Traveling from Nice Airport to CDG to USA

Have you already bought a round trip ticket to CDG? If not, look at a multi city ticket flying into CDG and home from Nice.

We haven't bought tickets yet, but we've been researching multi-city flights. If we fly straight home from Nice, rather than round trip to CDG, our flight costs double.

We're flying in and out of CDG this summer and we'll also be coming from Nice on the way home. We've chosen to take the train from Nice to CDG (we like trains), arriving in the early evening. Then, we'll spend the night at the Ibis at the airport and be on our way home in the morning. This isn't for everyone, but we've done this several times and it makes the trip home much easier.

You should be at CDG 3 hours before departure time for your flight home. I probably would not take a flight that is scheduled to arrive at 10:30 unless I could see that the flight has an excellent on time record and had no checked luggage and I could check in online. And really, I probably would not purchase the flight because I am very risk averse and I would be worried about the risk of missing the flight most the time hat I would be in Nice -- talk about ruining the time in NIve. You will not go through customs until you get to the USA. Under your current plan (not buying a connecting flight from Nice), you will have to collect your luggage and recheck it for the flight home. . You will have to go through passport control AKA immigration after you check in for your US-bound flight. If you are going to buy a round trip ticket using CDG, I suggest switching the order of your stays in the two cities so that you go to Nice early in the trop (like on the day that you arrive) and then returning to Paris.

... If we fly straight home from Nice, rather than round trip to CDG, our flight costs double.......

You are doing something wrong. We fly open jaw tickets all the time and rarely find that the cost is more than a $100 more expensive and many time cheaper than a RT. What are you flight dates and where in the US?

PS -- Just did a quick check - Den to Paris RT - $1`250; Den/Paris/Nice/Den - $1451. I was surprised it was $200 more since that has not been our experience. However, it is not double as you claimed earlier. And cheaper when you factor in your train costs and time back to Paris. Our fall trip will be into London and home from Paris.

The airlines are on the way to making open jaw ticket purchases more expensive in the US and it will only be a matter of time before they make the same change for international travel, but I too was surprised by the statement that an open jaw would double the price of this itinerary. Recently, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that discussed the pricing change: http://www.wsj.com/articles/flying-to-more-than-one-city-just-got-more-expensive-1460565536#livefyre-comment

Read the article carefully. The Huffington Post articles does not address the issue that we are discussing with this question. The above responses are for a true open jaw ticket - into one city and home from another. The Huffington Post discussion is about multi-legged flights. The change could affect open jaw but not at the present. Personally I have often recommended multi-leg flights in Europe rather than buying one way tickets so will see how that works in the future. And we have frequently used multi leg in the US so that may be changing.

Always be in the city of departure the night before a high stakes flight. Trying to arrive at 10:30 for a 1:30 flight is madness. It is not a connection; it is two separate flights. What if the incoming flight gets cancelled or is late? Late is common. And being on the ground at 10:30 does not put you in the check in line at 10:30 which is where you need to be for this flight.

If you already have the round trip ticket to Paris, then your best move is to go to Nice the afternoon you arrive in Paris; you can book a low cost airline or the train but give yourself 4 or better 5 hours between arrival and departure. Then finish with the 6 nights in Paris and you are there for the flight home.

Will you consider reversing your route? Start by connecting to Nice from your trans-Atlantic flight. If done on Delta/AirFrance/KLM the second flight should cost hardly any extra (or at least it used to be cheap.) Work your way back to Paris, enjoy that city too. Then get up a civilized hour to catch your flight home, avoiding the early wake-up and stress of making a domestic-international connection. As has been pointed out, all of this can be arranged through a multi-destination search function.

You said that multi-city doubled the price: that is not typical. Did you try the following:
Flight one: your airport to CDG
Flight two: NCE to your airport

Don't put the Paris to Nice leg in your search. Price that leg separately as a one way ticket.

From what airport are you starting?

What janettravels44 said. I ALWAYS get to the airport I am flying home from a day early, spend the night in a hotel close to the airport and get to the security/check-in line 4 hours early. I can wait past security a lot easier than I can be in line and flight leaves in 20 minutes.

Jane has it right on , fly back from nice to Paris ,spend a few days enjoying Paris again and not having to worry about missing the flight home , no need to be extra stressed out on your vacation

We are flying to Paris and home from Nice this September. The flight was the same price, as near as we can figure. We chose to fly from Nice to Amsterdam, because we really dislike the CDG airport. (To be honest, it's more like HATE CDG.) We have to make the extra stop, but it is worth it to us not to have to go back to Paris and CDG.