warakorn

Our second winter vacation this year brought us to Guadeloupe. Situated in the Lesser Antilles - right between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean -
Guadeloupe belongs to France. Hence, it is part of the EU and has the Euro as official currency.

Between Europe and Guadeloupe we have direct services on Air France, Corsair und Air Caraibes.
I believe Condor with its ancient planes serves the island seldomly - but due its fleet policy, Condor is out of question for us.

Air Caraibes is a pain.
The website wouldn't allow to book us a open jaw itinerary (Paris - Martinique / Guadeloupe - Paris).
We had to use an Online Travel Agency, sth. I don't like.
Seat selection via the website and via phone was not possible, despite the fact that a seat assignment costs money.
After OLCI seat selection -> Air Caraibes still has changed our seats without telling us. A stern conversation with the baggage check in guy solved this issue.
Air Caraibes one seat extra on its longhaul aircraft (3-3-3 on the A330 and 3-4-3 in the A350).

We have only chosen Air Caraibes, because it operated the A350-900. Air France was about EUR 150 more expensive, but we would have taken Air France in a heartbeat (without the A350).

Actually, we were contemplating to purchase Premium Economy seats (called Classe Caraibes) for this trip.
We had some very good experiences with TUI on its Dreamliner to Curacao in a comfy 2-3-2 layout.
Premium Economy would have cost about the twice. And Premium Economy comes with a 3-3-3 seating configuration.
This is the standard Economy configuration on most A350 operators. Thank you, but no!

Our flight between Guadeloupe and Paris was delayed by more than 6 hours.
Air Caraibes blames that on a shooting at Orly Airport of Ziyed Ben Belgacem four days before.
Orly was closed for 6 hours. Only Ziyed was shot, no one else. Air Caraibes apparently was unable to reduce this delay, instead the delay even got bigger.
Because Air France operated its flight normally (Guadeloupe - Orly), I don't buy that "extraordinary" bull by Air Caraibes.
Air Caraibes - of course - refused to pay EUR 400 per passenger in EC261/2004 compensation.
Air France was affected by the same event. Air France also only has a small fleet based at Orly. An airline must do everything in their power to mitigate the situation.
After four days, Air Caraibes has plenty opportunity to reduce the delay.
Moreover, despite my demand in English the refusal was written in French - a language I am not proficient in understanding.
However, the last word is not spoken on that. See you on court - Air Caraibes! It'll land at the ECJ at the bitter end.

Let's begin with the report.

The video:




On Guadeloupe we have stayed at the affordable Le Relais du Moulin hotel near Sainte Anne.
Though booking directly through their website, the hotel could not find our reservation. It was luckily resolved about 15 minutes.











Some beack photos of Guadeloupe, starting with the Plage de Bois-Jolan:







Plage de Grande Anse - Deshaies:











Sainte Anne:





Plage de La Caravelle:











Anse à la Gourde:







Plage de la Datcha - Le Gosier:





After some lovely days, we returned to Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport (Aéroport Guadeloupe Pôle Caraïbes):







There is not much behind exit immigration and security (no wifi, no power plugs, dirty toilets):





Yes, our flight TX 541 should have taken off at 17:15. Now it's 21:25 and no sign of our bird:





Our bird: Airbus A350-900 F-HHAV MSN 82, operated by Air Caraibes (F-HHAV)









Tight Economy cabin in a 3-4-3 configuration:









After take off we were heading straight out towards the Atlantic Ocean:





Complementary dinner service (Air Caraibes even hands out menus and amenity kits):







We were catching the Jetstream over the Atlantic, which easily pushed us over 1,000 km/h in groundspeed:





Inflight Entertainment System is not bad (even English-speaking movies are shown):





Cabin lights are dimmed after dinner:





Trekking towards Paris:





Sunrise over the Azores:











Contrail, or whatever you call that:





Airbus A350-900 Horizontal Stabilizer:







Shots from other windows:









Complementary cold breakfast:






Paris:







Approaching Orly Runway 26:







Arrival at Orly Terminal Sud:







Our Economy cabin:





Premium Economy (again, I wouldn't pay double for a standard Economy seat)





Our bird at Orly Terminal Sud:






Orly Sud is just an ugly airport. Schengen entry immigration took more than hour.
After this trip, we've decided to avoid Orly.



Full video of the trip:





All my trip reports on FT:

Airbus:

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong - Helsinki in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y

British Airways Airbus A380-800 Singapore - London Heathrow in Y



Boeing:

Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong - Singapore in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita in C

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



Trains:

CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in Sleeper Car

EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Lötschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F



Lounges:

Five Star Alliance Lounges: LHR

Four OneWorld Lounges: HKG

TBIT Star Alliance Lounge: LAX



Enjoy!

Bretteee

Plage de la Caravelle I thought belongs to Club Med?

Can anyone use this beach? I thought Club Med have tight security and stop outsiders from walking on to their beach?

Which island did you prefer? Especially for beaches.

I assume you rented a car to get around? Beautiful pictures. Thanks.

warakorn

Plage de la Caravelle is open for the public. I mean, this is France. There is public order in place that hotels cannot declare a beach their private property.
However, Club Med tries everything in their book to dissuade non-Club Med visitors.
Club Med parking lot cannot be used. You need to walk down this narrow path from the public street.





Moreover, Club Med security guys are guarding the park area of the club.
However, the beach area (incl. the Club Med party zones) are public.
Honestly, I wouldn't pay big bucks for staying at Club Med. The housing doesn't look very premium. It looks more like a youth camp (and it doesn't have a private beach).





Martinique, of course.




Yes, we've rented a car. There is no way around it. Rental fares are way higher than (let's say) in the Canary Islands.

DanielW

The 3-4-3 looks tight! What is the seat width, must be 16.5? At least they fed you though.

mad_atta

The islands look stunningly inviting! The brutally narrow seats not so much.

warakorn

The Business Class of Air Caraibes doesn't look too bad for a tourist airline.

Bretteee

In Martinique what hotel did you stay at?

Thanks.

warakorn

Pierre et Vacances Village Club Sainte-Luce
(it was okay'ish; it offered very good views over the Caribbean Sea)

injian

WOW the beaches are amazing. Thanks for sharing this.

adrouault

Guadeloupe is amazing. I flew there on Norwegian from JFK in March. I love it there.

SkyTeam777

Has anyone ever used the Bessie Coleman VIP club lounge at PTP? It's a Priority Pass lounge, and I am curious if it's worth visiting over the AF lounge.
https://www.prioritypass.com/en/loun...itre-le-raizet

alex67500

Hey, sorry I'm digging up an old thread but did you ever find out? It says it's in the international zone but I'm not sure there are separate zones at PTP (flying to Paris if it helps)

roadwarrier

I do not know if my browser has an issue, but I cannot load the photos?

48vpat

TR is from 2017. I too had same issue and then saw the date

rankourabu

March 2020, escaping covid before flights shut down on AF to MIA, used the PP lounge - decent place away from the very crowded terminal - there were 2 widebodies departing for Paris at the same time, and the terminal just cant handle that amount of people. The MIA flight definitely departed from the same space as the France flights did.