This is the return of my trip in AF La Première from Singapore, you can find Part 1 here. As stated in the thread title, for this return journey we had to escape the flood in Manila, the aftermath of severe tropical storm Ketsana (Ondoy).
Prelude: Escaping the flood
The day before our departure was September 26, 2009 and will be remembered for the record breaking rainfall of more than 340 mm in 6 hours and the flooding of 80 % of Metro Manila. We had an urgent business trip to the city and thought, it'd be fine. The ride into town from our home in Cavite (about 20 km south of Manila) was smooth despite the heavy rain. But within the 2 1/2 hours we spent in Manila, the roads got flooded and traffic came to a complete halt. We ended up walking about half the distance - mostly wading through knee to chest-deep water. 6 hours later, we finally reached our house and found out, that a small river has swept through the ground floor, leaving quite a mess. But luckily, there was only minor damage on the outside.
Uprooted basketball court outside
We had to do a clean-up operation which took almost 5 hours. We also were able to order a private taxi which would bring us to the airport on the next day at 6 a.m. The driver was on-time, mostly because he couldn't get home for the night due to the flooded streets. But at this time, some roads were already passable again.
Our taxi waiting on time!
We know the driver for quite some time, he's a friendly and knowledgeable pal, and he drove us without incident to the airport. On the way, we saw some devastated areas of Manila, but not the worst part. We reached the airport at about 8 a.m. for our 10.50 Jetstar flight. After all, it was a very wise decision to arrive at the airport early: it has been closed for almost the whole of Saturday, so there were thousands of stranded passengers. Here are some impressions:
Unbelievable but true: After our clean-up operation, our internet came back online at about 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, so I was actually able to do OLCI for our AF flights. It worked flawlessly, there even was the seatmap of the B77W available. This time however, I couldn't add my wife to my OLCI because on AF5102 she was booked in Y, so I checked her in separately. I noticed, that her original seat assignment of 4A was gone and she had been moved to 12A by the system! But 4E was still available, so I moved her there which was OK because there'd been no other passenger in the middle row.
As described above, MNL was real mayhem, check-in was done manually by Swissport agents and took its time. There were no issues at all with our slightly overweighted bags (about 5 kg too much) so I was really happy. Passport control and security took its time, too, so after all we just had about 40 minutes to spare before boarding was announced. We spent the time in the steaming hot duty free area, drinking some coffee and chatting with some other passengers - some of them obviously had have to spent the night inside the terminal.
Our Jetstar A320 at Gate 16
Boarding was slightly delayed due to some passengers got off-loaded in the very last minute. Overall boarding process was fast and strictly by rows, a pleasant experience indeed.
We were greeted on board by the rather indifferent crew. The captain informed us, that due to the "usual traffic at Manila" we would take off about 15 minutes late. Of course, traffic on that day was very unusual, here are some pictures of the many planes at MNL:
A Saudi B747 at the gate, a second one was parked on a remote stand!
A Gulf A340 waiting for a gate
KL 804 (B77W) already about 30 minutes delayed, still at the gate
Two CX 747 at gates, on their side a China Airlines and an Emirates AC
Despite its single runway operation, we took off just about 15 minutes late, right behind a Philippine Airlines A320:
PR A320 taking off, we're next!
The cabin was spotless, as mentioned in my other trip report, Jetstar is one of the better - if not the best - LCC in SE Asia.
Right after take-off, we saw the real devastation of this tropical storm.
Flooded areas in Manila
Pasig River has left its bed for good
We didn't purchase any of the food offered on board, we - illegally - ate our sandwiches which we had brought on board. The flight was uneventful and very quiet, we took a nap for a while, trying to relax a bit from our exhaustion. We landed almost on time and headed straight for immigration. Jetstar has given us immigration forms, so we were out very fast. Baggage was delivered very fast as well, so this was a pretty good experience. We left our bags at the left luggage because we planned to go to the city for some last minute shopping before returning to the airport for our 10.55 p.m. flight to CDG.
We were at check-in just after 8 p.m., there weren't many people around yet. Check-in was done very coolly, not much of a warm welcome for La Première passengers. Not a single remark like "Oh, you're traveling together? In different cabins?", nothing, zip, nil… just lounge invitations given and good-bye it was… not even wishing us a pleasant flight! Unbelievable!
AF and KL are using the Skyview lounge at Changi Terminal 1. The lounge looks OK, but food options are a bit limited.
Seating area, on the other side, it looks very AF-style with AF-style lamps
Hot food and drink options, we didn't taste anything
As we had plenty of time, I took a shower, but had to use my own shower gel as there was no soap, just a towel. But I was happy to have a shower after all… Wireless internet was available free of charge, and it worked perfectly and fast. There was a boarding announcement for our flight at about 10.15 p.m., so we headed to the gate which was downstairs right on opposite side.
There was no special security lane for premium or elite passengers, so the queue was still quite long when we arrived at the gate. Boarding was efficient through two jet-bridges with premium and elite passengers called right after "persons needing assistance".
We were welcomed on board by the crew, but I could tell from the beginning, that this crew was not as great as on our outward flight, let me say, friendly but rather coolly. La Première was half full, the first row being taken by an Austrian woman with a broken leg and two paramedics who accompanied her, and another woman traveling alone plus myself. Once again, I offered to swap seats with my wife, but she felt too shy so I was the 'lucky' one in La Première with a slightly guilty feeling…
Affaires Seat 4E
La Première Seat 2E
As you can see, only La Première received a pre-departure drink, but no other snack was offered, it looks pretty much like AF just doesn't do peanuts or pretzels! Nobody seemed to notice my jacket, so I just put it on the seat next to me… I'd rather had placed my wife in that seat, I tried, but the crew didn't like the idea, oh well… Menus were handed out before push-back, but no order taken yet.
Soon after take-off, the orders were taken, I noticed, that I was exclusively served by the chief-purser only, while the other passengers were served by other crew members, maybe due to my status? I couldn't tell. The female chief-purser was professional, explaining me which wine would go best with the menu, which I found very helpful because the wine selection was - as usual - excellent.
Here's the complete Menu from La Première:
My choices were the scallops with the White Burgundy, the lamb with the Red Burgundy, cheese with Red Bordeaux and Dessert with a Cognac.
Scallops
Lamb
Cheese
Dessert
Both the asparagus and the lamb sauce were a bit burnt at the edges but I found all dishes tasty and satisfying. The wines were truly excellent, something AF really does right! Cheese and dessert were very good, too. Service however was rushed; I wasn't finished with my dessert yet when the purser asked me if I wanted to sleep now! I said "no, I'm not finished yet" so they prepared my bed on 2A so I was able to sleep anytime at my convenience. That really left a mixed feeling.
IFE didn't work all that well, too, some movies on the list wouldn't play, at least my two favorites "The Hangover" and "Angels and Demons" were playing well, I had to try several times, though.
Another rather funny thing happened, when the Chief Purser tried to arrange my table, it was stuck in the seat for a moment and needed some force until it opened, she then apologized to me for the rather old product AF offered and said, that there would be enhancements soon in La Première. Well, it is about time for it given the competition with SQ A380 on the SIN-CDG route which is far beyond AF of course.
After about 3 hours of flight time, I decided to retire to my bed and slept for at least 6 hours pretty well.
My bed prepared on 2A
I woke up thirsty but there was no complimentary water bottle beside me (as it usually is the case), so I had to go the the bar area which was set up in Affaires. I could have pressed the call button, but opted for the bar instead.
Breakfast service started about 90 minutes prior landing to maximize sleeping time. Once again, service seemed to be quite rushed, they even forgot to put butter on my tray!
Breakfast French toast
It was tasty and the croissant still warm. The yogurt though isn't really first class style, that could be improved as well. Shortly before landing, the Chief Purser came to my seat again and inquired if everything had been to my taste, well, I did mention some things, like the missing butter and the missing water bottle, but complimented the wine selection.
Regarding the service in Affaires for my wife: It has to be said, that obviously service was very rushed, impersonal and quite unfriendly. Food options for my wife weren't that good, either, probably we should have had ordered an asian vegetarian dish in advance, but we had a bad experience with this on KLM before… The seat and cabin comfort though were OK, IFE worked well for her.
The most positive thing happened at the jet-bridge: A nice lady welcomed us to Paris and escorted us to the First Class lounge. As we arrived on 2F, we had a car ride on an Infinity SUV again to the lounge… how nice! The other La Première passengers had either a tighter connection (to Vienna) or a connection to TGV, so my wife and I actually were the only ones in the lounge.
We really loved the design and the quiet atmosphere at the La Première lounge! This really is a First Class experience and I sincerely hope, that the in-flight product of AF will soon be in the same category. Once again some impressions:
The nice design…
… and decoration
The tea-pot is truly amazing!
We had almost 4 hours to kill, we mostly relaxed, checked our e-mails on the lounge computers (yes, HP with those weird French keyboards) and of course had breakfast à la carte. The scrambled eggs and the sautéed potatoes were really nice, of course much nicer than any breakfast on board!
The lounge attendants were all very nice and helpful, absolutely perfect. Again, I would wish, all AF employees would be the same as in this lounge, that would make AF a really, really good airline!
Again, our documents were checked discreetly by Police Frontière, very friendly guys, even good for a joke! At around 9.30 a.m. we were once again escorted to the car and driven to Terminal 2G for our flight to ZRH.
We experienced a friendly welcome by the Irish Cityjet crew. I informed the Purser, that my wife and I would swap seats, but she insisted that there's plenty of seats in Affaires available so we could sit together on 3F and 3D. That was of course very nice and welcome!
Push back and take-off were on time and despite the fog in ZRH we arrived on time. There was full breakfast service available, even for me as an upgrade which was amazing. All in all, the crew was really amazing. One passenger on 2F slept through the whole flight and missed breakfast but was given croissants, bread and yogurt just before landing, that was nice and very thoughtful.
c) Summary
On my previous trip report, I didn't do a summary yet, I waited until my return was complete to give a real impression on AF La Première.
Sadly, I have to come to the conclusion, that it is indeed a mixed bag. We experienced probably the most friendly and understanding crew on our CDG-ZRH flight but on the return, the crew was way, way below my expectations. The same goes for the two Cityjet flights, ZRH-CDG not very impressed, but CDG-ZRH really outstanding. That has nothing to do with being upgraded or so, it's just as it is.
Food is something AF does right, indeed. The menus I ate were all tasty and satisfying, and the wines really good. The presentation is also quite nice.
IFE seems to be hit or miss, too. So far, I had just one AF flight with IFE properly working and that was CDG-SIN… KL's system seems to much more stable, so there's quite some room for improvement here.
Check-in in ZRH was hassle free and very friendly while in SIN it was a shame! Though professional, but really unfriendly and cold, that person could well have been a check-in machine - but with the machine at least wishing an electronic version of "bon voyage"! Regarding bag handling: AF does it right for priority tags, at least I can tell this for ZRH, our bags were number 5 and 7 on the belt. For SIN, I couldn't tell. The reason for this: AF didn't provide immigration forms on the CDG-SIN flight which is a nuisance because it means, that you have to fill it out before immigration which is quite time consuming. After this done, all bags were already on the belt, so there was no way to tell, if priority ones were indeed first out or not.
The absolute best part of the La Première product is the lounge at CDG! That is truly a first class experience, there's nothing bad to tell about it, it' just perfect.
The overall rating in details:
Check-In: 5/10
Lounge CDG: 10/10
Lounge ZRH: 7/10
Lounge SIN: 8/10
IFE: 7/10
Seat and overall comfort of cabin: 9/10
Meal service on board: 7/10
Quality of meals and drinks: 9/10
Cabin crews: 6/10
Some words about the Jetstar product: I don't fly LCC very often (some Cebu Pacific trips last year, a Ryanair trip 7 years ago…) but I would rate Jetstar as the best so far. Check-in in SIN was very strict for my taste but then again checked our 3rd (!) bag free of charge, so I'm not too unhappy here, in MNL no problem at all, maybe due to the extreme circumstances. Of course, there's no lounge and no IFE. The seat is adequate, but one shouldn't be much taller than I am (5'9", 180 cm) or else one should probably opt for purchasing an exit row seat. Food for purchase was, well, a bit below average airline food, for purchase I would expect a slightly better quality.
Detailed rating:
Check-in: 7/10
Crew: 6/10
Food: 4/10
Comfort on board: 7/10
Once again, thanks for reading and feel free to comment!
Thank you for your report. My experiences with Air France have been similar.. very uneven. Which is a pity as they are at least the most stylish of airlines to travel on.
Do Jetstar really say you should not bring food on board?
It saddens me deeply to see how devastating the flooding was and I hope that the people of Manila will recover swiftly. I also hope that your home and your neighborhood escaped the worst of the disaster. I urge all readers who are able, to respond to public appeals and donate generously to charities that provide aid to areas affected by natural disasters including Manila, Samoa, which was badly hit by a tsunami and Sumatra, where rescue efforts are underway following an earthquake.
Flooding has also caused widespread damage and some fatalities in Douglas County, Georgia and parts of Tennessee but those affected are luckier, some being able to rely on insurance cover and others, aid from FEMA.
On a lighter note, your wife's posture says it all. Although she verbally declined your generous offer to exchange your first class seat for her business class one, her body language suggests that what she really wanted was for you to insist on changing seats and refuse to take no for an answer. I am sure you will make amends by buying her some very expensive jewelry.
Do Jetstar really say you should not bring food on board?
Indeed, they do. There was an announcement before boarding and again on board before they explained, what's on the menu. We ate our sandwiches during take-off and while no FA was in sight, that was OK, I guess.
The absolute best part of the La Première product is the lounge at CDG! That is truly a first class experience, there's nothing bad to tell about it, it' just perfect.
Actually, except for the CDG lounge, everything else looks like a business class product.
So do Tiger. Interestingly Jetstar don't have the same policy on the Australian and New Zealand operations.
Thanks for the trip report. I was in Manila at the start of August when there was a tropical cyclone in the vicinity, but nothing like you experienced.
Thanks for the heads-up! After all, we were incredible lucky, compared to thousands of people who have lost everything. Looking back after 3 weeks, it's still kinda shocking, though.
