having seen Chaweng first hand, I wouldn't stay there for a freebie! Bophut is much nicer, as is Choeng Mon.
We flew Air France Dub-Paris- BKK, BKK - Samui with Bangkok Airlines 3 days later. On the way home, the check-in at the simply fabulous Samui airport checked our bags in straight through to Dublin. That saved a lot of worry about a fairly tight connection time in paris, which actually went without a hitch.
Don't know where in the country you are Sarah, but there's also a Shannon-Paris flight with Air France now. Takes a lot of hassle out, if you live anywhere near it.