Air France......Gallic Indifference is Overcome by Good Service
Written: Aug 20 '02 (Updated Dec 12 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Polite, professional service, better cabin service than most in all classes
Cons: Indifferent at times. You can forget asking for an upgrade!
The Bottom Line: One the whole, Air France does an excellent job! Occasional indifference can be shrugged off as expected. Far better than US carriers.
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| tombarnes's Full Review: Air France |
My recent trip to Poland and Germany was taken with Delta and Air France. Our tickets were with Delta, but the flight from Paris to Warsaw and the entire return journey from Berlin to Washington were on Air France. This often happens with code-sharing arrangements. Check carefully before undertaking any international flight, especially with US carriers, as you may well find yourself sitting on someone else's airplane.
In this case, I was quite pleased to be flying with Air France, having flown with them before from Boston to Paris some years ago. I even doctored the return flight to be sure that we would be returning with Air France.
Paris-Warsaw
A flight of just over 1 1/2 hours on an Airbus 319 jet, much like the Boeing 737, but perhaps slightly larger. Though our overseas flights were in Business Class, one would have thought the front section of these planes was paradise for all of Air France's willingness to extend an upgrade. Don't even bother asking. They won't do it.. Go to the back of the plane, you! seems to be their response....In most cases, this is not so bad at all. The plane was quite clean, contrary to some reports I have read. There was even a complete breakfast served on this short flight. How many US airlines would throw more than a muffin at you now on such a short flight? None that come to mind. Drinks were also offered, though this was a morning flight.
The only problem on this segment was that we were delayed for half an hour, possibly to accommodate a tour group. The explanations from the Captain were in French, so some of us were left in the dark.
Berlin-Tegel--Paris-CDG
Another flight of less than two hours on another A-319. The Airbus really has become the bus of the skies, so it is aptly named. Nonetheless, we somehow got seats without anyone in between, so the normally cramped seating was not onerous. The middle seat even had a table that unfolded from the back to create an extra tray. great for playing cards!
Again, breakfast was served on this flight. While not exactly tantalizing, their breakfasts are far better than what one often receives in First Class on some US airlines these days. Also, they are timely in their delivery. The breakfast service commenced about 12 minutes after takeoff. Coffee, tea or chocolate, a croissant, Tropicana juice, Danone (no, not a misspelling) peach yogurt, a brick of a roll and doubtful looking cheese. As this was coach, after all, it all came on a white plastic tray.
The attendants were very quick to refill the coffee and tea. Somehow, they missed on the coffee. Its bitterness was not relieved by the cream. I simply gulped it down, grimaced, and begged for more....Such is my addiction.
Another thing to note about these short flights. The aircraft are generally new, and most seem to have the little "wings" on the seatbacks, giving one at least some semblance of space and comfort. Legroom in coach or L'Espace Affaires (Business) is not particularly remarkable. If you are thinking that their business class on inter-European flights might be a wonderland of Champagne and caviar, think again. Recent cost-cutting measures have eliminated champagne, and even some of the nicer items like salmon from these flights, though it is still available on longer trips.
Paris-CDG--Washington-Dulles
Hooray! My favorite airplane, the Boeing 777 would be our chariot across the skies this morning! I just love these planes, especially in Business Class. Even in Coach, there is more of a sense of space, due to the configuration of the luggage compartments. Right now, these new planes are the best in the skies.
We were seated in the front section of Business Class (this section is bisected by a galley), which is always my preference, as the service seems less rushed up here, although that may be my imagination. I always ask for this arrangement, whenever possible.
The seats themselves were comfortable and colored a light taupe with blue trim. While not as fancy as Delta's seats with their ergonomic gizmos in the seatbacks, there was plenty of legroom here. Reading lights with adjustable arms could be raised or lowered to your liking. Of course, there was the now ubiquitous video screen that popped up out of the armrest. I played with this for a while before giving up. There were 19 channels of programming. I don't much care for movies on airplanes anyway. A quick review of the music stations revealed at least two classical stations and at least as many jazz options, all mixed in with the horrible French pop music. Disco and flying do not go together.
Lunch--CDG-IAD
Lunch was a nice effort, if not exactly what I had hoped for. First off, instead of plastic, we were served on blue and white china with crisp linen. Glass was used throughout instead of plastic. Only the knives were plastic. Thank you Osama.....
We began with the tomato and goat cheese timbale, dried duck breast and salad. This looked more interesting than the shrimp and melon offering. The result? Not bad for an airplane, though the air-dried duck was a bit waxy.
We would likely have been better off with the lamb noisettes, vegetables and potatoes than with our selection. We opted for the suggestion do jour, a guinea hen in port sauce. While the hen had a good flavor, and was even tender, the Alsatian spaetzle had the exact texture and taste of air-dried string. They must have left it in the microwave 30 seconds too long. The so-called Vichy carrots were indistinguishable from Birdseye.
The cheese course came next. A choice of camembert, comte or langres cheese was offered. Finally, the dessert, an apricot tart for me, and plum cake for my father. The tart was very small, but managed to bring some flavor from its time in the icebox.
Shortly before landing, we were served a light snack of gouda with cumin and mimolette cheese, a dried fruit brochette (think prunes on a toothpick), fresh fruit and an apple crumble. Honestly, the dried pear looked like some sort of grub! This was made much more tolerable with the champagne...which brings us to wine.
Wine
The first thing to remember about Business Class is that the best vintages are going to be reserved for those in the very front cabin (in this case, there were exactly two passengers and an off-duty pilot up there, wallowing in the luxury of their mobile beds).
The champagne on offer was the unexciting, but drinkable Piper-Heidseick brut Millesime 1996. Tom Carr would likely tell you that there are far better champagnes out there, but I don't usually turn down free champagne unless it is sickly. More dangerously, the bottle was left out on the table of snacks set up after lunch had been completed, just a few short steps from my seat.
Only one white, a Pouilly-Fuisse 1999 Latour was offered. Fairly ordinary, but acceptable. The reds were a bit better, a Savigny-les-Beaune Ier Cru 1999 and a Haut-Medoc Cru Bourgeois 1998, Chateau Cambon La Pelouse. All in all, unexciting but drinkable.
As for aperitifs, Ricard was the obvious choice, though they offered Campari and a number of different bourbons, vermouths and Scotches. We finished with a rather weak Calvados, but thin Calvados is better than no Calvados at all.
Service
I have heard many complaints about the indifference of Air France personnel. While it is true that many of the ground staff are short-tempered and will shrug off questions with alacrity, the cabin staff are uniformly efficient, if not warm and fuzzy. On these flights, at no time was anyone in the cabin less than polite. The same cannot be said for the ground staff, but that is becoming the case worldwide.
Most curiously, an announcement was made to the effect that nicotine substitutes were available from the cabin staff if anyone wanted them. I have never before encountered such an announcement. I suppose that they have learned from experience?
Baggage
At the hotel where I work, as most of our guests come from overseas, I am often pitted against Air France in lost baggage wars. I was honestly afraid that something horrible would happen and my baggage would find itself in Luanda. I am happy to report that nothing of the kind happened. All of our bags arrived safely every time.
Overall
I might think again before choosing Air France for a flight within Europe, simply because there are so many new and less expensive options out there. For international service, however, Air France still does a good job, at least in business class. The atmosphere in the rear cabin on this last flight appeared less salubrious than I recall in times past (likely because it was simply a nearly full flight), but the front cabins were fine. The shorter flights were acceptably good in either class.
Cost
I used Delta frequent flier points to upgrade our tickets(about 80,000 SkyMiles for two upgrades), at least the Delta and the trans-Atlantic portions of the Air France flights. I paid roughly $1400.00 for each ticket, plus a $150.00 change fee imposed by Delta. Though I booked these flights in February and purchased the tickets within twelve hours after the initial booking, I was incredulous to find that the Business Class seats had somehow disappeared. This was six months ago! Delta insisted upon the change fees in order to book us into business class seats on another day. They were most inflexible, and blotted my reservation record with notes to the effect that nothing could be changed without even more fees....Word to the wise: make up your mind before booking with Delta or you will be paying lots of fees!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tombarnes
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Thomas Barnes
Location: Fort Lauderdale & Washington, DC
Reviews written: 688
Trusted by: 444 members
About Me:
With Barbara in Miami, 2004
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