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Cincinnati to Paris to Rome flights, one hour layover

I posted this on the France forum before I realized there was a Transportation forum. Sorry for the cross-posting...

I booked an Expedia bundle deal and now I'm starting to see why it was a good deal. My family and I (husband and three kids 9-16 in age) are traveling from Cincinnati to Paris to Rome in July. We leave out of Cincy on Delta, then connect to Air France in Paris and head to Rome.

There is only a 60-minute layover from the time we land in Paris until we leave for Rome. We're arriving in terminal 2E at CDG airport in Paris, and departing out of terminal 2F at CDG.

I called Delta, and the agent agreed that this timing looks tight and he talked to his manager and he confirmed I need to go through passport control at the point of first entry into a Schengen country. However, Delta cannot help me since I booked through Expedia on a package deal. I've called Expedia and she says that Delta wouldn't have allowed them to book it if it wasn't enough time. She's checking with a manager, but I don't hold out hope for a good resolution.

I feel like I'm looking at a guaranteed missed flight out of Paris. Am I wrong? Is there any hope that we can make this one-hour connection?

Posted by
11569 posts

CDG isn't the best airport to transit through, known for missed connections. Worst thing will be that you'll be put on another later flight or if you make it, your luggage may not. You should consider carrying on.
I had a one hour layover at Heathrow last fall and made it to my US bound flight but was nervous. I had booked it directly with the airline.

Posted by
16895 posts

The replies you're getting on the other thread are already pretty relevant.

The short connection time may mean more possibility of checked bags nor transferring properly. They have special bag tags for short connections but I don't know how much they do or don't work. On the other hand, if I were planning to run through the airport, I'd want to carry less, rather than more. Read up on the transfer route at easycdg.com, where they recommend 60 minutes as minimum transfer time within Terminal 2. I have experienced a line at passport control (45 minutes) in the same terminal that did cause me and others to miss scheduled flight connections (but in that instance, I only had to wait a couple of hours for the next flight). If you see someone who can get you in a priority line, don't be afraid to ask.

Posted by
8319 posts

I really wouldn't worry too much about it. Air France has 3 morning flights and 4 afternoon flights from Paris de Gaulle to Rome, so you'll get there just fine.

Posted by
7209 posts

And from my own myriad of experiences like this...books with too little layover time - just wait a while. Schedules change. You'll probably get 1 or more notifications that there has been an update to your itinerary. Of course I can't guarantee that, but I've booked enough of those types of flight to have several experiences with schedules being changed and in the end the new schedule gave us more connection time. Be sure to get your Delta confirmation code and pull up the flight itinerary on Delta.com to verify your flight times

Posted by
131 posts

Problem resolved.

I sent an email to a Delta executive in customer service and within 24 hours, the problem was fixed. Delta changed my connecting flight to one with a 2 hour, 45 minute layover, what I'd said was my most preferred connection.

I'm very happy with Delta's customer service. The executive really went out of their way to make this right and it wasn't even their responsibility since I'd booked on Expedia.

So now we get our trip to Rome for the low cost of about $770 a person including flight and three nights hotel and it's on the perfect flight schedule. I feel fortunate. Life is good. :)

Posted by
131 posts

I know, right?! I wanted to make sure to come back and give them the credit they deserve for helping me out when it wasn't even their responsibility. I still received a bargain-basement price on airfare through Expedia for flights that Delta is currently selling for $1,686 a person. I paid less than half that per person, around $777 a person, and it included three nights airfare.