stargold

Hello all

Currently weighing up some options to travel Europe-ICN and one of the possibilities is KE miles which I can use either on the KE flight, or the AF codeshare.

Although I've never travelled in F on either airline yet, I'm somewhat more curious to try AF F than KE F. Some of the things going through my mind:

- Fabulous La Premiere lounge at CDG which I can only accesss on AF F, and the ground service generally - there would be nothing special about KE F ex-CDG.
- Food on AF F seems marginally better than KE F, although I think they spend more money on wine on KE
- Seat obviously much better on KE than AF, although both turn into fully flat and wide beds
- Service - KE is very slick and attentive but I find it sometimes a bit impersonal, not sure what to expect on AF

Basically, to be honest the biggest differentiator is the lounge, and if I went for AF then I will make sure I enjoy the lounge fully. I don't know of a better way of trying out the lounge because AF miles redemptions in F are just absurdly priced.

My head is shouting KE but (inexplicably) my heart says AF... Am I going crazy?

orbitmic

Neither is a particularly great F (KE varies a lot by bird btw). Lounge wise, AF would indeed be miles ahead, food and wine wise, KE would be clearly ahead.

stargold

KE seat in this case would be the Kosmo Suites since I would be going on a 77W.

Theoretically I could even eat enough in the lounge for the on-board food not to matter!

brunos

KE Kosmo suite is wider than AF sideways seats with little privacy. Importantly to me the IFE is superior with a much wider screen.
Service, wine and food is better on KE than AF.

Indeed AF F lounge in CDG is a nice lounge and a great experience if you have never done it.
But it is a lounge nevertheless and you will get bored if you stay there a couple of hours. Wines in lounge are not great (nothing like onboard KE) and food is not like a michelin-starred restaurant. Would I stuff/plaster myself before enjoying the experience of a F dinner onboard? certainly not. Would I pay an extra EUR50 to get the AF F lounge over a typical J lounge? yes. Would I pay more? no. To me a lounge is a waiting place to board before enjoying a great F experience onboard. KE F experience in Kosmo suite should be great. In AF F it depends. But if you are not used to F, both experiences will be a treat.

F awards on FB make no sense whatsoever. If you can get AF F on a KE codeshare with a reasonable amount of miles, why not try it?

stargold

Thanks, brunos. I should probably clarify:

1. Not too fussed about IFE generally - happy to bring my own
2. I also agree with you re. lounges most of the time and stopped spending more than the minimum time required/lounge hopping - it's just that somehow, the La Premiere lounge has grabbed my attention for reasons unknown and I'm really curious about it!
3. It's only AF and KE that I haven't tried in F - I've had a number of flights in F on SQ, NH, CX, LX and LH longhauls. Maybe I should save myself the disappointment and skip KE/AF altogether?

thierry

I flew both not long ago

Tend to agree with most, AF experience at CDG is one of the best out there, the lounge is far superior to most (BA Concorde lounge for example or LX in ZRH)
In flight experience is great too except for the IFE and the seat, which are dated, however the crews and the food are far better than on KE

I flew twice KE A380, and the seat is fantastic, however the crews are quite impersonal, stiff and not very engaging, the food was just ok. I even had to request that the crew makes sure Y passengers don't come over to F-cabin during the flight to have a look.

My conclusion: If I was to fly CDG-ICN tomorrow I would pick AF

Braniff

Very much agree. But surely there are better ways to spend miles than AF F.
I am a cynic and believe the AF F experience at CDG will deteriorate quickly. I dont find the AF inflight F experience anything special. Usually empty these days (good) but that unfortunately seems to include a shocking lack of flight attendants ...

ranskis

AF flies at 13.30 and KE flies at 20.30 more or less. Over-enjoying the lounge is easier (at least to me) for AF flights leaving past 23. Even though their breakfast is very good, the most interesting food is served at lunch/dinner.

Also, make sure you can access the AF F lounge when booked on a KE coded flight operated by AF, I am not 100% sure about that.

brunos

That is a good question.
Not obvious that you get the full service on the ground if you book as KE ticket. It will be sold as KE F
On the opposite, AF website sells La Premiere on both AF264 (operated by AF0 and AF 262 (operated by KE), so I would expect that you get the La Premiere lounge access on the KE-operated flight, meaning that you get the best of both worlds, AF La Premiere on the ground and KE F onboard.

stargold

I can't imagine that a KE F ticket on AF-operated lunchtime flight will be denied La Premiere lounge access, but I'll double check to make sure.

I'm fairly confident that a KE ticket on the KE evening flight would not enjoy access to the La Premiere lounge.

Re. AF flight number on the evening KE flight, I can't do that because it would be issued using KE miles and I don't think they have access to F cabin on a native AF flight number...

Thanks for the comments everyone

stargold

Just a small bump, as the CDG-ICN on AF F is looking quite likely.

1. Where is the best place to double check that I will be entitled to access the La Premiere lounge on a KE5902 ticket in F (op. AF264)? Is there a special call centre for La Premiere bookings who might be more familiar, perhaps call the lounge itself if they have a phone number, or do I have to call the general reservations line?

2. What time is the switch-over to the lunch menu at the lounge?

3. Also, on board the flight, is it dine on demand in La Premiere or set meal times?

Thank you.

Eddy421

Hi Stargold,
Did you pull the trigger and already took the AF first flight or
were you able to get any confirmation on these points ?
Thanks a lot for the feedback
Eddy

Zembla

Based on what do you think this? It's going strong for years!

orbitmic

+1. While as noted by others, the experience at outstations seems to often be underwhelming (I have not flown AF F from enough places to have a representative notion), I personally think that the AF F experience at CDG is outstanding and I really do not think that it is likely to go downhill any time soon.

Goldorak

+1