Is it worth paying for "front section seats" on Air France?

I’m doing exactly that. Our transfer time is 1 hour 20 minutes. It was 1.5 hours when I booked but there was a time change on the flight out of Vancouver. Air France, carry-on only, just like you. I changed our seats to front seats just to make our chance of making the connection through to Lisbon.
We aren’t going until September so probably you’ll be travelling before me or I’d let you know how it went.

Let me answer your question by asking you a question:

If you are not sitting near the front, will you be able to relax and enjoy your flight, or will you spend the entire time crossing the Atlantic in a state of anxiety?

It might be worth it just for your peace of mind.

The real question: if you pay for "Front Section Seats"--do you really get to deplane early?
I would pay for the seats if I knew that those seats would give us 10 or 15 extra minutes to catch the next flight.

Thanks!

Front seats won't do you any good if your first flight is two hours late. I'm hoping your two flights are on the same ticket? If that's the case, the airline must get you to your final destination, and once you're in Paris, the airline has lots of options. It's not a bad idea to research the next flights to Venice, on all the available airlines, and have that info handy.

I'm assuming you looked at the aircraft model and the exit door is by the front seats? You could also check Flight Aware a for the ontime dependability of your incoming flight.

What time does the airline close the plane doors? You may have less than 1.5 hours to board.
Thanks goodness you have carryon luggage.

Good luck and have a great trip. Safe Travels!

I have not been on an AF 787, but I have yet to be on a plane that did not deplane from front to rear. I have to believe that if you are in row 15-20, then 170+ of the seating is behind you, and at most 100 seats in front of you.

Do airlines schedule connections so that only the passengers in front have enough time to make that connection?. I think not.

But the sooner you are off the plane the sooner you can begin the journey to the next gate.

Is it worth paying more to sit closer to the front?

That depends on you anxiety level and financial situation. Only you can answer that question

You also realize you will have to go through immigration/passport control at CDG since that is where you are entering Schengen.

Will the front of the plane help.....it should since most planes deplane starting at the front.

I realize some people swear by looking up the on time history of a flight and if it has a history of being late, it might help. But there are so many factors in delaying a flight that you won't know until the day of your flight.

I have never had a positive experience at ChuckyD, but I am also not in the same sort of wealth category as most RS folks are. Still I would be in the first row of Economy if it were me. That would put the seating capacity of about 7 economy rows ahead of me and 30+ behind me for no additional cost.

Funny, I did just that on a puddle jumper from Budapest to Belgrade a few weeks ago, for the exact same reason. Turns out the plane was a strange little thing that boarded from the rear, so I had the worst seat on the plane.

I am a fast walker and fly Premium Economy. It certainly gives you an extra boost of time because you’re further up in the passport line which can be long. When I’m walking, I am passing a lot of people, so try to move quickly to also help your connection time. Good luck!

Also, check to see now what the next flight is to Venice if you miss this one. Is that plane full?

Question 1 - yes, maybe.
Question 2 - no, maybe.

Yes. Fellow passengers can be infuriatingly slow getting off planes. I'm not talking about mobility issues, but rather some percentage of people don't seem to be familiar with the simplicity of standing up, grabbing their stuff and walking off the plane. " Oh it's my turn to go, now I better start gathering my various things. I've spread all over the seating area."

You don't need to save 10 to 15 minutes. You can arrive at a connecting flight 30 seconds after the door is closed and the plane is rolling away. If it's important to you to make the connection and not have to wait around for a standby seat on the next plane, then buying a seat farther forward buys you a better chance.

Will you need it? Usually not, until you definitely do.

Thanks to all! Appreciate the advice.

Curious what the price difference was.

I generally try to sit towards the front of planes. Less claustrophobic for me.

I will say that if you are on a plane that doesn't park at a gate and you need to be bussed to the terminal, sitting towards the front won't be faster as they wait for the bus to fill up before departing.

Just curious as in the situation I have later this year. Does the need to do this in Heathrow with their conformance rule and mandatory security rescreening change the equation/answers? While 80 minutes to go incoming to T5 on BA and connect to BA outbound to Italy, (almost certainly from T5), ought to be enough, I have seen the flight occasionally come in too close for this to work. The incoming is an Airbus 350-1000, and without seat purchase we will almost surely be buried in the high 50s. Yes, BA has to take care of us and get us to Italy but this also requires their having a flight with seats. Worrier that I am (and with a partner who does ot walk fast) I sprang for BA's overpriced seats to at least be front of main.

The good news is AF has 4 more flights to Venice after the one you would be scheduled on, so getting there that day should not be an insurmountable hurdle.

So depending on the cost of the front row seats, you may just want to 'take your chances'

Thank you for the info Gail, the website you posted was really helpful!

You dont have to be too late. If your incoming flight is a little late, the airline can decide that you cant make the connection and cancel your seat on the next flight. In that case, doesnt matter where you are sitting. You can show up at the gate, passengers can still be boarding your next flight, but you can not get on because your seat has been canceled, and your bags pulled from the flight.

I would pay for the seats if I knew that those seats would give us 10 or 15 extra minutes

The gap between the front and the middle economy seats is not 10 minutes, you'd save 5 at best. Not worth it IMO, as the cost is quite high if memory serves.

Cost varies from nominal to exorbitant. I agree it's probably about 5 minutes unless a huge plane (two aisle wide bodies can take a while - sit on the side with the doors) or you get unlucky with a lot of people in front you unclear on be ready, stand up, walk off the plane.

When you get to customs though that 5 minutes balloons to however long it takes for the people in front of you to get through. If you're nearer to the front of your flight. That time consuming line can be a lot quicker.

Of course one can't control other arriving flights, but if I need to clear customs before a tight connection, I'm okay with paying a bit to sit closer to the door.

Hank you nailed it. Yes, its the time getting off the flight, but its more the line at passport control that gets longer cause you are last.

I will go back to the fact that a first row seat in Economy without paying anything more will save you almost as much time as sitting in Premium Economy. Remember the density of the seating in Business and Premium Economy is a less than that in standard economy. What you dont want is to be at the end of the 40 seats of economy.

I do it if for no other reason than i get claustrophobic in the back.

EDIT. Wait, I am wrong. A few airlines charge extra for the first third or so of Economy. But now we are talking about not much money at all, so go for it. It will give you peace of mind.

Our plane is a 777-300 and by paying just under $60 each Canadian we are ahead of 40 people who are also in one of the front seats. The front seats of the regular economy are already full so that adds more people that would be between us and the exit if we hadn’t paid for front of plane seats. Worth it for me if it makes a difference. And frustration wise it’s worth it anyway because we are doing all we can to make our connection (unless we pay much, much more for premium economy or business class).

Thanks to all.
Everyone has pointed out lots of things to consider, and I appreciate it.
I think we will move our seats up to the front of the economy section. If flights are on time, at the very least this change may make our trip through security and passport check points easier. It's not that much money, and I think we will feel more confident. Thanks!

Just to add to this thread, we had 1 hour 20 minutes between flights and made it. Not sure if paying for front of the plane helped or not but felt good that we had. Less stress for us!

If your first flight is late, sitting closer to the front could make all the difference between making that connection or watching that plane takeoff without you.