Flying Air France Out Of Paris CDG? You Can Now Check Your Bags In Town (For A Fee)

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Air France has partnered with the French national train operator to offer passengers departing Paris Charles de Gaulle the opportunity to check their bags at a central Paris railway station on the day of their flight.

For the next 3 months (this program started on 17 December) passengers flying Air France, Joon (assuming it still exists) and HOP! out of Paris CDG will be able to check-in their suitcases at Paris’ Gare du Nord railway station on the day of their flights.

The checked bags will be taken to the airport and loaded on to the aircraft with no further interaction from the passengers so they’re free to head straight through security and to a lounge or to the gate when they eventually get to the airport.

Here are the details per Air France:

An Air France check-in counter, located at Paris Gare du Nord next to platform 3 opposite the SNCF shop, will welcome customers for three months as from December 17, 2018 from 10am to 7pm Monday to Sunday.

All baggage, with a maximum weight of 32 kg and a maximum dimension of 158 cm, can be checked in.

For family trips, a member of the family with parental authority can drop off everyone’s baggage. This person must be part of the travelling party and must show all the family’s travel documents.

This service is an important part of SNCF Gares & Connexions’ City Booster strategy, which aims to open up stations in the city and provide improved connections to other modes of transport. It also helps customers travelling to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport by public transport by taking their baggage and simplifying their mobility.

This service is open to passengers flying in the Economy, Premium Economy and Business cabins on all routes except routes to Israel and, very annoyingly, the US.

The cost of the service is €15 for the fist bag and then €10 for each subsequent bag.

Thoughts

I’ve used the in-town check-in in Hong Kong in the past and I’ve loved it….but that’s free and can be used when flying a variety of airlines.

Here the service is only for travelers flying with Air France and its siblings and it costs upwards of €15.

Still…

I can see this being a useful service for some which why I’m surprised that it’s only currently scheduled to be on offer for the next three months (perhaps it’s a trial?)

Travelers with late flights out of Paris can now choose to drop their bags at Gare du Nord rather than leaving them with the bell desks at their hotels and, more importantly, they don’t have to struggle to get all their luggage on the train as they head to the airport – SNCF takes care of that for them.

It will be interesting to see what works out cheaper – a taxi to the airport (where it doesn’t matter if you have luggage as it just goes in the trunk) or an in-town drop off and a train fare to Paris CDG.

I suspect that this may be a money saver for solo travelers while families with multiple bags may be better off taking a taxi….it’s just a shame this isn’t of much use to US travelers heading home.