daniellam

Leaving South Africa / Johannesburg Airport

One of the reasons I planned my return flight to be exactly one week after arriving in Johannesburg was that Air France did not operate their Boeing 777-300ER on a daily basis in November. Instead, the CDG-JNB-CDG route was operated on most days by the Airbus 380-800 meaning that I would have to fly on the older La Premiere product. So to ensure that all my flights were on the new La Premier product, I had to plan my flights carefully.

Not wanting to risk missing my connecting flight, I decided to fly from Cape Town into Johannesburg the night before my JNB-CDG flight. In addition, I wanted to join an organized tour of SOWETO (South Western Townships) in the morning before my flight. Although Johannesburg is not known to be a tourist city, this was highly recommended to me by a co-worker who used to live in South Africa. It was meant to give me an insight on how the majority of the population lived after having visited Cape Town which was one of the nicer parts of the country.

The night before my flight, I was staying at the Intercontinental OR Tambo Airport Hotel which is directly across from the international arrivals area at Johannesburg International Airport. As an Ambassador member, I was guaranteed late check-out to 4PM. This allowed me time to go on my tour to SOWETO during the day and to freshen up in the afternoon before heading to the international departures terminal.

Having spent a week in South Africa and dealing with friendly staff of African descent at the luxury hotels I was staying and the tour guides on my various day trips, it caught me totally off guard as I was pushing my luggage cart from the Intercontinental Airport Hotel to the International terminal. I was approached by a young African male in his 20s asking which airline I was flying. I told him “Air France” and followed him. At first I thought he worked for the airport, but in fact he was a tout looking to make some tips. As soon as I realized that I didn’t have any more South African Rands on me (I tend to use the last of my foreign currency in whichever country I visit to pay for my hotel bill at the last hotel I am staying), I quickly pushed my luggage cart in the opposite direction towards the elevator and went upstairs to the domestic check-in area just to get him out of sight. I waited a bit before going back downstairs to the international check-in area.

As I approached the Air France check-in area, the La Premiere personal assistant who greeted me when I arrived in Johannesburg a week before immediately recognized me. She took my check-in bag to have it wrapped in plastic saran wrap before having another agent check me in. Once checked in, the La Premiere personal assistant took me through immigration and security while skipping all the lines and on to the SLOW lounge which Air France and a few other international airlines use.

La Premiere passengers get access to a smaller “VIP” lounge located inside the SLOW lounge. A dedicated lounge staff is assigned to man the entrance to the VIP lounge.

The food offerings in the VIP lounge were minimal and consisted only of cheese, crackers, fruit and select South African wines. One would have to go out to the buffet area in the main lounge for more options.

Was he (they) flirting with me? Or was it just a cultural misunderstanding of the French?

Don’t flame me on this one as I consider myself to be socially awkward and have a next to non-functioning gaydar. Although at the risk that this thread might get sent to OMNI, would any FTers care to give me their opinions on this one?

While I was going about my business and drinking soup at one of the dining tables in the VIP lounge, the two other La Premiere passengers who consisted of a French gay couple arrived. One of the men (the younger guy) was in his 30s and was travelling with is partner who was in his 40s to 50s (the older guy).

Upon entering the VIP lounge, the younger guy smiled at me as if he had seen me before and said “hello”. I did not think much of it at that time. However, upon sitting down at one of the loungers and going on my business, the younger guy walked by a few times and started smiling. He even said “bon appetite” to me as I was preparing to eat my cheese and fruit. All this happened while the older guy did not notice (or pretend not to notice).

The “flirting” continued on the flight where this younger guy who sat directly across the aisle seemed to have taken a few more glances at me and smiled. Then suddenly, while the younger guy was in the lavatory, the older guy stared at me and smiled. This might have happened a couple of times.

As I was starting to eat my dinner on the flight, the younger guy once again walked near my seat (if I remember correctly, he just went to the lavatory to put on his pajamas) and said “bon appetite” to me while smiling. All I did was say “thank you” in response.

Upon arrival in Paris, I saw this couple again in the La Premiere lounge. This time they seemed a bit cold and pretended not to have known me. I wonder why.

So were they flirting with me? Just being friendly in a “French” way? Or am I just socially awkward and unable to pick up on these signals properly? Note that no other guy has sent these signals to me before. Most men (including those in France) I see in first and business class lounges while travelling seem to go about their own business and not pay attention to other passengers.

Johannesburg to Paris (AF 995)

When the flight started to board, the La Premiere personal assistant came to the VIP lounge to escort the other two La Premiere passengers and myself to the gate. Once again, door 1L was roped off and off limits to the Business Class passengers. This is where Air France excels!

Once on board, champagne was served as a welcome drink. This time, the champagne served was Krug instead of Cristal which I had on the inbound flight. Initially, I assumed that Krug was just being used as the pre-departure champagne and Cristal would be served after take-off. However, upon inquiry with the flight attendant, I was wrong. Apparently while Air France rotates their La Premiere champagne every 10 days, they don’t update their printed wine lists as often!

Instead of the usual crackers and other savoury snacks that Air France serves with their pre-departure champagne, the flight attendant serving the La Premiere cabin this flight has decided to pair it with freshly cut fruit.

As this is the third of my fourth La Premiere flights, I am now getting used to the Air France La Premiere service and starting to get bored. However, the “flirtatious” gay couple on the flight did seem to make everything more enjoyable!

Since I may have read in other trip reports or have heard from acquaintances that the inflight catering ex-JNB no matter which airline is bad, I was already expecting the worse. However, I am not so sure. All I remember, was that course after course I tasted during my dinner seemed to taste rather bland. Perhaps I had been eating too much springbok and kudu biltong in South Africa?

At the same time, my now previously favourite champagne, Krug did not taste as great as I expected. I kept getting a sour aftertaste after each sip. Perhaps the bottle wasn’t chilled properly (or even worse, opened since the inbound flight)? Or maybe because now that I have tasted Cristal that my tastes have gotten more expensive and Krug does not make the cut for me anymore?

As the flight was coming to an end, I had realized that I have left my iPhone switched off and packed away in my carry-on bag throughout the flight. Because of this, I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the meal or the flirtatious couple (they seemed to be taking pictures throughout the flight – perhaps they are bloggers or FTers?).

A typed version of the menu (or even a video of it) for the flight is available upon request…

To be continued…