KL803

Hi my friends, it's time for another trip report. This time about traveling on AF La Première from ZRH to SIN and return. For this trip, I used 160K Flying Blue miles – booked just before the dreaded April 1 changes to the program. Due to low availability at the time of booking, my wife could only get a Business Class (Affaires) award, but we planned to swap seats each way. We added a Jetstar return flight from SIN to MNL to complete our journey.

PART 1: ZRH-CDG and La Première lounge at CDG

a) Routing, airlines and seat assignments

ZRH-CDG AF5109, C, ARJ85, 1A, 2A → swapped to 2A and 2C on board due to better comfort
CDG-SIN AF256, P/C, B77W *, 2L, 4L → swapped to 2E and 2F (!) on board by Chief Purser
SIN-MNL 3K 561, Y, A320, 4E, 4F

* = according to seatguru


b) @ ZRH

OLCI for the flight worked exactly 30 hours before departure, but once again there were two issues: OLCI on the AF website didn't work, so I went to the KLM site where there was no seat map for the B77W. Not that this mattered because our seats were already assigned, however, somebody else would probably not have been able to select a different seat.

We were quite early at the airport, so there were almost no people at the check-in counters. ZRH as an AF outpost would not wrap our checked bags as they do in CDG for La Première passengers; the check-in clerk did actually apologize for this! When I asked, how our transfer at CDG would be managed – being me in La Première and my wife in Affaires – the clerk wouldn't know but referred us to the AF/KL ticket desk. There, a friendly lady took her time to call CDG explaining our situation, with the positive result that we would be met at the parking stand upon our arrival and transferred to the first class lounge.

With this good news, our trip started off very positive, indeed, and we headed to the lounge. This time, I didn't take pictures of the ZRH lounge, it's not really worth it anyway. The usual snacks and drinks were offered, the only recent changes were the newly installed HP computers for surfing the web. WiFi is not free of charge in the lounge! There was an announcement for our flight, so we headed through security in Terminal B to access the bus gate.



c) AF5109 Stats: (not much available) www.flightstats.com

Boarding started on time at 7:15 p.m., and unlike on another trip I made earlier this year, there was more than just one bus available for boarding which sped up the process remarkably. We were on the 2nd bus and reached the plane after a short ride around the terminal building.


Boarding of Cityjet ARJ85 at ZRH Terminal B

Bus boarding isn't my favorite way of entering an aircraft, but also has it's advantages: the possibility of plane spotting:


A Swiss A 320 turning into Terminal A

We were greeted by the friendly crew and were offered to sit together because the load in Affaires was quite low, only 7 or so passengers. We chose row 2 seats A and C. Rows 1 and 2 on the ARJ85 have immovable armrests, so row 3 would have been the best choice, but the seats there were already occupied.

Food options weren't that great, I chose the offering for picture taking reasons only. We were to have a much nicer dinner once we arrived in Paris.


Cityjet dinner in Affaires

The bread was cold and hard, I ate just a bit with cheese and a Perrier.


Hard and cold bread



Only edible with cheese and Perrier

The flight itself was uneventful and despite the quite bad weather all the way from ZRH to CDG we departed and arrived pretty much on time. Our parking stand was just in front Terminal 2G, the Schengen terminal which is a real improvement because it means less bussing around CDG. Right after we parked and the stairs were attached, we were called to contact the ground staff waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs.

A very nice female AF attendant greeted us welcome to Paris and drove us in an Infinity SUV to the First Class lounge.


Infinity FX model



d) @ CDG

There was a private security checkpoint at the entrance of the lounge (airside) with actually very friendly staff. After security, an elevator brought us up to the main lounge which is huge and spacious and just fantastic!


At the air-side entrance of the lounge

Because we were about to leave Schengen, our passports were taken one of the lounge attendants and soon after brought back by a huge police frontière guy with a smile. There weren't many people in the lounge, we we enjoyed a little tour of the lounge before we stopped at the well-stocked bar for a glass of champagne and a snack.


The "bar rouge" inside

The dining area is in the center of the lounge, there's à la carte food available as well as a buffet which is behind the center wall in the picture:


Dining hall with buffet at the back wall

We finished our drinks at the bar then went to our table for the dinner.


Nice rosé Champagne …



… and nice decoration, too

Food is really, really good, prepared by Alain Ducasse. We had a shrimp salad and a cold tomato soup for starters and chicken and veal medallion for the main, all extremely tasty.


Shrimp salad



Tomato soup glacée



Chicken à la Provençale



Veal medaillon rosé

The interior of the lounge is all shaped round, even the bathrooms. There are many magazines and books, plenty to read for people with a long layover. There has to be free WiFi, but we were both too busy exploring the lounge, eating and drinking to check this out.


Magazines and books



Bathroom design

Time flew buy, and at about 10.45 p.m. we were again escorted to our flight to SIN. We had the same car and driver again, we enjoyed the 10 minutes ride to the gate. The only point one could find a little bit negative is, that the car brings you to the bottom of the gate where you have to climb the stairs to the jet-bridge. I'm sure, there's an elevator, but us young sports climbed the stairs …

KL803

PART 2: CDG-SIN in La Première

a) AF256 Stats: www.flightstats.com

We were pretty much the last passengers to board and immediately welcomed warmly on board. I was the only booked passenger in La Première and even to the excellent Chief Purser it seemed pretty awkward that my wife and I were separated. So he invited her to sit next to me to insure us an unforgettable journey! We thanked him so much for this rather unexpected upgrade. Of course, only one meal for La Première was loaded, but that was really not important because we were full from the nice dinner at the lounge.

Here are some impressions of the cabin before departure. We had another glass of Champagne again, but no snacks have been offered. I sat on 2L for departure, because the Chief Purser obviously decided the upgrade of my wife in the very last minute. She sat on 2F for take-off; I later switched to 2E for the remaining flight time.


Seat 2L



Seat 2L

As we both were already full from our dinner at the lounge, I just took the hors-d'œvre which was an excellent foie gras and a glass of Meursault Les Clos 2005 Bouchard Père & Fils (White Burgundy).

Here's the complete menu card:

SUPPER A LA CARTE

Choice of hors d'œuvre

Stuffed baby vegetables complemented by yellow bell pepper sauce
Layered leek and foie gras sered with balsamic cream sauce

Choice of main course

A jus flavored with ajowan, an anchovy flan and carrots with thyme add a savory touch this veal dish.

A fresh sauce infused with mint and licorice enhances this roasted fillet of brill, served with artichokes delicately seasoned with bergamot and risotto cake flavored with squid ink.

Our special selection of cheese

Camembert, Crottin de Chavignol, Fourme d'Ambert

Fresh bakery selection

Dessert

Raspberry tartlet
Sherbet served with cookies
Assortment of fresh fruits

BUFFET

Please help yourself at your convenience. If you prefer, you may also ask your flight attendant to serve you at your seat.

Asian noodles
Sandwiches
Miniature pastries
Basket of fruit
Häagen-Dazs ice cream

BREAKFAST

Kiwi, mango and papaya salad
Cereal yogurt
Butter, preserves and honey

Breakfast pastries

Choice of main course

Poached eggs served with ratatouille
Pancakes with apples, apple compote and caramelized apples

WINE LIST

Duval-Leroy Cuvée Authentis «Clos des Bouveries» 2002

CHAMPAGNE

Barsac Château Doisy-Védrines 2004 Second Cru

WHITE BORDEAUX LIQUEUR

Meursault Les Clos 2005 Bouchard Père & Fils

WHITE BURGUNDY

Pommard 2005 Jean-Claude Boisset

RED BURGUNDY

Pessac-Léognan Domaine de Chevalier 2004 Cru Classé

RED BORDEAUX


Foie gras

As you can see, the table is quite spacious.


Dining Table

To finish the dinner, I tasted the French cheese buffet.


Selection of cheese

For the goodnight drink, I chose a good glass of Highland Park, an 18 year old Single Malt Whisky.


A good sized drink!

Before bedtime, we changed to the complimentary Christian Lacroix Pajamas in the bathroom, while the cabin crew prepared our beds.


My wife likes to pose …



Full flat bed



Knocked out

With all the booze in our system, we slept like babies until we were about 90 minutes out of Singapore. Obviously, the turbulences above the Nicobar Sea woke us up, just in time for breakfast. There were two choices: Pancakes or eggs, but as we both didn't like eggs, my wife got the sweet breakfast from the Business Class.


La Première Breakfast



Affaires Breakfast

We arrived on time in Singapore Changi airport and bid our warmest farewell to the crew. They really made this trip unforgettable and treated us very much like VIP's.

KL803

PART 3: SIN-MNL

3K 561Stats: (not much available) www.flightstats.com

Well, there's not much to report about this part of our trip. Of course, the experience can in no way be compared to AF La Première, it's the pure opposite. Check-in at SIN is in Terminal 1, and it's freaking strict about weight limits, 20 kg per person for checked-in bags and 10 kg for carry-on. I ended up paying S$-140 (US-$ 100) for overweight. Our carry-on was way over the limit, too, we ended up stuffing things in a plastic bag, but airline bag checking persons refused us to travel like this. So one of our trolleys had to be checked in, too, and I feared that we had to pay another S$-200 for it. But the check-in agent was so friendly stating, that this bag did actually met the carry-on limit, and checked it in for free ^^^!

The rest of the story is told fast: Security was a breeze, and so was boarding, quite organized called by rows. The seat-pitch is acceptable for a LCC, and the plane was spotless.


On board Jetstar

Food and drinks - even water - has to be purchased, so we spent S$-20 for breakfast, actually, it was Spaghetti and a cup Nissin noodles plus a coffee.

The crew was professional, but nothing special. The flight was uneventful and on time, that's just about it. Regarding pictures from the flight, I try to make some more cabin shots on the way back in a few weeks.

trooper

Excellent stuff!

The contrast between the two flights is hilarious!

JOUY31

Many thanks for this great trip report and congratulations for the unexpected upgrade !! Looking forward to the next episodes. ^

MorganB

Thanks for taking the time to post your report. The food looks excellent!

camsean

Thanks for the trip report. I think Jetstar Asia are quite a good LCC.

That was great luck with the upgrade.

jetfan

Fantastic of the Chief Purser to upgrade your wife.
But forgive my critical note: why did you not give your wife the First seat and sit in Affaires yourself?
That would have meant the end of my marriage if I would have done the same.

HIDDY

Top report KL803.

It's been a few years since I've flown with AF nice to see the pics of the F cabin....looks good. ^

KL803

Thanks all for reading and the positive feedback. To jetfan I can say, I really offered but can you believe it: My wife declined … will do it again on the way back 8 days from now. To hiddy: The cabin is well kept I have to say and the service is really first class. But with many top-airlines introducing suites now, AF's first class product is a bit outdated at the moment. Even on the first A380's there won't be suites yet, so AF management really has some homework to do for their premium product. I have to admit, though, the First Class lounge is really a step in the right direction, chapeau!

TrayflowInUK

Even though I've heard mixed reports on La Première, it's a product I'd love to try. Thanks so much for the report on this service which we rarely hear about, despite its prevalence.

tom tulpe

So does that mean that the choice of starters/mains/breakfast on the menu is bogus if there's only one PAX? I would have thougth they'd have at least one of each choice.

KL803

Actually not, all choices were available, though just for one person. If we wouldn't have been full from the dinner at the lounge, my wife could easily had the other available main dish. For breakfast, as posted, both the salty and the sweet main was available, but both of us preferred the sweet dish, that's why my wife received the one from Business Class.

jetfan

That's what angers me about AF F service.
They take the appetizers and main courses from the Affaires menu.
Of course you do have first choice as a P-class passenger.
And they are some add-ons such as additional pre-appetizer dishes as well as more exclusive cheeses and desserts (or are these from the J-menu too these days?).
The wine selection is excellent though and I really like the seat (although suites on other airlines have surpassed the AF seat).

snod08

great TR! Thanks for all the pictures!