I am flying in to Paris Orly Sud and four hours later flying out from Paris
Charles De Gaulle to London. What options are available to me to change
between the airports, and which of these is likely to be the best? R
Sweeney, Lincolnshire
Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: At first glance you
might think that using the Metro system
would be the most sensible. It takes about an hour, with a change at Antony
station. The trains are very frequent, and the cost is about £13 one-way.
However the big snag using the Metro is that changing airports in Paris means
that you have to collect your luggage on arrival and cart it yourself across
the city to the next airport. This means first catching a shuttle bus from
the terminal to the main airport Metro and TGV station and negotiating the
change too.
So for a hassle free journey, an Air
France coach is the better choice. The stops are easy to find outside
the arrivals area of each Charles de Gaulle and Orly terminal, and usefully,
there is a baggage handler the coach stops to help load your bags on and off
the bus.
The journey is scheduled to take about 50 minutes, but of course it is
sensible to allow extra time in case of bad traffic. Coaches leave every 30
minutes from 6am to 22:30 pm, and fares are £12.70 one-way.
The minimum connecting time (MCT), which is the minimum amount of time between
flights at different Paris airports that you should need, is three hours, so
you should have plenty of time on the journey you mention. For admirably
clear step-by-step information on connecting from one airport to another,
see www.aeroportsdeparis.fr
