Air France Air & Rail tickets: The whole lot you want to know

Do you know some airways, together with Air France, supply tickets that mix flights and prepare rides? They perform very like air-only itineraries besides one section is on a prepare as a substitute of a airplane. Some vacationers would possibly wish to do that if they’re flying right into a hub airport, resembling Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), after which persevering with on to a smaller metropolis the place there may be little flight connectivity. Reserving a mixed ticket could make the expertise extra seamless.

I had no thought mixed flight and prepare itineraries existed till I by accident booked an Air France Air & Rail ticket final month. Here is what the expertise was like and what you must know in case you’re contemplating reserving one your self.

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Reserving an Air France Air & Rail ticket

Final 12 months, my husband and I took benefit of one in every of Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards. It was providing economic system flights between Denver (our house base) and a number of other European cities for less than 15,000 Flying Blue miles every method.

We finally settled on a mixed journey to Prague and Brussels over Christmas. We flew into Prague, then took a sleeper prepare to Brussels and flew house from there. Little did we all know that would not be our solely prepare experience on this journey.

After making our reservation, we seen our return journey left not from an airport however from Brussels Midi/Zuid Station (which makes use of transportation code ZYR). We might take a prepare from Brussels to Paris after which catch a nonstop flight to Denver.

What we had stumbled upon was one in every of Air France’s Air & Rail itineraries. It was included in our 15,000-mile Promo Rewards flight from Brussels to Denver, and in keeping with Air France’s web site, it will work similar to any flight-only itinerary.

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Air France Air & Rail particulars

A part of the explanation why we, and different vacationers, may be confused by these kinds of tickets is that Air France’s web site lists 4 kinds of air and rail journeys, every of which has a special identify (and totally different punctuation marks, even!) relying on the area the place you might be originating or terminating. Here is how they break down:

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• Prepare + Air (trains in France)
• Air & Rail (trains to/from Brussels)
• Air France Good Join (trains in Switzerland)
• Eurostar (trains to/from Amsterdam)

For our Air & Rail journey from Brussels, the airline web site defined that your entire journey was booked as a single ticket, so we might deal with the hour and 32 minutes between our prepare and airplane as a connection. Arriving at a significant worldwide airport like CDG over the vacations simply an hour and a half earlier than a global flight appeared unwise. As a connection, nonetheless, it appeared extra affordable since we might be pulling proper into the station on the airport.

Additionally, if a delayed prepare induced us to overlook our flight, Air France could be answerable for rebooking us — a assure you will not get in case you merely take a prepare or different public transport to the airport. Plus, in case you paid money to your ticket, you’d earn Flying Blue miles on the prepare section similar to you’d on a flight (besides trains in Switzerland).

Our Air France Air & Rail expertise

We had been capable of examine in on-line the day earlier than our return journey to Denver and arrived on the prepare station about an hour earlier than departure the next morning (the Air France web site suggested us to take action no later than half-hour earlier than our prepare departure time).

We had some bother discovering the Air France counter within the labyrinthine station as a consequence of poor signage, however it was no worse than a few of my experiences navigating main airports. Plus, it was decked out for the vacations.

On the Air France counter, we discovered a smaller model of what you’d see at airport check-in, together with Sky Precedence and economic system strains. There was additionally a Eurostar Premier Lounge, accessible to vacationers with Air France business-class or La Premiere tickets and vacationers with higher tiers of Flying Blue or SkyTeam elite standing.

After a brief wait, we offered our passports to the employees member, who checked our baggage, printed our boarding passes (which included these for each the prepare and flight parts of our journey) and pointed us to the right platform. She additionally defined that our baggage would go all the way in which to our last vacation spot so we might not have to retrieve them and recheck them at CDG.

Nonetheless, word that in some circumstances, you may receive your boarding passes for the prepare and airplane however should hold your baggage with you on the prepare and examine them on the airport. That is the case if:

• Your flight departs from Paris-Orly Airport (ORY)
• Your vacation spot is Tel Aviv
• Your flight is operated by Delta Air Strains
• You’re staying in Paris for greater than 24 hours (i.e., doing a stopover)

The capability of the TGV inOui prepare maintain is restricted to 60 baggage objects, too, so if yours just isn’t a type of first 60 checked objects, it’s a must to hold it with you on the prepare and examine it on the airport. That might make it a lot tougher to catch your connecting flight. Remember to learn the web site’s fantastic print relating to baggage earlier than you e-book your Air & Rail ticket.

Since this was an intra-European prepare experience, we did not should undergo safety or watch for our boarding group to be referred to as. So, we headed straight to the platform and into our cabin.

In line with Air France’s web site, all Air France Air & Rail tickets to and from Brussels are in top quality on the TGV inOui prepare, even when your flight is in economic system.

Our seats had been assigned mechanically at check-in, and we did not should pay further for particular seats like we might on many planes (our Air France flight from Paris to Denver price $30 per individual to decide on seats). My husband and I had been on separate bookings, however as a result of we checked in on the identical time, we ended up seated subsequent to one another.

Our first-class prepare seats weren’t precisely what you’d count on from top quality within the sky. They reclined however not far. There was no meal service, only a number of objects that you might order on-line and decide up within the eating automotive. There have been free (albeit spotty) Wi-Fi and a number of films, reveals, podcasts and video games obtainable on the SNCF (French prepare firm) portal, although these crashed after I tried to stream them.

However we had been completely comfy on our 90-minute experience — and it was good with the ability to use the restroom freely (with out ready for the fasten seat belt signal to show off).

Once we arrived at CDG, we did not have to fret about gathering our baggage or checking in. Nonetheless, we nonetheless needed to navigate the winding multilevel airport and discover our gate.

As a result of CDG has a number of safety checkpoints for various gate sections, we did not undergo safety instantly. First, we went via immigration and passport management. Then, we hopped on an airport prepare to the L and M gates of Terminal 2E (Air France’s important worldwide departure hub), the place we acquired in line for safety. By the point we reached the checkpoint, we had solely about 20 minutes earlier than our flight was as a consequence of begin boarding. Fortunately, the safety line was brief and we had simply sufficient time to seize a to-go breakfast earlier than making it to our gate.

We needed to present our boarding passes at a number of steps all through the airport, together with safety, immigration and even on the money register within the store the place we acquired breakfast. We used the identical boarding passes the agent had given us on the prepare station, as they included all the knowledge for our flight.

We reached our gate proper as boarding began. It was a bit annoying, however it was good understanding that if a delayed prepare induced us to overlook our flight, Air France could be on the hook to assist us.

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Different airways that supply Air & Rail tickets

Though I had by no means heard of mixed flight and prepare journeys, it seems they are not unusual. Air France and KLM have been providing these tickets for over 20 years, and some different carriers supply one thing comparable. These embody:

Backside line

In comparison with merely flying, our prepare journey felt a lot quicker and smoother than if we might had a connecting flight in Brussels. We needed to arrive simply half-hour earlier than departure, in comparison with two or three hours for many airports, and the prepare from ZYR to CDG took solely half an hour longer than a direct flight from Brussels Airport (BRU) to CDG. General, we saved time — and loved a few further hours of sleep earlier than our journey.

If given the selection, I might gladly take a prepare as a substitute of a flight. Having each air and rail choices ought to, in concept, give vacationers extra choices and make it simpler to go to locations the place Air France might not have as a lot of a presence within the sky. Contemplating the good deal I acquired by buying my ticket with miles, I am glad to have extra methods to make use of Air France sooner or later.