Please sign in to post.

Is an hour 40 minutes in advance sufficient time to arrive at CDG for a flight to Seattle?

Posted by (Seattle, WA) on

I am taking a TGV train from Aix to CDG on October 31. It arrives at the airport at 9:52 am. My connecting flight is at 11:30 am. I have a rolling carry-on. Is that enough time to connect? If I miss the connection, would Delta rebook me on other flight back without a penalty? I am familiar with the train station at the airport and how it connects to 2E. The shuttle train between gates M, L, K…there is probably a F, too. Other Delta flights that day require a stopover in Boston, Chicago, which entails going through immigration and long walks to get to the terminal of the connecting flight, etc. The actual connecting time is also 90 minutes, making it perhaps even worse than the direct CDG to Seattle flight.

The other alternative is to arrive at CDG a day early and then a day at a hotel airport.

Posted by
17918 posts

I'm confused.

You're taking a TGV train into CDG. Then you say:

I’m on Delta flights on both legs. If I miss the connection, would Delta rebook me on other flight back without a penalty?

What two legs? Is the train part of your Delta ticket?

Don't forget, if you are leaving Schengen at CDG you will have to go through exit immigration.

If the train is not part of your Delta ticket, and you miss your flight out of Paris, Delta won't care. You will have to buy a new
ticket. It is not a connection. It is two separate forms of transportation.

Posted by
35785 posts

the recommended time is 3 hours at CDG. If you want to risk knocking 1:20 off, actually probably longer as you have to walk to the check in, and are a natural risk taker OK with the consequences then you might decide to take the risk.

What happens if the train is delayed en route and you have even less time for all the procedures?

I'm interested to see if the French TGV train is an authorized connection with a Delta flight number and on the same ticket.

If it isn't and you lose the gamble the consequences will be on your wallet.

Posted by
525 posts

Sorry for the confusion. The two legs would be if I took a later flight from CDG to Boston to Chicago and then a domestic Delta flight to Seattle. The connecting time is again about 90 minutes.

In my experience with TGV, it has been very much on time. But this is a month of strikes. In the past when I’ve flown CDG to Seattle, I’ve arrived at CDG 2 and a half hours before departure and had an hour or so spare. It went very quickly…

Posted by
1395 posts

I would get to CDG the night before, check into an airport hotel, to make sure you are in place for your flight to the US.

You are playing with fire, especially with all of the transit strikes going on in France. Miss your flight, and you will most likely be screwed by Delta.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.