Travel Day~ Fly US into Paris and catch flight to Florence same day or next?

The only issue with flying from Paris to Florence on the day of arrival is that if your flight to Paris is delayed or canceled - then you run the risk of missing your flight to Florence If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, why not fly into Florence and out of Paris - this would avoid the lag time in Paris.

Hi Gina,

I would definitely recommend going through to Florence for your first day. The CDG airport is outside Paris, so there's nothing exciting near the airport I've flown from Seattle-to-Paris, changed planes, and then hopped on a train to a destination. Especially traveling business class, you should be fine. Drink juice/water to stay hydrated on the plane to be ready to go! : )

Hi Jean,
How long do you think is a safe buffer between flights? Three hours? Four? More?Wondering how complicated it is to get your luggage and then board the local flight...? We are flying in and out of Paris because that is what worked with our (free) air miles for business class. :)

I will tell you what I just did in a similar situation. I had mileage tickets from US to Rome, but wanted to go to Palermo the day of arrival. My arrival in Rome was about 9:10 AM, and I then booked a separate nonrefundable ticket from Rome to Palermo leaving at 12:35 PM. However, I was worried about making that connection. I kept looking at tickets for later that day, and the prices were going up quickly (perhaps because it was a Monday; Tuesday tickets were much cheaper). Therefore, while my backup plan had been to buy a last minute ticket (there are something like 8 Alitalia flights a day between Rome and Palermo), I realized it would be unaffordable. So, I booked a second nonrefundable ticket for 7:30 PM, knowing I would use one and throw the other away. Each ticket was about €75, so I simply figured the cost of my Rome to Palermo leg was €150. Since my US to Rome flight only cost about $60 (fees for the mileage ticket), I could accept this.

PS, I ended up making the earlier flight with plenty of time to spare, so all was well. But it was still a great comfort knowing that if there had been any disruption, I was covered, at an affordable price.

So, investigate the ticket prices and flight schedules between CDG and Florence (also look at Pisa and Bologna), and see if my trick will work for your situation.

You have to weigh the costs. If you miss the flight out of CDG, how much is it going to cost for last-minute tickets? The chances of significant delays are minimal but the additional expense may be very big. Only you can decide whether the "gamble" is worth it. When are you flying and out of where? What are the chances of bad weather?

How much time do you need at CDG depends in part on whether you have to get to another terminal. The length of time for immigration, baggage collection, and security checks are extremely variable.

If you use the same airline to fly to Florence from CDG as you used in flying to Paris, then you won't have to worry about cancellation fees. We have missed connections and were always put on the next flight to our destination.

I too suggest flying to Florence on your arrival day in Paris. I occasionally buy separate tickets when I’m unable to find reasonable connections on one airline. I look for a flight at least 4 hours after my scheduled arrival time and book that. Twice the second airline has moved me to an earlier flight with no change fees involved. Seems that many European airlines prefer to fill empty seats in hopes of reselling the now-open seats on a later flight, or maybe it’s just good customer service.

Assuming that you are using Delta miles, Delta is a AirFrance partner as both are part of the SkyTeam alliance. You could therefore try to use the miles for a ticket all the way to FLR. AirFrance has 6 daily pairs CDG-FLR. No guarantees it will work, since Award seats are limited and flights to FLR are on a small Airbus A318, but it's worth trying. If award seats are not available, you could arrange with Delta to use miles for the US to CDG portion and pay the CDG to FLR segment. The goal is to fly with one ticket so that the luggage goes through to FLR while you transfer planes at CDG for an AirFrance flight to FLR.

The alternatives are not good.

There are only 2 airlines flying to FLR from Paris. One is the above mentioned AF from CDG. If you try to purchase that ticket separately it's likely you will be paying through the nose, because AirFrance enjoys a monopoly on that segment.

The other airline is Vueling, which has only one daily flight to FLR departing however from Paris Orly in the evening at about 6:30pm. Vueling is generally cheaper, but you would need to transfer airports in Paris. If you arrive at 8am however you have several hours to do so.

Tertium non datur. Any other option requires using another airport other than FLR (Pisa is close enough).

Another possibility is easyjet.com into Pisa and then a short train ride to Florence. (Although after all those flights and a train, I'd probably want to stay the night in Florence!) I don't know what day of the week you're arriving so don't know if the Easyjet choices of departures would be good for you.
We just returned from a trip and had ff tickets round trip to Paris but we arrived at 11:10 and caught the 14:55 Easyjet to Prague. Four hours was more than enough time between flights; it could have been done in three.

EasyJet flies to Pisa (PSA) also from Paris Orly (ORY). Their only daily flight departs from ORY a little after 2pm, therefore you would have a shorter window to make the airport transfer from CDG to ORY.
I don't think there are airlines flying from CDG to PSA anymore (AirFrance subsidiary HOP! used to, but I don't think they do anymore).

I think the best option is one individual ticket all the way from your US origin airport to FLR (using a combination of Delta/AirFrance). With one ticket, even if you miss connection flight to FLR, they will rebook you on the next AF flight to Florence at no cost (there are 6 dailies to FLR, therefore it's no problem).

If you must use a totally separate airline other than AirFrance, I'd go with Vueling from ORY to FLR later the same evening.

If Delta Award seats are not available on the CDG-FLR leg with AirFrance, then consider Bologna (BLQ). AirFrance flies to BLQ and Bologna is also not far from Florence via train.

All advice is helpful and welcome! Our free (miles) tickets are with American, and they do not seem to have a flight from Paris to Florence. There are several flights on Air France and Alitalia, however. We could book one of those for four plus hours after scheduled landing. Anyone familiar with the differences in ticket categories for luggage? We'll each want to check a bag...

Air France flights to FLR leave from terminal 2G, leave half an hour just to switch terminals (including a 10 minutes bus shuttle ride). Very little to buy or eat at terminal 2G, so if you want to have breakfast help yourself at your arrival terminal. If you manage to have a single ticket the short flight to Florence won't be too expensive and luggage will be checked through - convenient.
Orly airport is quite distant from CDG.
Vueling flights to/from Florence are not very reliable; as the runway at FLR is very short, baggage or even people may be denied boarding to keep the airplane light in case of bad weather, and Vueling flights are usually the first to get in trouble.

Did you specifically ask the American booking agent about getting you on a connection to Florence or Pisa or Bologna? As long as space is available, it should be included in your mileage award, but it might take an agent to help you work it out. If you buy a separate ticket on a non-allied, low-budget carrier, then you would have to reclaim and recheck any checked luggage and go back through security which would add at least an hour to your transfer time.

One night and day in Florence sounds rushed after all that traveling. I would prefer to stay two nights there or continue to Siena (one and a quarter more hours) on the arrival day. I believe it is easier to pick up a car in Siena than Florence, and you wouldn't have to pick up and pay for it until you're ready to leave Siena.

Alitalia does not fly from CDG to FLR. Only AirFrance. Alitalia is the code share partner.
AF is not a low cost carrier therefore baggage is not an issue. Give yourself sufficient time as you will have to retrieve your baggage and then go change terminals and check in again.