Part 1:Bucharest (OTP) to Paris (CDG) on Air France in economy class
Flight AF1089 – Airbus A320 - Seat 12A – 450 EUR as part of OTP-PTY r/t
STD 6.05am - STA 8.20am (flight time 3h15m)
Ugh, early morning flights at 6am. I will never get used to waking up this early. Yet somehow I was much more awake than I normally would be this early in the day. Half a decade ago I would still feel the excitement and anticipation a day before the start of a new trip. Many travel experiences later, those feelings have pretty much faded, unless the destination or the airline I'm flying really excites me. Fortunately today was one of such days. First of all, I was curious how economy class would compare to business class on Air France – as coincidentally
I flew exactly the same morning flight to CDG just weeks before up front.. More importantly, I was hugely excited about visiting Latin America, as its a region I really never set foot in bar a four-day trip to Rio de Janeiro once and a day across the US border to Tijuana in Mexico, and both places are vastly different than the destinations I would visit on this trip.
I was therefore in a good mood while sitting in my Uber to the airport, listening to some evocative Panamese music on my phone to get even more in the mood.
After a quick coffee in the TAROM lounge (for a review, see previous link) I headed to the boarding gate. As usual, Sky Priority is neatly announced at OTP although you better make sure you are standing near the gate as there are no clear demarcation lines or queues.
I was one of the first to board. As Flying Blue platinum I could pre-assign any seat on the plane for free (non elites have to pay if they want to snag a seat up front or in the emergency exit). As I had a long layover in CDG and didn't really need a directly behind the business class cabin, I assigned myself an exit row seat. For a short intra-European hop, the seats are decent enough.
The crew was absolutely fabulous on this flight. I was first warmly greeted by two FAs in their mid 40s in the front galley, and later by a young male FA about my age in the middle of the plane, who despite the early hour was in a chatty mood. While the rest of the plane slowly boarded I had a fun chat about all kinds of aviation-related stuff, with him inquiring about Bucharest tips the next time he needs to fly out there, while I asked him all kinds of questions about Air France ROTAs and such stuff I always wondered about (his AF crew arrived in OTP the early afternoon the day before, stays for the night before flying back to CDG in the early morning, while the crew who operates the last flight out of CDG to OTP which arrives around midnight only flies the mid afternoon flight the next day back to CDG – with the aeroplane obviously overnighting as well at OTP).
Service was extremely friendly throughout the flight as well, with both the male FA as his two female FAs frequently inquiring if I might need something. I'm not sure whether this is due to status (they never mentioned it/thanked me for being a frequent flyer) or if it is just courtesy as I was about the only person to acknowledge them as human beings and having a chat and thanking them. It was however something quite remarkable as they did not ask such questions to any of the other passengers around me.
Air France does a proper meal service on OTP-CDG flights in economy. The eggs dish was certainly good for economy – and frankly actually was better in taste than the eggs in business class on the same flight a few weeks earlier. You can pick one or two pieces of bread as well from a basket, and the meal was further complimented with a package of orange juice, jam and butter, and a sweet.
There were again some good sunrise views on arrival at CDG, although not as good as on my previous trip.
Arrival at Charles de Gaulle was again spot on time. The three hours flying time went by much faster than I expected.
In short: For an economy flight, you cannot ask for much more than this. When flying Air France on intra-European flights I don't see a reason why I would pay a 3 or 4x premium for business class as economy is perfectly acceptable and not as much as a downgrade in the overall product. Don't get me wrong – I do like Air France's intra-European business class product and I gladly fly it if it's decently priced on a
XP-run like I did on my previous trip. But otherwise, I'm just as fine in economy and I rather pocket the savings!
Next up: The Air France Lounge at Terminal 2E, K gates.