail, there are at least 2 TGV/IC trains from Munich to Paris and you are still far enough out that you can get a good rate on that ticket. Last time I made that journey, we took the earlier train out of Munich and spent a few hours in Strasbourg and caught the later TGV to Paris.

Air France is showing airfare back to Paris for as low at $68 dollars right now. If you have to, that might be the cheapest and certainly the fastest if you aren't even leaving the airport.

But again, post this at flyertalk because I think you would be fine to just not get on that last leg.

While people do sometimes throw away the last leg of an airline ticket without much fear of reprisal (unless it becomes a pattern), the problem here is that Paris-Munich is not your last leg.

Thanks Laura. I have just confirmed that as well. Those who throw away are doing so on a one way or on their return flight so it is only the final leg of the entire journey and not just the last leg of one direction.

Good luck fpapsadore.

Thanks Everyone!!! SUCCESS!!!! I decided to contact Delta Customer Service (Air France Partner) and in ten minutes, they changed my itinerary so I can get off the plane in Paris and delete the Paris - Munich leg. One minor $50 administration fee - total. Amazing what can happen when a Customer Service agent is empowered to take the initiative and satisfy a customer in distress. Air France... learn a lesson here!