A380-800 Seating Question
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
A380-800 Seating Question
I recently booked travel which includes JFK-CDG-JFK in Y on Air France's A380-800 and haven't seen much discussion on seat selection. I've never been on this aircraft but heard a lot of good things.
Delta.com shows me all the lower deck in economy with rows 10-26 being shown as preferred while airfrance.us shows these seats being blocked (I have no status on FB). Both sites show the upper deck available seating being rows 88-94. According to seatguru (and seatexpert), the upper deck seating is 81-94, behind Affaires.
I have a few questions that can hopefully be answered here:
Are rows 81-87 only available to passengers with status on FB? If so then is the only reason airfrance.us showing me the front of the plane because I have an assigned seat there from delta.com? I initially selected 11A for both flights.
I have read that the upper deck feels less cramped (8 across rather than 10)and is quieter - is that true even towards the back of the plane (say row 88 or 93)? Are there other reasons to be upstairs?
After JFK-CDG I'll have a connection with a 1:40 layover. Do I need to be as close to the front as possible or will I have enough time to deplane from the upper deck?
Thanks!
Delta.com shows me all the lower deck in economy with rows 10-26 being shown as preferred while airfrance.us shows these seats being blocked (I have no status on FB). Both sites show the upper deck available seating being rows 88-94. According to seatguru (and seatexpert), the upper deck seating is 81-94, behind Affaires.
I have a few questions that can hopefully be answered here:
Are rows 81-87 only available to passengers with status on FB? If so then is the only reason airfrance.us showing me the front of the plane because I have an assigned seat there from delta.com? I initially selected 11A for both flights.
I have read that the upper deck feels less cramped (8 across rather than 10)and is quieter - is that true even towards the back of the plane (say row 88 or 93)? Are there other reasons to be upstairs?
After JFK-CDG I'll have a connection with a 1:40 layover. Do I need to be as close to the front as possible or will I have enough time to deplane from the upper deck?
Thanks!
#3
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Are you sure you're looking at the right A380 config on SeatGuru? There are two. Economy starts at row 88 on the upper deck in the new config.
http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air...us_A380_V2.php
http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air...us_A380_V2.php
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
Thanks for the replies. I entered my flight info and the site gave me the version with no premium economy. According to airfrance.us, my connection is in the same terminal (2E) but am still a little hesitant sitting in the back.
#6
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 26
In my experience on the AF A380 coming into IAD the upper jet bridge was the first to connect, giving premium passengers a chance to beat the lower-deck economy through customs. Seems this benefit would extend to upper deck economy passengers. I was upgraded to premium economy so I wasn't too many rows in front of the upper-deck economy (which I had originally purchased/selected), and was in a fine position.
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
In my experience on the AF A380 coming into IAD the upper jet bridge was the first to connect, giving premium passengers a chance to beat the lower-deck economy through customs. Seems this benefit would extend to upper deck economy passengers. I was upgraded to premium economy so I wasn't too many rows in front of the upper-deck economy (which I had originally purchased/selected), and was in a fine position.
Also, how did you get upgraded to premium economy? Was it through FB status, miles, cash, ... other?
Thanks for the info.
#9
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: TPA DL GM/ 2.8 MM
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We were opup'd to Premium Economy from CDG-IAD on the 380 last month. The flight was oversold in economy. From some of the discussion with pax near us, it seems to happen fairly often.
#11
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New York, western US
Programs: DM/3MM
Posts: 4,246
A few notes:
Ignore any AF seatmap you see on Dl.com, as well as any seat assignments in your DL reservation. The only thing that you can assume is accurate are the seat assignments on AF.com.
Dl.com sometimes allows you to choose seats in cabins in which you don't have a ticket, e.g. I've had a C ticket and it let me choose a F seat. I assure you that even if those somehow carry over to AF.com, at one point they will remove that seat assignment and assign you another available seat in the class you booked.
I haven't flown in Voyageur in awhile, but last time I did I greatly prefer the upper deck. Quieter, and they have those storage bins on the side at the window seats.
1:40 min should be enough time to connect, especially if you are connecting all within 2E and your flight arrives on time. If you have access, use the Acess N 1 lines...they can save you a lot of time.
Ignore any AF seatmap you see on Dl.com, as well as any seat assignments in your DL reservation. The only thing that you can assume is accurate are the seat assignments on AF.com.
Dl.com sometimes allows you to choose seats in cabins in which you don't have a ticket, e.g. I've had a C ticket and it let me choose a F seat. I assure you that even if those somehow carry over to AF.com, at one point they will remove that seat assignment and assign you another available seat in the class you booked.
I haven't flown in Voyageur in awhile, but last time I did I greatly prefer the upper deck. Quieter, and they have those storage bins on the side at the window seats.
1:40 min should be enough time to connect, especially if you are connecting all within 2E and your flight arrives on time. If you have access, use the Acess N 1 lines...they can save you a lot of time.
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
A few notes:
Ignore any AF seatmap you see on Dl.com, as well as any seat assignments in your DL reservation. The only thing that you can assume is accurate are the seat assignments on AF.com.
Dl.com sometimes allows you to choose seats in cabins in which you don't have a ticket, e.g. I've had a C ticket and it let me choose a F seat. I assure you that even if those somehow carry over to AF.com, at one point they will remove that seat assignment and assign you another available seat in the class you booked.
I haven't flown in Voyageur in awhile, but last time I did I greatly prefer the upper deck. Quieter, and they have those storage bins on the side at the window seats.
1:40 min should be enough time to connect, especially if you are connecting all within 2E and your flight arrives on time. If you have access, use the Acess N 1 lines...they can save you a lot of time.
Ignore any AF seatmap you see on Dl.com, as well as any seat assignments in your DL reservation. The only thing that you can assume is accurate are the seat assignments on AF.com.
Dl.com sometimes allows you to choose seats in cabins in which you don't have a ticket, e.g. I've had a C ticket and it let me choose a F seat. I assure you that even if those somehow carry over to AF.com, at one point they will remove that seat assignment and assign you another available seat in the class you booked.
I haven't flown in Voyageur in awhile, but last time I did I greatly prefer the upper deck. Quieter, and they have those storage bins on the side at the window seats.
1:40 min should be enough time to connect, especially if you are connecting all within 2E and your flight arrives on time. If you have access, use the Acess N 1 lines...they can save you a lot of time.
Unfortunately no window seats are available upstairs but I took an aisle in the exit row. I'd have been upset if I got stuck in a middle seat because AF didn't acknowledge the Y seats I booked on delta.com. That'd be quite the fiasco since delta opens up about 200 seats that would otherwise be blocked by Air France.
#13
Join Date: May 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta PM, SPG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Amex Centurion, Delta Reserve
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Connecting through CDG can be a nightmare, and I've experienced nightmares there before (2hours wasn't even enough connection time bc of customs, immigration, baggage claim, transferring planes, etc).
As for your Y seating question, you can use your DL confirmation# on Airfrance.us to look up your seat assignments. I recently booked a DL-coded flight (DL8550) on the A380, and my seat assignment that I selected on Delta.com wasn't there when I checked on airfrance.us. Don't assume anything
As for your Y seating question, you can use your DL confirmation# on Airfrance.us to look up your seat assignments. I recently booked a DL-coded flight (DL8550) on the A380, and my seat assignment that I selected on Delta.com wasn't there when I checked on airfrance.us. Don't assume anything
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: JFK/LGA/EWR
Posts: 1,296
My original seat assignment (11A) showed up on air France but those seats are blocked otherwise. I'd think they would honor it but better safe than sorry I guess. I'd have liked a window seat flying into Paris but there will be a next time.
To be honest, I wouldn't be heartbroken if I had to spend a day in Paris because of a misconnect on the outbound . The return is a different story, but there is a later flight back to JFK that day. Either way, I hope I don't have to test air France's handling of misconnects.
To be honest, I wouldn't be heartbroken if I had to spend a day in Paris because of a misconnect on the outbound . The return is a different story, but there is a later flight back to JFK that day. Either way, I hope I don't have to test air France's handling of misconnects.
#15
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Connecting through CDG can be a nightmare, and I've experienced nightmares there before (2hours wasn't even enough connection time bc of customs, immigration, baggage claim, transferring planes, etc).
As for your Y seating question, you can use your DL confirmation# on Airfrance.us to look up your seat assignments. I recently booked a DL-coded flight (DL8550) on the A380, and my seat assignment that I selected on Delta.com wasn't there when I checked on airfrance.us. Don't assume anything
As for your Y seating question, you can use your DL confirmation# on Airfrance.us to look up your seat assignments. I recently booked a DL-coded flight (DL8550) on the A380, and my seat assignment that I selected on Delta.com wasn't there when I checked on airfrance.us. Don't assume anything
@usrleetch3, may I ask when you experienced the very long connections you are talking about? Things have very significantly improved at CDG over the past few years and I can't think of any instance (regardless of departure/arrival terminals) when it would take more than an hour (going slowly and without priority access) to go from arrivals to departures. Of course I would personally recommend planning much more time if you are on two separate tickets in case the first flight is late, which can always happen. Also, if your flights are after the Autumn, things should be even easier as AF will have refocused its activities in only 3 terminals: 2E (all non-Schengen), 2F (all Schengen except regional aircraft flights), 2G (all Schengen regional aircraft flights), which should significantly speed up transfers.
I fully agree with your second point. OP should look up his/her booking on the airfrance website. It happens A LOT for people to allocate a seat on Delta which does not transfer on the AF system and vice-versa (there are exceptions but you can only know by checking on the operating airline's website). The fact that you were able to pre-allocate an exit row would make me particularly cautious. So my advice would be check asap. If it worked, great, if it did not, you can allocate a valid seat on the air france website and avoid the risk of finding yourself on the day of the flight with a middle seat on the back of the upper deck!!
To OP, re-your question about P passengers - they will deboard completely separately as they are personally picked up from the aircraft by the La Premiere transit crew. Only after this is complete will the rest of the lower deck start deboarding.