AF FLIGHT 050 FROM CDG TO ORD - A340

Well, I had a pleasant surprise this week-end, flying from Paris to Chicago on a lowly peon L-fare, which made it a very enjoyable flight.

Check-in
For my saturday flights to the US, leaving around noon or 1:00 PM, I usually come early (2 1/2 hrs) in order to have lunch at the airport, as we are usually served lunch on board around 3:00 PM or 4:00 PM, which is quite late. Remember, I am French, and lunch is our main meal ...

Check-in was a breeze, as I am now Frequence Plus Rouge and can check-in at the Business counters which, in Terminal 2C, are centralized for all destinations. (Unfortunately, that is not the configuration in Terminal 2D, for Schengen countries; each destination has its own combination of l'Espace and Tempo counters, and check-in opens only 60mn at the utmost before the flight). Check-in at the individual Tempo counters, especially for Mexico, or at the Continental counters seemed to be quite long at that time.

I had an uneventful lunch in a very bland restaurant and then went to the AF lounge in Terminal 2C, which has different areas for the Club 2000 and FC passengers on one hand, and the Skyteam Elite Plus and Business passengers on the other hand. The lounge is quite large, but was very crowded at the time. The selection of wines and liquors was pleasant, but the Internet access was down on the available PCs.

So off to boarding which was done by Aerobus (mobile lounge), with two successive aerobuses, which meant boarding was done based on the time of arrival at the gate and not based on flight class or elite status.

I was already dreading a long flight in a cramped environment when I saw arriving a class of young high school students for an exchange program. Which meant the Tempo cabin would be even more crowded and noisy than usual ... I was morally preparing myself for the ordeal and presented my boarding pass to the FA on boarding the airplane, when I was suddenly stopped, along with another passenger and whisked off to the forward cabin and a business seat !

What a heavenly surprise from AF who usually never upgrades ANYONE ! So what should have been an ordeal suddenly became quite enjoyable.

Comfort: seat pitch is quite decent, as well as the recline and the headsets are very good.

Lunch: quite good in my opinion. Here is the summary:

- pre-take-off Heidsieck Monopole Gold Top Vintage 1995 with mixed nuts; very good, better than the non-vintage Veuve Clicquot, far better than the Nicolas Feuillate served in Tempo, although it is neither Krug or Roederer Cristal (well, this is not FC and I did have an L-fare ...)

Choice of Hors d'Oeuvre
- fillet of red mullet, tomato sauce with olive oil, sun-dried tomato and gourmet salad
- smoked breast of duck, goat cheese canapé, julienned zucchini and tomatoes, gourmet salad
- foie gras de canard

I had the foie gras which was delightful and which I would have enjoyed if it had been served in any good Paris restaurant.

Choice of main courses
- pan-seared sirloin of lamb, sautéed porcini mushrooms with herbs, potatoes au gratin, provencale-style tomato
- from Provence: monkfish and rockfish stew, saffron potatoes
- from Provence: today's special dish, avignon style lamb stew, served in a sauce enhanced by tapenade, mushrooms and orange zest, with basilic raviolis and nicoise style tomato with tarragon.

For its long-haul international flights, in all its classes of service, AF has special dishes from a French province, which changes every two months. After Savoie in November and December, it is now Provence until the end of February.

Disregarding all FT advice, I chose the fish which I also found extremely pleasant ...

Selection of cheese: Camembert, Comté, Rigotte, quite good

Choice of desserts
- chocolate szechuan pepper tart
- St tropez cake,
- Tarte Tatin
- sherbet with petits fours
- basket of fruit

As this was my second lunch, and although I am very "gourmand", I elected to take only a fine mango sherbet with petits fours.

Coffee and a selection of tea were then proposed; I took the Yunnan Imperial and finished the meal with a delicious pear Eau-de-Vie, instead of opting for more serious stuff such as the Armagnac XO, the Cognac XO or the Calvados Hors d'age.

The selection of wines was as follows:
- the very good Heidsieck Monopole Gold Top Vintage 1995 that I had before lunch
- a white Loire "Pouilly Fumé Les Logères 1999 - Maison Guy Saget"
- a Rhone valley red "Chateauneuf du Pape Terre de Gallets 1997 - Maison Meffre"
and I actually took an excellent red wine from Bordeaux:
- "Moulis Cru Bourgeois 1993 Chateau la Closerie de Grand Poujeaux"

Needless to say that I chose to go to sleep after the meal, which I hadn't looked forward to doing in Tempo, and I just woke up before being served a small snack of cheese and fruit before the arrival in Chicago.

One special note for the FAs. I agree that they are gorgeous, whether they are seasoned white-haired veterans or very young and bright. But what I have also felt, whether in Business on long-haul flights or in discounted Tempo intra-European flights, is the fact that, taking into account the different classes of service, they have always had the special touch to make my flight enjoyable and memorable. (Please note that my speaking French helps, although the FAs always start addressing me in English, because I am of Asian descent, which I hate, and that I exclude the intra-France shuttle flights from my positive appreciation ...). On this flight, they were absolutely superb !

Altogether a most enjoyable flight, even for an AF partisan, which I am, unashamedly, but also apologetically for all the people who on this board have had very bad experiences with AF.

Some critical comments to follow in a later post.



[This message has been edited by JOUY31 (edited 02-18-2001).]