Zeeb

That's been SFO777's schtick for as long as he's posted trip reports. Generally we just look past that since he takes great pictures and humble bragging about being rich is half the posts on FT anyway. I didn't think this TR was any more or less pompous than any of his others.

I'm not defending his behavior but SFO777 might be the poster most representative of this entire site so I'm not sure why it would suddenly be an issue.

hirohito888

+1, I appreciate SFO777 posts. These TR are his own trips, paid for by himself, and added with his perspective on the entire trip (including how other staff and passengers have affected him).

If I wanted a factual nit-picking TR about an airline, then I can read one of the hundreds of bloggers who go through every detail about the seat pitch/width, weight of caviar, # of movies on IFE, and a lengthy intro on how he/she redeemed the F ticket and scrolling through 15 different credit card referral links.

At least SFO777 is not clickbaiting me for view counts.

cmd320

In fairness, if I were to dye my hair neon blue and wear rabbit ears around an airport, I would expect people to treat me like a freak. Just sayin...

5DMarkIIguy

Exactly! You go through that much effort to look like that, you should expect certain treatment.

sky303

Idk where the liberal/conservative comments are supposed to be going, but honestly, I'm as liberal as they come, and I think the TR is as good as most any SFO777 TR. The sarcasm is evident, and if the man has opinions re: his travel experience, IDK why you'd expect him to not express them, or contort them to fit your personal morals. Meanwhile, I just can't wait for the La Prem post. Keep on keepin' on, SFO.

greg99

To all the naysayers, sorry, I think this is the start to what appears to be another excellent SFO777 TR.

If you don't like the style, don't read it. He had every right to post pictures of whomever he wanted in public areas. Although it may be sometimes custom in some parts of the internet, there's no obligation (express or otherwise) to do so.

Frankly, I was impressed by the woman at SNA and how her purple suitcase accented her blue hair...

Greg

NoY

Love the report. Love the style. Love the directness. More!

^^^

enviroian

It has nothing to do about photos in public areas. That girl looked like an idiot and can't comprehend how she could go out in public.

It's the OP's holier than all attitude. No worries. I'll just won't read any further reports. He has every right to post what he wants withing FT guidelines.

Eastbay1K

I was wondering what AF did for the F pax in the SFO lounge. I was in there last week for the first time as the AF lounge (I'd been there as the DL lounge) and saw the "Private" room roped off, with the attendants starting to set things up. It was long before the AF flight.

Glad to see they make a reasonable attempt at food and beverage.

Eastbay1K

If it makes you feel any better, while he was staying at the fancy fancy Halekulani, I was looking down on him, yes, down on him, from high high up, from across the street, at my quasi-budget accommodations.

Fly Baby

Really? "Treatment" just for dressing differently to you?

5DMarkIIguy

Just dressing differently? LOL. Have several seats.

ckx2

A lot of cheese for the whine in this thread.

SFO777

San Francisco-Paris
Air France 83
A380-800
4:00p-11:35a +1
August 21, 2016
Seats 3DG

The best part of the personal escort to the plane is that we completely bypassed the gate counter...



... and boarded thru a private locked door to the F only jet bridge. Sweet.



The A380 La Première cabin is on the lower deck. It is 9 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration with a single seat in row 1. Pleasant and spacious cabin which worked well and afforded good privacy since we were in the middle in row 3 with nobody in the window seats and the other 2 passengers in the window seats in row 2. Comfy but dated seats and nowhere near as elegant and spectacular as the new 4 seat 77W cabin.



















Our cabin crew was warm and friendly. Strange PDB service as we were offered water only with the door open. My guess is that Air France didn't want to pay taxes on the champagne although we were told "Unfortunately, we are not permitted to offer champagne until the doors are closed." Seriously?





I was a little concerned about the proximity to the galley but in reality, once the curtains were closed after take-off, there was virtually no noise I could hear.



As soon as the doors closed, one of our FAs came by with the Bollinger.





Today's wine list. Nothing over top, but reasonable and good middle of the road offerings.















Major oops as I apparently deleted my pics of the menu. There were four main choices including duck, a seafood and a pasta.



And the special of the day, which we both had was the Chicken. It was Mrs. SFO777's first choice but my second as the they ran out of duck (we only have 2 today) despite only 1 passenger being asked to meal choice before us. OK, not sure what that was all about.







Once in the air, our cabin crew prepped for dinner.



And closed the solid curtains separating us from the world for the next 10 hours.





IFE is a far cry from the new 77W version and like the F cabin, really needs to be upgraded and refurbished.



Our First Class Flight Attendant Berglind was friendly and accommodating and provided excellent service.



The amuse bouche of asian veggies, scallop, duck proscuitto and beet and goat cheese was excellent.



There we are...



The pea soup was delicious.





I decided to do some wine tasting tonight and Berglind was happy to oblige.



The Lobster salad on a bed of melon was wonderful.



Nice fresh garden salad.



And the star of the night...





... was the chicken.



Absolutely wonderful, poached in chicken broth enhanced with essence of truffle.



Cheese course although not from a cart or tray. With port.



I couldn't decide on dessert, so Berglind insisted that I try both. And the Sauternes.





OK, the caramel lava cake was spectacular.



No mas, no mas. Our beds were made for us on the adjoining window seats, Mrs. SFO777 in 3A and me in 3L





But before my Ambien kicked in, I explored the F "bar" near the stairs... meh... What's the point? If I wanted something, our FA would bring it me at my seat.







... and took a peek upstairs at Business Class.



Air France has an excellent looking new BEST business class seat in 1-2-1 configuration, but not on this plane. The old 2-2-2 doesn't look that attractive to me.





Not sure what the heck this space is supposed to be. Seems like AF couldn't figure it out either and decided to do... absolutely nothing.



All that space and this is best they could do for a Business Class lav??



Back downstairs in First, I slept like a baby for nearly 6 hours and was awakened only by the gentle nudge from Berglind. I went to the lav and then change room to change out of my PJs, and passed on breakfast.









We landed on time and then took the usual 10 minute scenic route around CDG...







... pulling up next to another A380.



In summary, I love Air France service and our crew was very good with only a couple of minor service flaws. But I would not fly on their A380 when I had a choice of the 77W or Lufthansa First. The cabin is simply too dated and too open. With only 4 passengers, the lack of privacy was not a problem. But with a full cabin, it certainly would have been. Also, the single small lav and a small changing room is simply unacceptable for a cabin of this size. Air France can't refurbish this plane soon enough. Fortunately, our September LAX-Paris trip is on the 77W both ways.


For an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com.

SFO777

Thank you Linda VH.

Me too! Thanks gpeso8.

You are correct. My bad.
Funny you should say because our FA did spill some the rosé on those white jeans.
We had them cleaned at our first hotel and then she spilled Irish coffee on them yesterday.

Thanks so much Flyingfox for the kind comments.

Thank you niele. I appreciate it.

Thanks Bretteee.

Thanks krazykanuck. Agree with you about the travel monster description.

And about that cute dog.





Bingo.

Thanks very much hirohito888.

Thank you sky303. Hope you enjoy the new AF La Première posts.

Thanks greg99.

Thanks so much NoY.

Thank you Eastbay1K. I agree with you that is nice to see an attempt to do something in the lounge for F pax.

As I recall you rubbed that in in that TR. I'm still in therapy over that one.