Our flight from Munich directly to ORY was changed to CDG, but we fly back to the US from ORY. I’d prefer not to navigate the train system on this flight day. Is there a reliable private transfer we can pre-book, or should we just taxi or UBER after we arrive at CDG, without pre-arranging?
Merci!
I don't have an answer, but others will want a clear understanding of your question.
Clarify that you are waking up in Munich on the day you have a transatlantic flight out of Orly, and that the 2 flight are on separate tickets. Is this correct?
The day of the week matters a lot. Roughly speaking, in terms of speed/reliability:
Weekend = taxi (regular taxi is OK, lines are quick).
Weekday = RER to Antony, then Orlyval to Orly.
Correct, we wake up in Munich, but fly home to the US on a separate ticket from Orly that afternoon. On a Monday in mid-June. Our original direct flight to Orly was changed by the airline to CDG!
Nope, nope, nope. Too risky.
Fly to Paris the night before, and request a refund or a free change due to the change of destination! It should be possible.
The last flight out of Munich is really late so you can have a full day there. There are no flights to ORY; spend the night at CDG airport or take a cab to a hotel near ORY (late night traffic is usually OK, give or take nightly road closures for maintenance).
How much time do you have between the flights? I agree that this sounds a bit too risky and you should travel to Paris a day earlier. Although I'd suggest the train from Munich to Paris and spend the night in central Paris and not at an airport hotel.
No. No. With a change like that, you have the right to a refund. It's taken me over 2 hours some times. Then you need to check in three hours early.
Agree, take the train the day before, or have your flight moved up a day and sleep in central Paris.
What Bets said (and others). The airline messed this up for you and should be willing to fly you in the day before. Always be in the city of a high stakes flight the night before. If you were on one ticket, the airline would be responsible for getting you there. ON two tickets it is on you. This was always too risky on two tickets, but now it is impossibly so. Domestic flights in Europe are often late; we tracked the Berlin/CDG flight we had this last spring for a couple of months and it was late half the time -- we had a connection not a separate ticket, BUT we would have missed about half the time. We insisted because the airline had changed the time of the first flight that they change the connection and we ended up with one in Amsterdam with more time that went fine although it was a bit tight.
But with two tickets -- if the first plane is late, there you are. And travel insurance does not necessarily bail you out when the problem is bad planning.
Come in the night before.
Thank you all for your input. I believe we have time to make the transfer, as we arrive at CDG at 8:20 am and fly out of Orly around 3 pm. I’m leaning toward taking a taxi.
Safe travels!
If I am reading this right, the connection was always at some level of risk, since
the flights were separately ticketed. You don't say if you are checking bags, but
that would obviously add more time/risk to the schedule.
If this is incorrect and your flights were all on one ticket, then you should indeed have
the airline reticket so it's all on the same ticket. If the inbound flight is delayed, you
will at least get protected and not be penalized for missing the second flight.
If this cannot be done, and you don't want to fly into Paris the night before, as others
have suggested, then (with an eye out for any transit strikes) you need to either take
the RER to Orlyval, or at least have a way to check Paris traffic to be sure you don't
hit a major traffic jam. I realize that you said you don't want to take the train, but
under normal circumstances it will be the most consistent and reliable method to make
the transfer. If you have a lot of checked bags, all the more reason to fly in the night before.
I doubt anyone would argue that 7 hours is enough to make the transfer if everything
is on time. It's if things are not on time that you are at risk.
Lastly, if your original flights were all on one ticket, then I'd submit a claim to the airline
for your transit expenses, at least between CDG and ORY, and maybe even for the hotel
if you fly into Paris the night before.
Sure, 7 hours is plenty of time. I would typically allow 5 hours for such a connection (if it were on one ticket - I still would not do it in your current setup).
But a 7.00 am flight out of Munich makes you wake up at a very early hour. With a 3pm flight out of Orly, if you were to stay in Paris the night before, you would only need to leave the city center at about 11.30 am, so you would have time for a morning stroll in Paris instead of spending the morning in transit.
