GreenFireflyer

Thanks to tracon, I was able to book this amazing premium “jumbo”…including flights on the SQ whale!

Since I know many of you are flying a similar route over Thanksgiving, I thought I’d post a trip report about my adventure. Feel free to post any comments/questions. Cheers!


After positioning flights got me to JFK, an unsuccessful attempt at OLCI sent me to the AF counters to get my BP’s for the most crucial part of the trip – the beginning! Although I appeared calm my heart was thump-thumping in my chest, as there is always the chance of being turned away on a mistake fare such as this.

Check-in thankfully was a snap, and soon I was at the AF lounge counter ready to toast myself with a little bubbly. First though, I had to get past the counter matron who had replied to my friendly “hello, how are you today?” with a curt “I need your boarding pass”. With a smile, I complied. A narrow-eyed scan of my BP, and then she was all smiles too. A shower was in order, so she handed me towels and an amenity kit.



After showering, the lounge was not yet full so I had time to peruse the offerings and finally settled on a sandwich of tomato, cucumber, thin slice of pear, with something similar to thousand island dressing, and some cookies & Perrier. I was paged overhead, and upon inquiry the lounge matron said that my stand-by request for the earlier 5:45pm departure had cleared. Excellent.





I celebrated (but who needs a reason, really?) with some more champagne and shared my good fortune by generously flinging some bread crumbs to a hopeful little bird that had been hopping around the lounge. A women sitting across from me wrinkled her nose and said loudly to her husband, “Yuck. Eez that a birrd in our lounge?” She gave me the evil eye, but I was so happy about my current situation I did nothing but give her a huge smile back as I nonchalantly tossed bigger chunks onto the floor for my new friend.

GreenFireflyer

AF 017 A340 JFK-CDG Affaires Class

“Bonjour, madames et messieurs, et bienvenue a bord Air France numero de vol zero un sept, Airbus trois quarante un service de New York a Paris...”

My experiences with AF crew have been a mixed bag, possibly because French is not one of my best languages. Anyhow, I settled into my seat in the 5th row and hoped for the best. No one was in the seat next to me, so I helped myself to an extra pillow. Put together I found them a good size, with proper down stuffing which made up for AF’s slightly scratchy blanket.


Since I prefer to have my legs up as high as possible during a flight, the seat’s 110 degree angle (with the seat back reclined a bit) did the job.


Does anyone really feel the massage though? I pressed the button a few times, but only felt movement akin to seat repositioning. Weak. A FA saw me taking pics of the seat. Fortunately, he immediately smiled and offered to take some of me, which I accepted.






For those unfamiliar, on AF’s A340 the signature brown amenity kits are located directly below the small middle drink table and consist of: earplugs, headphone earpiece covers, shoe horn, brown socks, Clarins moisturiser, eyeshade, comb, toothbrush/toothpaste, and a “do not disturb” sticker. I prefer EK’s “wake for meals” sticker though.

GreenFireflyer

Dinner service went smoothly and the FAs serving were friendly and attentive. I chose the Red Snapper, with a 10 y/o Tawny Port. The scallops were juicy and flavorful, and the Porto was a good choice for the meal. I could have easily eaten a whole plateful of just the scallops. The snapper was a little bland but the sauce was an interesting lemon flavour.




After finishing dinner and 10 minutes each of about a dozen movies (because I could), I drifted off to a restful sleep, and didn’t wake until I heard the wonderful clink of breakfast silverware. It’s such a delightful way to wake up really, as the breakfast trolley makes its way down the aisle with no purpose other than to provide you sustenance to start your day. The best part - you don’t even have to get out of bed. It comes to you.



Unfortunately, my main sustenance arrived in the form of a single croissant on a roomy plate partly because a gentleman nearer the front had skipped dinner, broke his Atkins diet, and loaded up on breakfast breads instead (much to the chagrin of his s/o). When the FAs saw the surprise from us in the last two rows at the near empty basket, they quickly offered several more options from the other aisle’s bread basket. Breakfast was soon cleared, seat belts were securely fastened, footrests were stowed, seatbacks and tray tables were in their upright and locked positions… you know the rest of the drill.

GreenFireflyer

CDG Terminal 1

Due to a generous tailwind, we landed early at T2E to some drizzle. How early? Around 6:45am. I was enthused about a shower in the Star Alliance lounge of T1 but wasn’t in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the connecting pax to bulldoze past, and then made my way via CDGVAL to Hall 1 where I was greeted by….no one!! Not a soul occupied the check-in counters for SQ…Saudi Arabia Airlines…or anything else at that hour. No check-in kiosks either. My options were suddenly extremely limited. If you’re on this itin, don’t do what I did and leave 2E if arriving early AM. Maybe there’s an arrivals lounge. ?





Plus, horror of horrors - I had to use the loo, and couldn’t get past security without my BP. So…off I went in search of a *shiver* public toilet. Found one, but as I pondered my options, I felt something odd brush my foot. I looked down to see a cleaning person mopping over the top of it. Nice. Talk about being snatched from the clouds! I found seating to wait for check-in counters to open, and two women next to me were discussing merits of the different sizes and quantities of bubbles in soda. Really? They come in different sizes? The claim was that regular soda has larger ones and more than diet…who knows (and who’s gonna go look it up somewhere now?).

Finally, 3 hours prior to departure time the SQ counters opened. 9:25am. Check-in was obviously quick, as I was the second on the carpet. The first was a guy booked in Suites who had someone (personal assistant or heiress, maybe) making the arrangements for him. He just stood there looking bored while she took care of the paperwork. Finally I was through BP check and up the tubed escalator to the Star lounge. There were a few smokers in the “garden”, but it was still quiet at that hour.





When the time came, I went over to the gates to see the Big Bird for the first time. She was handsome, and the boarding area was swarming with people. I think SQ’s A380 max capacity is 471 pax. Gate 46 was for Suites, Raffles, & upper deck economy pax. Gate 47 was for lower deck economy, and would be boarding by zoned colours.

GreenFireflyer

SQ 333 A380 CDG-SIN Raffles Class

Boarding was delayed at least half an hour, but since I didn’t have a quick connection I didn’t care. Once boarding commenced, those of us in Raffles went through the front, were greeted by a whole slew of crew, then whisked by the suites and up the stairs. I had chosen to be in the smaller front section, which I prefer over the main business cabin. The seat layout is identical to SQ’s 777-300ER, and as I was getting settled I was greeted by one of the gracious SQ girls and asked if I’d like assistance with my hand luggage or a pre-departure drink. No, and yes.




To be continued…

view

Nice report so far ^
I've been in the same situation re transfer, and made use of the Air France arrivals lounge in 2C. Lots of shower stalls available and open from very early in the morning. Food spread and internet facilities too, although it gets cramped in the rather small seating area at busy times. The arrivals lounge is open to all AF affaires passengers, I actually discovered it by reading the AF forum

larrywilmot747

Great report so far from the "Birdman of Lounge-Katraz".

Cheers Larry.