London to Orly West Paris

[Ian99]

I'm looking at getting a flight from Orly West on Air France.

Leaving London, the 0540hrs Eurostar should get to Paris at 0932hrs. With the 60 minute check-in time that Air France say is required, that means I need to be at the airport at 1055hrs.

Does anyone know if 1 hour 23 minutes is enough to get from Eurostar to the Air France check in desk?

 

[sonic2009]

Personally I wouldn't risk it incase of delays to the Eurostar journey.

 

[NicholasNCE]

Possible, but highly risky! The RER B is notorious for its unreliability, here's the route anyway: http://www.vianavigo.com/en/routes-...d=/stif_web_carto/comp/itinerary/search.html_

 

[Ian99]

Thanks v. much for your input - is the RER notorious for its unreliability as in trains cancelled or trains delayed?

Does anyone know how far it is from where the Navette stops to the check-in area?

 

[CC 72100]

Thanks v. much for your input - is the RER notorious for its unreliability as in trains cancelled or trains delayed?

Yes - the line B is operated by both the SNCF and the RATP (~Parisian equivalent of TfL). It used to be that there were driver changes as they left SNCF zone (at Gare du Nord) to the RATP zone (South of Gare du Nord) but they have now 'united' the two sides into one driving team. It doesn't however work in practice, particularly if there is an SNCF strike, and thus the service is 'split' and 'restarted' at Gare du Nord, with a reduced frequency.

Causes of other delays include mechanical problems (the stock itself is getting on a bit), signalling issues and passenger actions. It's not uncommon, particularly in peak times, to have trains cancelled to reduce pressure on the infrastructure or trains sitting in tunnels as they all slowly funnel through the central core.

You are however travelling just after the peak has finished, which means that a lot of the sitting in the tunnel awaiting platforms etc. will be over as there will be less trains but they will be more likely to run on time. It may therefore only be a problem is there are serious issues and the service suspended.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm looking at getting a flight from Orly West on Air France.

Leaving London, the 0540hrs Eurostar should get to Paris at 0932hrs. With the 60 minute check-in time that Air France say is required, that means I need to be at the airport at 1055hrs.

Does anyone know if 1 hour 23 minutes is enough to get from Eurostar to the Air France check in desk?

Why not just fly from London to Orly? City and Heathrow both have flights to there. It would take away all the hassle of having to trudge across Paris.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Why not just fly from London to Orly? City and Heathrow both have flights to there. It would take away all the hassle of having to trudge across Paris.

If he's doing the London to Paris sector by train, he won't get chinged for the UK Air Passenger Duty at all.

If he flies to Orly to connect with a longer flight, even on separate tickets, he may well be treated for tax purposes as if he was doing the entire journey through from London. If the flight off Paris is a long haul...

 

[W-on-Sea]

Feasible, but a bit risky, I'd say. I really dislike Orly Airport... there are various different check-in zones in the terminals, depending on which flight and airline you are with. Some are (relatively) near where the OrlyVal arrives, some less so, so I can't directly answer that question. Queues at the check-in can sometimes be a bit hairy too - I'd actually worry about that more than problems with the RER.

 

[leytongabriel]

I live in NE Paris a few metro stops from Gare du Nord and would allow a good hour and a half to get to Orly. Really it depends on your nerves, (can you deal with it being on the close side?) and what sort of airline ticket you have. It's a bit of a trek from the Eurostar terminal on the west side to the RER platforms underground on the east side. Only missed a flight once, he said encouragingly, when there was a total RER breakdown. Don't be tempted by the Orlybus though, the timings don't look bad but go out of the window at busy times as it goes down some pretty narrow roads in Paris. Good advice from W-on-Sea - if you can find out where your check desks are before you get there it would help.

The oddest thing abot Orly is that there is a new tramway going through which has been totally ignored in all the public transport signing at the airport. OK it's designed for local people and airport workers rather than as a through route to Paris, but there must have been a bit of a row between the airports authority and the ratp for this to have happened.

 

[Ian99]

If he's doing the London to Paris sector by train, he won't get chinged for the UK Air Passenger Duty at all.

If he flies to Orly to connect with a longer flight, even on separate tickets, he may well be treated for tax purposes as if he was doing the entire journey through from London. If the flight off Paris is a long haul...

Very good point, Peter.

Having said that I also note that flying from Paris there are taxes too:

Passenger service charge (France) 12.19 EUR
Air passenger solidarity tax (France) 1.13 EUR
Civil aviation tax (France) 8.72 EUR
Airport tax (France) 26.00 EUR
Air passenger solidarity tax (France) 1.13 EUR
Boarding tax (Guadeloupe) 4.57 EUR
Passenger service charge (Guadeloupe) 23.05 EUR

 

[CC 72100]

The oddest thing abot Orly is that there is a new tramway going through which has been totally ignored in all the public transport signing at the airport. OK it's designed for local people and airport workers rather than as a through route to Paris, but there must have been a bit of a row between the airports authority and the ratp for this to have happened.

I wonder if it's because it would be a relatively slow journey from central Paris - line 7 to VilleJuif then T7. As you say, its more designed for airport workers, and that was certainly the impression that I got on launch day. (Yep, I went to the launch day of the T7 tram line, hottest ticket in town! )

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Having said that I also note that flying from Paris there are taxes too:

Nowhere near the tax levels from the UK, though, and if someone can travel at low cost or even lucky enough to be able to use FIP on Eurostar you don't negate the saving through the train fare either. Additionally, the underlying basic air fare may well be lower.

 

[Ian99]

Decided not to risk so went for a hotel for the night before. Probably just as well as now I've bought the tickets it suggests arriving there 3 hours before rather than the 1 hour their website says...

 

[dutchflyer]

The oddest thing abot Orly is that there is a new tramway going through which has been totally ignored in all the public transport signing at the airport.

THis simple replaces (part of)a former quite busy busroute. I noted (early oct '14) that In Orly (but I always confuse west and south there-it was the low cost terminal) the former, indeed not that many, signs pointing to the former bus have been overstickered with now tram. In the wee small hours this tram/bus + metro can easily cover the time from Orly to Gare du Nord in 75-80 mins. This route also serves (and thats its main source) the replaced Rungis main food supply centre/markets.