olivedel

I fully agree with you. When you arrive after a 13-hour flight cumulated with a 14-hour delay, you just want to get where you need to. And AF could have eased that by not having us to beg for a taxi and a new ferry ticket.

NickB

Agreed. While it is cheeky, I can live with little white lies (which are probably not even lies, in the sense that the agent probably believes them anyway, in other words more untruths than lies) and, to some extent, expect them (a bit like those "one time exceptions" for those things one is in fact entitled to) as long as the practical outcome is good.

JOUY31

Thanks for sharing !

olivedel

As DL just announced the extension of the Porsche transfer service (and clarified eligibility criteria) in most of their hubs for their Diamond Elites (125k miles, 140 segments per year), AF could partner with them to ease the transfer of P-class connecting passengers and provide an experience at outstations that could try to match the one at CDG.

orbitmic

I don't really agree because if they do, obviously, DL Diamonds will also get the right to get the P service when transiting at CDG while those of us with platinum cards regardless of flight frequency will get zilch!

Goldorak

Thank you guys for all your nice comments
As Olivedel said, we were pretty upset disembarking in HKG, to discover that no proper arrangements have been made and that we had to argue for something with an easy, cheap and obvious way of resolution. And this should not happen for P pax.
We will send some suggestions for improvement for the "weak" points identified during this trip and hopefully, it will be useful.

I read your very good trip report during our trip So I was very enthusiastic in advance . Thank you for your TR ^

olivedel

I was just thinking about AF paying DL for the service.
I agree with you that trading this benefit with a reciprocal service in CDG for DL Diamonds would not be an option.

orbitmic

Let's put it that way - so far, every time there has been a negotiation between AF and DL, IMHO, DL managed to get much more for their elite members than AF for theirs (e.g. SWUs). Sadly, I personally don't think that things would be any different here: DL is a much more powerful player than AF, and DL seems to still at least minimally value getting more for their passengers whilst I am afraid that AF have mostly got other negotiation priorities.

af fp

We just flew in La Premiere, unfortunately the old cabin arrangement, still we both were very impressed with the progress that was made with service and product quality, our last Premiere flight was five years ago (we are poor ).

The food was really excellent, the Givenchy amenity kit impressive, and there was osetra caviar and Krug. It reminded me of the service and food I got on the Concorde twelve years ago.

AF have tremendously improved their product, I guess if one can pay for this and uses the additional services (lounge, private assistance, limo service to the plane) there is actual value in it.

Very impressed!!

Goldorak

I can only agree with you. They have really improved a lot the entire product in-flight and on the ground. I'm glad you had a good time

CGRA

Glad that you enjoyed flight.
So AF is now at the same level than the other carriers ?
Soon we'll have a 3 and maybe a 4 rooms suite...

brunos

Good to hear that onboard service/food/wine is now on par with competition.
Let's hope they quickly retrofit the hard product which is really poor.

delanotre

So there is only one plane equipped with the new First class cabin: F-GSQH, flying only on CDG-SIN-CGK (AF274/279).

Is there a published planning for next First class retrofits?

jacob_m

I flew in La Première Paris-Johannesburg a week ago and can confirm the new china has now been introduced, with proper champagne glasses and a special breakfast china. According to the FA it was introduced 1 December 2014. Even though I had already seen it during AF Expo I thought it was lovely.

The drink list has also once again changed now offering Krug as champagne.

jacob_m

Last week I also got to try the VIP service available for departing La Première passengers at Schiphol. And what a wonderful service!

A quick e-mail to the La Première helpdesk in NL and an hour later I got a reply a booking had been made for the VIP Center, the same facilities used by e.g. the Dutch royal family.

It was a bit tricky to find when arriving at the railway station but once there everything was really top-notch, a flawless experience. A lounge assistent opened the very discreet door in the departure hall, took care of my suitcase and then showed me to a private VIP-room with sofas, TV and a work desk with newspapers where there were also some snacks waiting. She asked me if I wanted anything to drink and arranged an espresso and a glass of white wine from the bar. There was also a menu with plenty of dishes to order, but I was not very hungry. It was very quiet around christmas and I basically had the entire VIP center to myself.

The check-in process was taken care of by a lovely woman from KLM Special Services who arrived a few minutes later to introduce herself and get all the travel documents and who later drove me from the lounge to the plane 25 minuter before departure, opening up a dedicated security checkpoint on the ground floor just for me. I was the very last person to board the aircraft, the doors were closed two minutes later.

These kind of special arrangements is one of the main reasons why I absolutely love La Première. Basically no other airline does this (Garuda and Lufthansa to some extent, but that's about it).