Review: Air France - changing flights at Paris CDG Terminal 2

(Dansk version nederst)

Paris CDG has for many years had a reputation of being big (it is!), very French (it is, but not in a bad way at all), and a difficult place to change flights (it isn't).

I found it to be a lot better than its reputation - and also a lot quicker than I'd ever thought it would be. My time from gate to gate was less than 30 minutes, and I walk at an extremely leisurely pace. One of my travelling companions said he did it in 18 minutes, but I'll save that for when I'm in a hurry.

It must be said that Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is a very big place indeed. Lookie here:

If you are flying Air France, you need only focus on the bottom half of the map - Terminal 2:

Going from left to right, you have Terminal 2A-B-C-D - the oldest part of T2. Then there is the middle bit, with the railway station and the Sheraton hotel, and then you come to Terminal 2F (the top one with the two piers) and Terminal 2E (the bottom one), to which belongs piers/Hall K and L and M, and then all the way out to the right, you have Terminal 2G.  All Air France's flights are now in 2E-F-G.

All these many terminals is of course why people find it tricky - but the sign posting is really good, AND there are many people to help you along.

There are some things you can do even before you leave home: check your itinerary (or the airport web site) to see which terminal your inbound flight arrives at and which terminal you're flying out of. Then there is a really handy transfer guide on the web site which shows you exactly how to get to the right gate:

http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/en-GB/Passagers/Access-maps-car-parks/guide-connecting-flight/

We were transferring from 2G to 2E - we didn't know if our flight out would be from the K, L, or M gates though.

On arrival at 2G, we checked the information screens and saw we were boarding from gate L42. Actually, we hadn't even needed do that - before passport control, the guy checking our boarding passes told us we should go to Hall L. The queue for passport control was short, and the buses were right outside. When transferring from 2G to 2E on the bus, you remain airside, which means you don't need to go through security check again. If you're transferring between 2G and 2F, you do exit and have to go through security check when you get to your next terminal, and that will take a bit longer.

Our arrival at 2G was right on time, and as said, less than 30 minutes later we were at our departure gate. Next to which they had a Ladurée stand. Sigh. Macarons, anyone?

Note: if you're transferring to other airlines - especially those outside the Sky Team alliance, which may depart from Terminal 1 or 3, you should allow much more time for your transfer. Not only is the bus ride between terminals longer, you may not be able to check your bags through, so you might need to re-check at CDG. As my AF/KL contact, who was our host on this trip would say, "but why on earth would you fly anything other than Air France out of CDG" ;-)

Jeg sælger en del billetter med både KLM og Air France, og en ting jeg ofte hører er, at folk meget gerne vil slippe for at skifte fly i Paris Charles de Gaulle - lufthavnen er stor, fransk på en træls måde, og bøvlet.  Oui, den er meget stor, oui, den er trés francais men ikke på nogen dårlig måde, og non, den er faktisk ikke bøvlet.  Kan jeg sige nu, efter at været en tur igennem.

Alle Air France's afgange er nu i Terminal 2 E-F-G.  De to "vertikale" til højre for midten er "satellitter" til 2E.  Der er masser af afgangsskærme og skilte dernede, så man behøver ikke at gøre noget hjemmearbejde - men hvis man vil, kan man gå ind på lufthavnens hjemmeside dagen før afgang og checke i hvilken terminal man lander, og hvor man flyver ud fra (klik HER) - og så har de en meget nem step-by-step guide HER, som viser præcis hvordan man kommer fra det ene sted til det andet.

Vi landede til tiden i 2G (helt ude til højre på billedet). Inden paskontrol stod der en fyr og checkede boardingpass og fortalte, at vores fly til St Maarten gik fra en L-gate (vi havde checket det på skærmene, men fik det altså også "serveret"). Køen til paskontrol var meget kort, og busserne holdt lige uden for. Efter en kort bustur (5-10min) holdt vi ved Hall L, og kunne tage en elevator op til afgangshallen. Det tog under 30 minutter, vel at mærke i mit ekstremt magelige tempo, fra gate til gate.

(Hertil skal nævnes, at når man skifter fra 2G til 2E forbliver man "airside" og skal altså ikke gennem nogen sikkerhedskontrol. Skifter man fra 2G til 2F, hvis man f.eks. flyver Billund-Paris-Madrid, så kommer man ud på "landside" og skal dermed gennem security check når man kommer til 2F  -  og det tager naturligvis lidt længere tid, men er altså ikke mere besværligt)

Konklusion: det er blevet meget nemt at skifte fly i Paris. Jeg må bare advare om, at de sælger lækre macarons inde i afgangshallen ....

PS - der er 15 minutters gratis wifi i terminalen, så du kan nå at logge på facebook og prale med meddele, at nu er du kommet så langt :-)

PPS - denne skriv omhandler skift mellem Air France fly - hvis du skal videre med et andet selskab (især hvis det er et selskab som ikke er med i Sky Team alliancen) går disse ofte fra Terminal 1 eller 3, og så er 45 minutter ikke nok. Dels er det en noget længere bus-tur, og dels kan du måske ikke checke bagagen hele vejen igennem.  Spørg dit rejsebureau når du planlægger turen (for folk der arbejder på rejsebureau er både søde og kloge. Og pæne!). Eller gør som min ven fra Air France-KLM Danmark siger, og lad være med at flyve med de der andre selskaber ;-)