Okay, Part II is in the books. Before we can get to the head-to-head matchup of AF vs. LX, I had to re-position to London. This time I flew the new Air France business class product on the 777. I was quite impressed – very comfortable seat with good privacy and lots of storage options. Stylish amenity bag that I’ll re-purpose.


I debated whether to just sleep or to have a meal on this short flight. Ended up eating; service took about 1.5 hours. Here’s the menu:





Speaking of stylish, love this salt & pepper set:


Dinner was served on a single tray that was nicely put together. I went with the beef and skipped dessert. The mushroom risotto tasted a slight bit better than it looks.



As an indulgence, I purchased the La Premiere ground service, which is available to you for a fee if you fly into CDG in business on a flight that does not offer first class. This worked out particularly well since we were parked at a remote stand. As we climbed down the stairs, I was accompanied by an AF representative who took me to a BMW car that was parked on the tarmac between the plane and the buses. I was a little self-conscious but also confess to getting a bit of a kick when I heard “Who is he?”. Other than this one, no pictures this time as the menu was the same as two weeks ago:


With a shower, nap and lunch, the 4.5 hour layover raced by. I confirmed by asking that my new favorite dessert is the Paris-Brest, and I confirmed by tasting that it’s my new favorite dessert.

An incredibly charming representative then walked me onto my flight to Heathrow, introduced me to the flight attendant and I was off to a night in London.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After a quick ride on HEX, I walked into Terminal 2 for check in. I was given directions to the lounge but not offered an escort. Considering I turned that down at T4 with Air France, this does not really impact the comparison. The amount of cluelessness in the fast track security at T2 was amazing/amusing though. I thought a woman was going to put her child on the conveyor.

No private room set aside in the Lufthansa Senator Room – not that I would have expected that. The SkyTeam private room pictured above was okay but I was okay sitting among the “masses”:


Overall, Advantage Swiss as I preferred this new lounge to the T4 SkyTeam one. There was a better selection of food (even though I didn’t eat anything), and I like the design aesthetic. To my right was a huge set of windows overlooking the runways with great plane spotting.


The plane spotting at Heathrow was great this morning – Iran Air, Aeroflot, Sri Lankan, South African, Ethiopian, American Airlines, Delta, Virgin, United, Air Canada, a couple of BA 747s, FinnAir and an old Concorde parked at the end. Too bad our plane would be slow to join them. I went down to the gate in the beautiful, uncrowded new Terminal 2.


The departure time kept getting pushed back but we eventually boarded. Then, in something that I’ve never seen in hundreds of flights, the captain came on and said the cargo hold on this Swiss A320 was full. The flight attendants then proceeded to start bringing up checked bags and stashing them anywhere they could find. Eventually, they put 5-6 under middle seats in the “business class” section. The entire boarding process and this episode were ridiculous. Air France made Swiss look like Spirit Airlines.

Flight was uneventful and looked like we were flying on top of the clouds. I passed on the lunch offering.


Speaking of 747s, this blurry photo shows an Air China 747 parked among a bunch of small private jets. President Hu Xiping is supposed to be going to Davos this year. Possibly related?


No BMW or private security/immigration channel greeting me this time. I walked about a quarter mile and was confronted with this security screening checkpoint where all luggage had to go back through x-rays, etc.


The flight delays and the unappealing transit process really reduced my time in the new Swiss First Terminal E Lounge to about 75 minutes. But, once I got there, wow! I loved the style of it – the windows, the open feel. The seating areas were much more private than the La Premiere lounge. I was offered a day room but passed since I didn’t have enough time. I was also offered a choice of 4 different champagnes and went with a blanc de blancs. I confess, however, that I didn’t catch the brand.

I didn’t take many pictures because I had seen Carfield’s trip report, which beautifully conveys the scene (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...erminal-e.html ).

While it lacks the élan of the La Premiere Lounge in Paris and the service was a bit less polished, I may prefer the aesthetic in Zurich. I mean look at this photo from my dining room seat:


The bathroom and shower situation is better in Paris. Lounge hard product might be a tie.

I had a quick lunch in the restaurant and started with a nice Caesar salad and pinot noir.




Then came this bad boy. I felt like I was in the Chevy Chase movie European Vacation.


It tasted pretty good but it was also sort of overwhelming. The Alain Ducasse meals in Paris really blew this out of the water though; no comparison.

After relaxing a bit more, I was collected from the lounge by a Heidi Klum look alike and was escorted directly to my seat. Just kidding, I took a guess about it when it was time to go and walked down to the gate where I was confronted with 20-30 people in a passport check line.


I eventually made my way through the crowd and onto the plane and found my way to Seat 2K where I was warmly greeted by the flight attendant. “We’ve been expecting you Mr. Yahtzee.” We were 3 of 8 today with no one on my side of the plane and only what must have been the younger brother of Getty Lee from Rush and one other man on the left side. Here’s the cabin.


Let’s not kid ourselves – having a first class cabin to oneself is an extremely rare event, and nothing really compares. 3 out of 8 ain’t bad but it ain’t that.
Advantage Air France. The amenity kit won’t get repurposed. It was just okay.


I’m going to give the advantage to Swiss on most of the onboard food. Here’s the menu:







The table was nicely set and they had the great 3-in-1 bread.



Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle was on offer. Am I allowed to say that I think I prefer that to the Krug on Air France? Things started with an amuse bouche of steak tartare with pureed cauliflower.


Then came the appetizers. I had a lovely portion of the Balik salmon (which I prefer to caviar), a taste of the surprisingly great spinach and potato terrine and then the crab meat ponzu. All three were terrific.


Then came the soup (accomplained by a French Chablis). Advantage Air France on the rest of the wine by the way. First rate and beautiful color. Probably not quite as good as a wine soup I had on Swiss a few years ago for which they sent me the recipe thanks to official lurker on the Swiss FT page.


I went with the veal cheeks for the main. Setting aside the kale puree (ick), this was perfectly cooked and seasoned.


Throughout the meal, the attendants were adamant about keeping the curtains closed. SFO777 would have silently smiled.


The cheese course was next and was laid out nicely in front a certain overrated actress.



Two other bonus points for Swiss. Some free wifi and much better control over the seat. And a bit better duty free.




I did have dessert but forgot to take a picture. The Air France desserts were much better.

The flight attendant was excellent and very Swiss; not quite as charming as the woman who took care of me on Paris-NY.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, at the end of this bit of indulgence disguised as comparison analysis, I guess I’d say that Air France is the winner. But it was close:

Outstation ground service: slight advantage AF
Outstation lounge: advantage Swiss
Home airport ground service: huge advantage AF
Home airport lounge aesthetic: tie?
Home base lounge food and drink: advantage AF
On plane food: advantage Swiss
On plane wine: advantage AF
Onboard cabin experience: advantage AF
Cabin crew: advantage AF
Onboard hard product (seat comfort + wifi): advantage Swiss
Pricing on this trip: slight advantage Swiss

So, overall, advantage AF but for some reason I feel like I'm more likely to do Swiss next time.