Flight question on getting to Seville from Anchorage, AK

Hi Tammy,

I think there are some questions you have to answer for yourselves.

• If you do separate tickets, what's the minimum time allowance you comfortable with in CDG?
• If you miss your flight from CDG to Seville, are you okay with losing the money and buying a new ticket?
• If your flight to CDG is delayed, will you be stressing out on the plane all the way there? Not a great way to start your vacation!

Though 6 hours is a long layover, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a whole lot less than that if I'm on two separate tickets.

suck it up and do the layover to remain all on one ticket?

do that.

• Your luggage is checked through to Seville.
• The only low-cost carrier from CDG to Seville is Vueling.
• The airline is responsible for getting you to Seville should things go awry.
• Six hours will pass soon enough.

This is a good case for what we seldom recommend here -- two separate tickets. Those six jet-lagged hours at CDG won't be much fun, though I recall some areas with stretch-out seating where you might be able to catch some sleep. And, in the unlikely event that your SEA-CDG flight is delayed for several hours, Vueling has numerous CDG-SVQ flights later that day. While you'd have to buy new tickets for one of those, they should be cheaper than new tickets on a "legacy" airline.

That's the case for two tickets. But, Vueling has (as of now) only one direct CDG-SVQ flight on Feb 19, leaving at 9:55. Is that late enough for a comfortable connection involving immigration, retrieving baggage, possibly changing terminals, check-in, and going back through security? Later Vueling flights (as of now) change at Barcelona with longer layovers than what you're trying to avoid in Paris.

So it comes down to how early on the 19th morning your Delta flight lands at CDG, and how lucky you feel about making a 9:55 flight on another airline in perhaps another terminal. You can answer this better than me, but my guess would be that you're better off with the one ticket and just sucking up those six hours.

My last trip from Cinci to Barcelona and back (layovers at DeGaulle going and Atlanta returning) were BOTH 4+ hours delayed. I always have bad luck. I had budgeted 3.5 for layovers. I missed BOTH connections. While I agree it’s not desirable, if I had had a 6 hr layover, I would have made those connections.

We have flown out of ANC many times and use Delta often. Do one ticket for the reasons given before. If 6 hours is too long to wait near the gates, then pay for the Delta Lounge. If you are tired, any hassle is too much hassle. Seville is a good place to relax with drinks and tapas while watching others expend energy.

Anchorage and Seattle in Feb.; I wonder if there is any chance the weather might put planes behind schedule?

I am with those who say stick with the single ticket and if you do up in Paris on time, treat yourself to a lounge pass, get a shower and arrive in Seville less jet lagged.

CDG airport has Air France lounges. Some have darkened sleep rooms you can reserve.

You don't have much choice. Too much risk you can not control. You need to stick with a single tickets. We were recently burned when our original flight from the US was cancelled and we miss our independent book on going flight. Thought a five hour window was a good cushion but we really needed three days.

Hi there, personally I wouldn't risk a separate ticket, for all the reasons mentioned above & the return leg would be an even bigger loss - If your flight from Seville back via CDG is delayed, Delta will NOT honor that delay nor reimburse you as booked on a separate ticket. So you'd be scrambling en route to rebook your last leg back to Seattle at a much higher cost. Just not worth it! Someone mentioned dark rooms in a lounge in CDG, I seem to recall reading something on the Forum about how to eat well in the airport, maybe check out all there is to do at CDG that would allow the admittedly long transit to be more enjoyable!

Thanks everyone, my gut was telling me to just suck it up and do the long layover and it seems most agree, so that is what we will do.

I haven't checked on this, but you might want to look into flying from Seattle to Amsterdam rather than to Paris. Or maybe from a different Delta hub that you can get to from Anchorage. I have only flown into CDG once and that was enough. I always prefer going through AMS.

My last trip similar to yours, I flew from Detroit to AMS and back to Salt Lake City from AMS. Besides my dislike for CDG, AMS had better and more frequent cheap flights to and from my intra-European destinations. (TAP to Lisbon and Transavia from Seville to AMS).

Some caveats:

I was traveling in the summer. Weather can always be a factor anytime, but in winter there can be significant issues anywhere along your journey, at least until you get to Seville. Having said that, I prefer the northern flight paths anytime of year.

I usually do carry-on only. But, I checked my very small "international" bag on those nonstop TAP and Transavia flights. I would never check a bag that would have to be transferred once, much less twice.

I do not do tight connections and typically spend at least one night in my arrival city before flying on to my final destination and one in my departure city before flying home. Maybe you could work out something like that.

I too agree that flying ANK to SeaTac to Amsterdam Schiphol would be your best bet for Delta. You can make connections there.

I had no idea that getting to Europe would be so difficult for you. We just returned from Alaska 2 days ago.

My last experience transiting at AMS was a nightmare. I don't find CDG hard so I'd stick with that