"Funny" Ulti experience on AF metal today.
It all started as your usual 0.0 flight. Pre-boarding was denied ("Sir you are SkyPriority, that's preboarding"). Zero attention on-board even though boarding happened about 1h late and we waited 45 more minutes on the apron - the Ulti bottle of water would have been a lifesaver.
When preparing the cabin for landing however, the purser rushed to me with a "goodbye
barf snack bag", apologizing for the lack of service.
Fair enough, it's still a nice gesture. Lo and behold, in the bag were J snacks, the (now useless) water bottle... and a "Welcome Onboard" card that was obviously written for someone else since it referred to the aircraft's previous leg.
Not bringing perks when they could actually be useful; obvious lack of training of some staff; a willingness to go the extra mile for those who try their best... with no consideration to details: that sums the Ulti perks quite well
That said, the review would not be complete without mentioning that CDG ground staff was stellar during yesterday's SNAFU. Working out solutions with the ground team while on the phone with the Ulti TA is a killer combo. Now that traffic - and irrops - are picking up dramatically, I'm starting to find that this is where the value of the program actually lies... and in these situations, it does bring tremendous value
