Originally Posted by Macaron54

Report on XMN to CDG via CAN last night

If you fly a lot within China, you know that obscene delays at PVG (MU) and CAN (CZ) are not unusual (this is a euphemism, as they are sadly rather common). The same pathetic excuses are generally given to the aggravated PAXs — either a typhoon or air control, or both (which was the case last night at XMN). Still, the weather was fine and other flights heading for CAN, like those of the local MF, were leaving on time, or nearly so. I had a 3:50' layover in CAN prior to my AF flight. We left XMN with a staggering 3:10' delay. On board, I asked the chief purser to call the ground staff to help facilitate transfer between the domestic and international terminals. One important detail here is that both MU and CZ are notorious for parking their airplanes miles away from the terminals, which requires endless bus rides to reach them. When we finally parked, I had exactly 32' before the official departure of my AF flight. The CZ staff waiting on the tarmac, in charge of the five business class PAXs (I was flying Y), had no clue what the chief purser meant, but she took me nonetheless in the minivan that drove to the domestic arrivals. There, an AFKL person was waiting for me and we started to run through corridors and escalators to reach the indoor 9-seater golf carts connecting terminals. More running to the security check via an express line, and to immigration through another express line. And each time, the AFKL staff asked (begged would be more accurate) the people in front of me to let me go first. At the gate, another AFKL person (in all likelihood, the station manager) was waiting for me and ushered me to a little car, since the AF aircraft was parked away from the terminal. When I finally entered the 777, the crew was just about ready to close the door. I was warmly greeted by the chief purser who showed me to my seat, carrying my baggage and stowing it in the overhead bin (this has never happened to me before). A glass of champagne and an oshi-bori later, we were taxiing towards the runway. So, here is the real question — Did the Ultimate Platinum status have anything to do with my catching my flight on time, or would AFKL (and its CAN team) have done the same for any other PAX, regardless of status?

Originally Posted by Macaron54

PS/ At CDG this morning, an agent was waiting for me by the door of the aircraft. At immigration, we took the outermost line on the left-hand side, ordinarily reserved for F PAXs. Within minutes we were done whilst PAXs in the Sky Priority line were waiting patiently for their turn. He then escorted me to the 2C lounge. Overall fast and smooth process, and a nice and illuminating chat with the AF agent.

Originally Posted by San Gottardo

Sounds like a fantastic story ^^ and exactly the kind of thing I thought would be the norm for ULTIs, rather than just an exception. Shows that they can, now it all comes down to i) do they also *want* ii) do always, not just sometimes iii) have enough people to deliver the service consistently. I hope they also get the positive feedback, which then encourages them to provide the service more consistently, making the program more attractive