Three members of our family need to do a flight after a wedding from Toulon-Hyere to CDG. A flight with a good time and price at this limited airport is on HOP! operated by AirFrance it says. Have any of you used this airline? The flights aren't available on the AirFrance website but they are available on the HOP! website. Any tips or warnings?
Posted by
Chicago
8165 posts
I flew Hop Lyon to Bologna in 2016.
The same thing applies with any airline: no problems when you read and follow all airline rules before and after you buy a ticket.
Posted by
France
408 posts
HOP! is an Air France no-frills regional carrier with flights operated under contract by several small airlines. It's common to use it when going long distances in France, and I have several times.
Nothing unusual one wouldn't find with any other no-frills airline. including (depending on the airport) that the gate used by the carrier may be a l-o-n-g walk from the main terminal/security check. Plan for that on your arrival timing prior to departure.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4088 posts
Is NoCal northern California? From San Francisco, Air France does show a connecting HOP! flight in Paris to Toulon. The problem is changing from Charles de Gaulle to Orly airports. As an experienced traveller, you might agree with me that it's safer to book both flights on one itinerary (and often cheaper). Booking separately, I would be cautious and fly to Paris the day before the trans-Atlantic flight. Skyscanner.com indicates that Air France/HOP provide the only flights on the route, which explains why the prices are high by the standards of Euro budget airlines.
Posted by
OP
California USA
4102 posts
Southampton they are looking at a flight from TLN to CDG. They shouldn't have to go to or through ORY. The flight leaves at 9 something and arrives 1.5 hours later at CDG. Their flight back to SFO doesn't leave until 4:45 PM. It looks like there are only 2 flights a day and the other one is too late.
They will have no trouble with luggage requirements as they are flying Norwegian over and back to attend the cousin's wedding.
I will keep looking at Skyscanner to see if I've missed any other possibility. They also had checked the train schedules but found that it took too long, cutting it close, with a couple of changes.
They'll do fine but it is my daughter in law and two granddaughters. They flew to Europe with all of us 2 years ago and have some experience. All three of them speak or are learning French-- another incentive for this trip for them.
We now live closer to them in Northern California (NorCal) but pretty far to the west, closer to Sacramento.
Posted by
Chicago
8165 posts
It is a little risky. What if the 9:15 from Toulon is canceled or severely delayed?
Posted by
Berkeley CA
1321 posts
Hi Mona --
Can they schedule their Norwegian Air flight for the next day and do an overnight either at CDG itself or in Paris?
I love Norwegian but if they change their flight times (as they very might do as this is a new route for them) or if the HOP flight is delayed or cancelled, they will be stuck with change fees and higher fares on Norwegian. It happened to me!
SharYn
Posted by
OP
California USA
4102 posts
Hi SharYn
It wouldn’t be my mode of travel, to book a flight on the same day of the international flight but that’s what they’ve now done. They know the risks because they’ve flown Norwegian before and had a flight cancelled...
They are very crunched for time as they are all missing a week of school to attend a cousin’s wedding with events in both Paris and Toulon. I will now just wait and see. We’ve talked about backup plans.