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Trip report 23/02/08 AF257 SIN to BIO (via CDG)

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  • Trip report 23/02/08 AF257 SIN to BIO (via CDG)

    Trip report 23/02/08 AF257 SIN to BIO (via CDG)

    Here is a trip report on a recent flight on Air France. It made me appreciate SQ even more after flying with AF... there are many little things that AF don’t do that really make the difference. Here is the report below (sorry no pics!)

    Flight: AF257
    Depatrure: SIN
    Arrival: CDG
    Aricraft: 777-300 ER
    Class: Y
    Reg: unknown

    It started with internet check in, where we chose our seats & purchased additional baggage (SG$860 for 20kg extra!). My colleague & i both chose aisle seats (I always find it better to be in the aisle on the long haul flights) and printed our boarding passes.

    We checked in the next day at Changi and waited approximately 40 minutes for the two passengers in front to clear the baggage drop aisle (the system was down apparently). We were given different seats than those chosen during check-in and new boarding passes (so whats the use of checking in online?).

    I proceeded to the SATS Rainforest Lounge in T1. It was ok as far as lounges go, it had quite a strong rainforest theme & didn’t have much selection of food or drink and not much more to say about it really!.
    We boarded the aircraft – it was still refuelling at this stage so it took quite some time to clear the formalities on the ground before taking off. We departed 24 minutes late.

    It was my first time in the Air France cabin, and my first 777-300ER flight (I believe this is quite a new cabin... the plane didn’t show too many signs of age). The cabin feels a bit... how to say it... plasicky if thats a word. The handset is like a cheap toy (mine was already showing signs of wear & tear), and the tray-table is a bit flimsy.

    After take off, the cabin crew switched on *all* reading lamps, in addition to the normal lighting, which I found a little strange... some passengers who knew their way around the handsets switched them off, but about 2/3 of people left them on which made the cabin very bright when some people were trying to get some sleep.

    The amenity kits were handed out (the headphones, eye-shade & a KFC style wet towel (nothing like the SQ fresh steamed ones!). Also we got a menu which looked like a postcard (will post a pic when I can scan it in)
    The meal service soon came around... the pastry was still a little frozen, but the rest of the food was good. The menu said that later further snacks were available, which I later found out was “Chinese Pasta” as the French flight attendant described, or Nissin noodles as most people know them! There was no drinks service before or after dinner. The menu said other things were available (e.g. ice cream, biscuits etc), but none were on board.

    A point to note, my colleague was sleeping when the meal service came ‘round. The cabin crew didn’t offer to bring him anything when he woke later, and he had nothing to eat ‘till breakfast time some 9 or 10 hours later.
    During the flight the cabin crew just sat in the galley, where you would have to get up to get a drink of water, juice or softdrink. There were no “SQ style midnight snacks” or drinks service at all until breakfast 1.5 hours before landing.

    At breakfast time, we had a tray of cheese, meat & bread roll, with some water. Again, no variety of drinks, just water, tea and coffee (i’m not a tea of coffee drinker myself so it was just plain old water for me.).

    I slept for over half the flight (it wasn’t too bad sleeping in Y), and the best thing was the ability to switch of the AVOD (so that when you’re sleeping it doesn’t shine in your face).

    Speaking of the AVOD... it was... strange. Parts of the menu system were unfinished – for example, click on the “Air France Information” title & it says “This feature will be coming soon”... well if it’s not there by the end of my flight, what’s the point of having it there? The thing I was impressed with was that the screen tilted more than the SQ screens, so when the passenger in front fully reclined I could still watch what I wanted. The selection of movies was limited (11 movies, 6 or so which were French... yes I know there were English subtitles but the movies didn’t look particularly appealing!).

    Also the flight connections information was promised 20 minutes before landing, but just as 20 minutes to touchdown came, the IFE was switched off & we could only see the map of where we were.

    We touched town and the plane came to a stop at a remote stand (just what we needed after a 13 hour flight.. a bus ride to the terminal). We had several buses waiting for us to transport us to passport control . Passport control at CDG was chaos! There were multiple queues and no one knew what the queue they were standing in was for. Luckily we were in the correct transfer queue and after a few minutes were on our way from Terminal 2E to 2D. Now that may not sound like far, but it was about a 20 minute fast walk for us. We got to our connecting flight desk about 20 minutes before scheduled departure, but were informed we were too late, the bus to the remote stand for that flight (AF9566) had already left. My colleague and I were appreciating the efficiency of SQ & Changi airport at this stage even more...

    At the AF customer service desk we were put on the next flight about 2.5 hours later, plus given free breakfast (a cup of tea & croissant worth EUR2.50 total)

    AF5960 from CDG to BIO was pretty uneventful. It was a Canadair CL-600, reg F GRZE) with about 20% load. We were so tired that we just slept the whole trip, except for the meal service which was a cookie (yes, just 1 small cookie) and a glass of juice.

    We arrived at BIO & had another bus transfer to the terminal. Once in the terminal there was a separate section for us to collect our baggage as we originated from outside the EU. The customs control was very strict, checking our passports & asking lots of questions... luckily they focussed more on the Spanish people arriving home and not on us foreigners travelling there. It seems that all the Spanish had their bags inspected before leaving the airport, but we could go through without the hassle. Or maybe its because he didn’t speak English so he let us through... who knows.

    So to sum it all up, there were many areas that SQ do so much better (from allowing extra baggage, wet towels, cabin service in general, connections... where do i stop!). Hopefully after this trip it will be SQ wherever possible and not AF again!

    Thanks for reading!

  • #2
    Here is the menu... note the only mid-flight snack available was noodles. The other offerings were not loaded on board

    [IMG][/IMG]

    [IMG][/IMG]
    Last edited by super bean flicker; 22 February 2009, 10:04 AM.

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    • #3
      wow...S$860 for 20kg extra....

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      • #4
        super bean flicker, thanks for sharing. I'm so glad I cancelled my AF tickets later this year (mistake fare or not).
        ‘Lean into the sharp points’

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        • #5
          yep... it wasn't cheap! and that was with a 30% discount for purchasing it online... would have cost over SG$1200 if we did it at the airport.

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