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

[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.

[hsf]

nice report, thanks for sharing!

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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

[9V-SIA]

Thanks for another enjoyable TR

A lot of useful information

[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.

[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!

[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.

[yflyer]

Final thoughts...

Having flown QF, SQ and AF on their A380 in Y, I would rank SQ ahead of QF by a hair, with AF just a little further behind mainly because of the Y cabin ambience.

That said, QF has by far the best Y seat. This is an exceptionally comfortable seat, designed by Marc Newson. By comparison, the person who evaluates SQ Y seating must have a cast iron derriere. And the guy who designed the AF Y cabin must have been an ex submarine designer.

I have not flown EK, LH, TG or MH 380’s though, and hope to do so at some point.

All things considered, I felt that AF’s A380 service to Paris was pretty good, with superb catering and friendly service, and despite my reservations about the Y cabin ambience, I would happily fly the AF A380 again if the price was right.



Hope you enjoyed reading this!

[yflyer]

Overall it was a smooth and comfortable flight. The cabin crew were friendly and professional, and the catering and IFE were very good.

The only real quibble would be the design of the Y cabin, which as mentioned earlier, feels less spacious than the A380 Y cabins on SQ or QF.

One final positive for AF: 2 days before my flight, I received an email from AF with a non-transferable one way “exceptional upgrade offer”: S$289 to upgrade to Premium Economy, and S$611 to upgrade to Business, all subject to seat availability. The Y upgrade to J for $611 is an absolute bargain, and I would have taken up this offer right away if not for the fact that I was travelling in a group of 4, including two children.

[yflyer]

A nice thing about the timing of this flight is that it lands in Singapore at around 6.40pm in the evening, when it is still daylight.



My flight was right on schedule, and we descended through the clouds for a typical A380 landing: smooth, silent descent to the runway before a big thump…and the thump seems to be something you get with SQ and QF too!

[yflyer]

A couple of hours before landing, breakfast was served. This was a very basic breakfast consisting of cold cuts and bread rolls with a few sides (apple compote, yogurt etc). This was enough to stave off hunger, however it was nothing like the full hot breakfast service that SQ provides on flights of this length. I have not flown SQ to Paris in a while, so I am not sure if they still do this, but I believe SQ serves a full hot breakfast prior to landing for flights of this duration (can anyone confirm?).