I arrived in CDG around 18:00 and went first to pickup my carry-on I stored for the day at "Voyageurs du monde", right above the airport train station.


It's very likely we won't see this thing fly anytime soon...


Saturday night departure board for ex-Schengen T2E flights. Sao Paolo at 23:20 was my departure...

I walked across the T2E departure area and then exited it at the end to enter the dedicated First class check-in area.


Exterior access to the first class check-in lounge


Air France "La Première" check-in lounge



Sala, the friendly lady who checked my bag in at the beginning of the afternoon was still on duty and after checking my passport details once again, she escorted me to the security and passport control. We chatted a bit on the way and I later learned that she started very recently at the La Première lounge and that I was actually her first passenger she was escorting alone !

Passport control and security was very smooth to clear using the shortcuts for First class passengers and soon after I was at the entrance of the "La Première" lounge.


Dedicated first class shortcut




Lounge entrance


10 minutes after being landside, I was in the lounge !


Sala, the charming First class assistant who brought me there.

At the time of my arrival, I was alone in the lounge so I could snap as many pictures as I wanted. Eventually, a couple more passengers arrived later but the place was never ever busy, with more staff than passengers. The Sao Paolo flight I was booked on was the last flight of the day with First class service on it, together with, JNB, HKG and HND flights (maybe PVG also ?)


Restaurant




Lounge






Bar





I sat down in one of the couches and enjoyed a glass of Rosé Ruinart champagne. Shortly after I went to the restaurant and enjoyed the delicious coquillettes pasta with comte cheese, ham and truffle. Simple, but god that was good !


Ruinart Rosé. Love the cute bottle !


Coquillettes pasta with ham, truffle and comte cheese. Coquillettes were my favourite pasta when I was a child, although my parents were not putting truffle onto it :-)


So simple, but so good. Cooked to perfection, between ferme and al-dente.


John Dory, Dieppe style. Very good

I was quite full and decided not to go with any dessert, and went to take a refreshing shower after my dinner. I was starting to fell a bit tired at that moment as I did not really had good sleeping patterns in the previous 72 hours, so went for a nap after the shower.


Spa with Biologique Recherche products (closed at the time of visit)




Shower suite






Quick nap before the next flight

After sleeping for about 30 min I opted to go back to the lounge, but was feeling a bit unwell, most likely due to the fatigue. (And being a hypocondriac, and about to go to the other side of the world alone, all types of thoughts were invading my mind at that time...)

Despite the pill I took after waking up, I must have looked pretty tired and sick as after just a few minutes, one of the ladies working there came to me to ask me if everything was allright, considering that I "had some pretty long flights recently". We chatted a bit and after a short while, Yves, the concierge who was assigned to escort me to the aircraft arrived, and since he was knowing pretty much everything already about my past and future trips ("You are the gentlement going to Ushuaia !?" he said), we talked for a bit before leaving the lounge. All the staff I interacted with that evening were friendly and genuinely attentive, and after a few minutes I started to feel much better, with the excitement about the next flight ramping up as minutes flew by... Sometimes, genuine attentions from someone else can be the best medicine !
I opted to board the aircraft early (in comparison to a boarding at the last minute) and Yves and I left the lounge at 22:40 to get to the car downstairs. I recall that only a few passengers were left in the lounge by the time we left.


Another limo service to my flight :-) That's the way to travel !


F-GSQI to Sao Paolo in Paris CDG


Smiling again !

Yves offered me a scenic tour by night of the airport and we talked all the way until the aircraft. He indicated to me that he knew very well Anita, the purser on board my flight that evening as they started working for AF in the First class services the same day. After parking right next to the gate, he brought me upstairs and introduced me to Anita and Amelia, two super nice and friendly flight attendants who were staffing that flight, who welcomed me onboard with a nice "that's our round-the-world passenger coming from San Francisco, welcome onboard!". I recall being the first one arriving onboard, and a few minutes later the other 3 passengers came onboard. There was a dedicated jetty connected to the gate 1L.

Air France AF454 – Saturday, February 16th, 2019
CDG Paris Charles de Gaulle – 23:20
GRU - Sao Paolo Guarulhos Intl - 07:20 (+1 day)
Boeing 777-300 – F-GSQI – Seat 01A "La Première" First Class, window

The previous crew on my SFO-CDG flight was good. But on this flight, the A-team was on ! Anita and Amelia immediately made me feel welcomed on this flight, as much as I did not take any pictures for 10 minutes at least ! They were certainly intrigued about this unusual routing, and later on, Guillaume and Axelle, two other FA's working in Business class came to me to know more on how I managed to book all those trips. At some point I was giving a course on how to maximize the use of FB miles to 4 Air France cabin crews at the same time, that was so funny :-)
But since they were at work and as other passengers started to arrive, they eventually came back to their assigned positions and I was given the amenity kit, a pyjama size L (but I later asked to have an XL one just to try if the top was fitting better) and offered a pre-departure beverage (I opted for a delicious Lime tree-mint infusion from Fauchon).


Opted to try the larger pj's this time : The top fits great, the pants are too wide though...






Cannot recall where that was was going... I would say JNB or PVG given the schedule ?


Saturday night fever !

We pushed back a few minutes late at 23:25 and took off with great night sights of Paris... and a conversation about travels started with the gentlemen seated in 1D, a Brazilian Architect who was on vacation in Italy with his partner, who was a frequent first class flyer and confirmed that the AF product was the most consistent of all the one he tried.


Paris by night



Shortly after take off, Anita brought me the "menu du jour".








Sorry for the blurry pictures. Still have the menus at home if you want more details. I however don't recall having any soup on this flight, maybe it was soup or caviar appetizer ?




Wine list





During the flight I discovered a hidden feature behind my seat : A small wardrobe compartment...


Wardrobe behind the seat

About 25 minutes after take off, Amelia came to bring the Caviar appetizer with which I opted for a small glass of Chablis. I was good.


Sturgeon caviar appetizer.



The dinner table was then dressed and the foie gras was served...




Foie gras, was good

And I opted for the scallops as a main course. I was pretty good and just the right size as I already had dinner at the lounge...
All main dishes on AF as served with the steel cover


Scallops with golden polenta and truffle cream. I never ate so much scallops and truffle dishes in 24 hours in my entire life :-D

I was feeling a bit full but Anita and Amelia insisted to bring me a small cheese selection as they understood I loved cheese, it came a few minutes later directly on a plate (not from the tray as on the previous flight). As any good French meal should finish, I had dessert and I opted for the lightest option, some sorbet ice cream to finish this meal and it came with some Michel Cluzel chocolates as on the previous flight.





This feast finished at 2 am and after it, I changed my clothes to put my PJ and had my bed made during this time.




I was tired, but could not sleep more than 3 hours on that flight. But at least the sleep was very comfortable !


Good night !


And good morning !

After 3 hours of sleep I was fully awake and felt rested. I guess my internal clock was still set to the California time zone, if not further as I was 12 hours behind, just 4 days before ! I did not feel watching any movie so I went for a walk in the galley and found Amelia reading a magazine. "I already read it twice" she said, after asking me if I wanted to have anything else to drink or eat, we started to talk (not too loud as everyone else in the cabin was sleeping), about travels (which was also her passion - which is nice given her job !) and it lasted for almost 2 hours, until we encountered some turbulence (usual in this part of the world) and the captain switched the seat belt sign on, and therefore went back to my seat to watch something on the IFE.

As the cabin was waking up, Anita, the purser came back from her break in the back and started to talk with me. As I wanted to stretch my legs, I continued the discussion with her in the front galley where Amelia still was and eventually, Guillaume and Axelle the FA's from the business cabin joined the discussion. As they realized I was a true aviation lover, they answered all the questions I had, gave me the tour of the galley and even the back crew rest at the rear of the aircraft (I was told not to share those pics on social media so I won't) and shared plenty of nice stories and anectotes... I love when cabin crews are just "human" and accessible like this and this one was just the best !

We were eventually approaching the Brazilian coastline and breakfast got served. I choose the pancakes and it was good also, better than the SFO-CDG breakfast...


Pear pancake for breakfast

About 40 min before arrival, as the cabin was being prepared for landing, Anita, the purser asked me to come over to the galley where Amelia, Guillaume and Axelle were waiting for me with a nice "goodie bag" they wrapped and signed for me. I was really touched by this and of course, and thanked them for the great flight I had with them.

A couple days later, I made sure to send a nice email to AF customer service to praise the excellent service provided by selected individuals like them, and also Masha on the previous flight, Mohammed, Yves and Sala in CDG and Tabata in Sao Paolo (more on that later).


The best crew on this flight ! Amelia, Anita and Guillaume (All AF staff pictures in CDG or onboard were taken with their consent, also after having them informed that I would post them online)


Approaching Sao Paolo






GRU airport

We landed at 7:00 local time, a bit ahead of schedule and taxied for a good 10 minutes to our gate.


American dreamliner in GRU


Aeromexico dreamliner


LATAM Brazil Airbus 350-900


BA 777-300

I disembarked at 7:20 though door 1L after thanking again the crew for this excellent flight. Tabata, a KLM ground staff member in GRU escorted me and the 3 other first passengers together with a colleague of her through immigration and customs. We cleared immigration in no time and the bags were already off the belt by the time we arrived. This is the way to fly !


Disembarking in GRU


KLM ground staff is acting as AF La Première concierge in GRU


F-GSQI in GRU




Luggage was already out of the belt 15 min after reaching the gate !

I said goodbye to the 2 gentlemens seated in 1D and 1F and asked Tabata how to reach the domestic terminal where I had to catch my next flight to Foz de Iguacu, as it was my first time at this airport, and even in Brazil. She immediately proposed to bring me to the GOL transfer counter.


Waiting at the GOL transfer desk.

Unfortunately, we both waited at the GOL transfer desk as I thought this was the right location to drop my bag for the next flight as I already did the OLCI the day before on the GOL website and upgraded my Flying Blue award ticket for an economy plus seat. After she talked to the agent, we were informed that we should go to the "real" GOL counters at the domestic terminal as my ticket was on a booking different than my international ticket.

But while some agents could have just left me there, Tabata walked with me until the domestic terminal counters, got me my updated boarding pass and even negociated the price of my overweight bag with the GOL agent ! (somehow, GOL had a lower baggage allowance on my ticket than what I was expecting to have).


Tabata from KLM came with me all the way up to the domestic airside lounge !

She brought me through the security fast track, and stayed with me until I reached the GOL lounge airside at the domestic terminal. Call that a personalized service ! Thumbs up !




GOL domestic lounge at GRU

I am going to repeat myself here, but flying Air France "La Première" is THE way to travel ! From the moment you arrive at the departure airport until the moment you leave the destination airport, you are taken care of by professional staff. I can only see LH and LX First getting close to this level of service with their first class lounges, concierges and limo transfer (although I always had shared rides with other passengers when flying LH and LX F class). Service on board was impeccable and I got lucky to have on top of the professionalism, also friendly and genuine people working on my flights and on the ground, which could be the difference with the ME3 or Asian carriers where service onboard is certainly excellent, but where "the human touch" is sometimes missing.
Finally, it is worth nothing that unlike for some airlines, I did not feel that there was any difference of treatment on board between a revenue passenger and an award ticket passenger like I was.

I hope I will be able to fly La Première again some day, 2 years after this flight, I still remember about it like it was yesterday !