bj27

SDQBound, this is spot on with my opinion.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the amenity kit yet. I haven't had a chance to sample AF's, but KL's is lacking and DL's is far superior. I know the TUMI amenity kits now are a dime-a-dozen but I regularly repurpose mine to hold chargers, wires, and other bits into a "travel" kit that I pull out on flights and everything I need for the flight is in there.

KL's amenity kit has nothing really special inside, and the kit itself is hard to repurpose (at least for me) unless you really intend to use it as a wallet-replacement... (and it's far too large for men to carry around in pockets).

woodenshoe101

Priority is fine for checking in and doing the "D1" questions, but the centralized security for the non-schengen area is atrocious and afterwards everyone gets in the same passport line (no priority). Last time i was there (March) they were working on upgrading passport control booths and adding electronic pp control. They may be open by now, but I'm not sure if the electronic pp control is only for EU passports.

For one, I don't understand why it has to take forever checking passports of people leaving Schengen (e.g., the US doesn't care if you leave, only when you come in, which is how it should be).

On the security part - the gate checks weren't great, but the way they implemented the central setup it made things worse IMO. Slow system, unfriendly staff, got to take every little flipping trinket out of your bag. It's almost like those guys take themselves seriously. Back in March, there were 3 people in front of me on the priority side of security, and it took 15 minutes to get through the circus because everyone needs 7 bins (at the direction of said unfriendly staff). Then in the passport cattle line and it took me an hour total to get through security and passport control (on a random Thursday morning in March and our DTW flight was 40% full). I sure hope they get their act together because if there's no improvement for the summer, I'm with Grouchy and say that 3 hours pre-flight arrival may not cut it.

met19

That sounds horrible.

mnbp

I flew a similar itinerary this year for a Basel-Amsterdam cruise, and flew JFK-Zurich instead of connecting in Europe to Basel. There is a direct train from Zurich airport to Basel Central Station one or two times every hour, which made the transfer to Basel pretty easy.

SDQBound

Between the three, I prefer:

1) AF new amenity kit
2) KLM Amenity Kit
3) Delta's tumi (I find it boring )

bj27

Hahaha Delta's TUMI is boring but it's functional and I like functional.

met19

If I was coming from a direct flight to Zurich (used to live in NY and do the T4 walk) I would consider this, but as I am coming from San Diego and require a transfer. I guess I could transfer in JFK for the DL flight to ZRH. But not sure that makes sense as I could also transfer in Europe or even fly LAX to CDG and then train to Basel Central.

pbarnette

Exactly. They are easily the best amenity kits for repurposing I have ever had.

pbarnette

The tinned foie gras on AF ain't the sort of statement that gets me terribly excited.

KDCAflyer

Plus the ethical concerns that come with that particular food item. I'll pass.

SFO777

Only AF has First Class. If you want to treat yourself, La Première is spectacular and IMO, the best overall First Class product in the world, especially on the 77W which flies most days from LAX. One row, four seats. You are coddled from the moment you check-in at your departure airport to the moment you leave your arrival airport. This includes personal assistants from LAX check-in thru security to the LAX Qantas First Class Lounge and then to the plane.

At CDG, you are met at your arrival gate and escorted to a waiting limo and driven to and from the First Class Lounge, where customs formalities will be handled while you sip champagne. The La Première Lounge is gorgeous and offers great wines and amazing meals from Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse. Your personal assistant will then drive you to your connecting flight, escort you down the jet bridge and introduce/hand off to the purser. On arrival in Basel, a La Première personal assistant will be waiting for you on the jet bridge as the door opens and will escort you to baggage claim and then to your local transportation.

Trip reports from our La Première flights last fall from LAX.
• Air France La Première LAX-CDG
• La Première Lounge CDG connecting
• La Première Lounge CDG originating
• Air France La Première CDG-LAX

met19

Would have no issue getting La Premiere except there is no connection to Basel in CDG and I don't know if it could be booked on 006 stock as since its such a long flight getting some sky pesos out of it.

ijgordon

It's possibly worth flying into ZRH and taking the train in that case. It's less than 90 minutes and the train is right in ZRH airport.

Not sure about buying AF P on DL stock (I think there was a thread about it not too long ago), but you get 300% miles on AF stock, so depending on the cost of the ticket, you might actually be better off on AF stock.

SFO777

Huh? Most days there are 3 CDG-BSL AF Hop flights including a 4:50p that lets you spend an ideal 3 hours in the FCL.

I credit all of my DL fight to AF where I can maintain FB elite status with just a few flights.

Dennis88

I just flew D1 on the A330 and KL's WBC on its 747 combi. I liked both (and the A330 in D1 is much better than the 767) and for me personally it's hard to choose one I would absolutely prefer. I think the key to them being virtually equal is that I had one of the three solo seats on the lower deck of the 747; I don't think I would have liked it as much if I had been in the window or aisle of the 2x2 seating when traveling solo. I just booked the same trip for this coming September and made sure 1A was available prior to booking. Food on both was ok but neither had any of my favorites but that was ok.

This past Monday at Schiphol was quite busy (but not as bad as I thought it would be) but security plus passport control took 15 minutes tops; if you have sky priority and it's busy you tend to cut in line as people line up towards the sky priority security check, which is the furthest one on the right. In all honesty there really is no clear queue. For European passports there were automatic controls but they seemed rather slow; I lined up for the "other passports" line (even though I'm Dutch) and it took just a few minutes. I think the main problem for this is that there are no distinct lines and the space between security and passport control is too small for the amount of people. It would be best if passport control gets moved about 60-90 ft back in order to make more orderly lines.

Dennis