Has anyone flown Air France and how was it? My son is flying to France for Study Abroad and I am looking to book him and there is a flight on Delta (says it is operated by Air France) that goes from Houston to Paris and then to Marseille.

If you flew into Paris would you recommend taking a flight onto Marseille or train to Marseille?

All the other airlines have more layovers or have layovers in countries other than France. If he flew on another airline and had a layover in Munich before flying to Marseille would he have to pick up luggage in Munich and go through customs there or is luggage checked to Marseille and he would just go through customs there?

It has been a long time since I have flown internationally.

I know they have seat fees if you want to select your seats ahead of time. That's about all I know.

It looks to be about a 4 hour train ride. Doesn't look like a ton of options time wise, so unless the train times lined up with the arrival flight, I would probably opt to fly to Marseille.

I "think" you only have to go through security again if stopping in the UK. They are weird about that.

It's been a long time (21 years) since I connected in Europe.
When I flew Lufthansa from Denver to Frankfurt to Budapest back in May 2003, we didn't claim our luggage until we reached Budapest.
Since then, I've always flown nonstop to my final destination in Europe.

Do not connect on overnight flights from US to Europe.

We missed our connection due to 3 hours in immigration at CDG.

Or fly direct or intentionally plan a long layover. Or land and train to other destination.

The flight I am looking at goes direct from Houston to Paris. Then a 3 hour layover in Paris before a flight to Marseille. Would he go through immigration in Paris or not until Marseille?

Schengen region so you'll do immigration at CDG, then go to the domestic flight area.

Different if flying through LHR for example.

Would he have to pick up bags in Paris and go through security again or would his bags be checked all the way through to Marseille?

Bags will go through. Immigration can be the bottle neck.

I generally try to avoid connecting in Paris/CDG. They are notorious for having worker strikes - baggage handlers, especially, but also mechanics, ATC, and ground staff.

That said, for this routing connecting in Paris may still make sense. The flight itself from USA to Paris is nice.
I would book with an extra long connection time just in case and then if all goes well, he could try to get on an earlier flight out. You also could see if you can buy him a lounge day pass so he could have a more comfortable place to relax if he has to wait a few hours.

As said above, he will clear immigration at CDG on arrival but will not need to claim his baggage until he arrives in Marseille.

Alternatively, there is a train station in CDG Terminal 2. There should be a TGV route that runs directly from the airport to Marseille. The plus of this routing is he wouldn't have to worry about any luggage making the connection in Paris - he'd just pick up bags in Paris at baggage claim and head to the train station. He would probably be in Marseille before a connecting flight with a safe layover at CDG even takes off.

Which is better pretty much depends on what kind of a traveler he is and whether he wants to keep moving (and take the train train) or have some time to relax and not have to worry about bags (fly).

Done so several times. Good airline. As someone already stated, T2 at CGD has a TGV line. In fact, I'm taking the TGV from T2 to Bordeaux in June.

I flew Air France from IAH to CDG a few months ago. The flight was fine, albeit a little warm in the middle of the row. I had to get up a few times to walk around to cool off.

CDG can be a **** show. We had an escort coming off the plane so we skipped the long immigration line. Totally worth it, but it was expensive. We didn't have an escort on the return flight so had to wait in immigration line. It took well over an hour. Luckily we were early so we didn't miss our flight. My buddy who live in Barcelona connected thru CDG at Christmas and missed his flight to IAH. Long lines. Seems to be a theme there. I doubt I'll ever fly to CDG again with the VIP service.

Looking into other flight options. He has a friend that is flying from houston to Chicago to Brussels to Marsielle. The layover in Brussels is 2 hours. Is that enough time to go through immigration/customs?

ag97tx said:

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Looking into other flight options. He has a friend that is flying from houston to Chicago to Brussels to Marsielle. The layover in Brussels is 2 hours. Is that enough time to go through immigration/customs?

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Probably but why risk it? What about dropping him into a cool city first for 2 days and then goes to Marseille?

I still think non-stop to Paris then let him train to marseille or do a day or 2 in Paris then fly/train is a better option.

But if you don't think he's capable to navigate on his own, I could see just wanting him to get there in 1 piece.

Brussels won't be as bad as CDG.

At this point leaning towards flying into Paris and then fly to Marseille. He has never travelled by train and I am concerned about him getting luggage and just dealing with that and train schedules. When we travel we never check bags but he will need to for this so that is new for him too.

There are layovers in Paris of 3 hours, 4 hours or 5 1/2 hours. Would you book the longest just in case ?

He doesn't really have the option to fly in earlier because spring semester ends just a couple days before he has to fly out.

Just trying to make the trip as smooth as possible since he will be on his own and has never flown international without the rest of us.

hopefully your adult son can figure out how a train works

kidding aside, the 3 or 4 hour should be fine. It's not a terrible airport to hang out in.

As someone else said, maybe buy him a lounge pass to hang out in until his next flight.

Thank you for all of your advice. I try to remind myself that he is 19 years old and a smart kid. He is fine and not nervous about it but as a mom it is my job to worry