Air France AF256 (CDG-SIN) A380 in Y (Dec 2012)

[mr_botak]

Thank you - that answers a question. I once took the 77W on this run which was dismal. The Y cabin looks not that much better on the 380. How do they manage to make it look so cramped.

[Kyo]

I was pleasantly surprised to also see a small Mandarin orange on the tray. It was a quirky touch – I thought of saving mine to use when visiting during Chinese New Year next year.

Good luck with that! It'll probably be rotting...

And thanks for the TR!

[yflyer]

Mr Botak: When I booked my flights I went as far as changing my travel dates to ensure I was on an A380 both ways. Not keen to fly 10 abreast 777's!

Kyo: Hmmm...good point! Things in my refrigerator tend to stay there way past their expiry date.

Thanks for reading.

[9V-SIA]

Thanks for another enjoyable TR

A lot of useful information

[yflyer]

9V-SIA: Thanks...and glad you found the info useful.

[Carfield]

Thanks for the wonderful trip report!

Well I was hoping that AF will provide a different meal to PE, but at least they have different appetizer and dessert!

Most Asian airlines still serve a hot breakfast prior to arrival, which I think it is necessary given the flight is not a short hop from US East Coast to Europe. CX tried to do the continental style breakfast and the feedback is pretty bad that CX has to bring back the hot breakfasts again. I sometimes think it is more of a cultural thing, but given how long the flights are, a hot meal or even a heartier meal should be served.

BTW, it is nice to have printed menus in economy!

Thanks,
Carfield

[yflyer]

Carfield: Thanks for your message, and nice to know that a hot breakfast should still be available on SQ/CX etc. I know SQ do pretty good noodle dishes (and even Singapore style chye tow kway) for breakfast. For some reason it seems very difficult to do a good egg breakfast on aircraft. I have seldom been satisfied by the egg dishes SQ or other airlines serve for breakfast.

[ek&sq]

Thanks for the report. It's good to see that AF offer a fairly decent product on their A380 flights.
What were the loads like? It'll be interesting to see if they can sustain filling such a large aircraft once they lose the feed from QF in April.

[yflyer]

Hi ek&sq: Thanks for reading. My flight CDG-SIN looked completely full in Y both upstairs and downstairs. That said, this is Christmas / holiday season, so most flights would be full.

I am not looking forward to the end of the QF Kangaroo route via Singapore either. The QF A380 flights between SIN and SYD/MEL were always very good in Y (and J too).

Here is a picture I snapped, many months ago, at Changi T1 before boarding a QF flight to Australia, showing the QF A380 I was about to board as well as an AF A380 in the background which had just landed. This was on the evening of 2 April 2012 and must have been one of the first AF A380 services to Singapore.

[hsf]

nice report, thanks for sharing!

[yflyer]

hsf: Thanks for reading! I notice that you are based in SYD...quite a few A380 flights out of SYD, and several very nice lounges with good tarmac views, in particular the QF lounge and the Air New Zealand lounge. I tend to use the ANZ (Star Gold) lounge instead of the smaller SQ lounge when I am flying SQ.