7. Johannesburg to Paris via Air France business class
A week before we left for South Africa I got a text message saying that our return leg from Johannesburg to Amsterdam had been cancelled and that we must have a nice day. I called KLM and asked them what the deal was and they told me that the entire flight had been cancelled. Apparently it was acceptable for them to just leave the flight with us stranded in Johannesburg, somehow making it to Amsterdam and then being grateful to have an intact flight back to Calgary. After a small skirmish they told me they would try and fix it.
The same day they called and said that through a lot of their personal effort we would now be rerouted through Paris, but we would still need to take a flight from Paris to Amsterdam before continuing on to Calgary. I was surprised that they thought that this was a solution but we took it. Considering our flight back from Cape Town was on the same day, it meant that it would take us five flights to get home. Quite the trek, but it was enjoyable in the end.
After landing in Johannesburg we headed to the lounge and waited for our flight to Paris on our 777-300. We were hoping for an A380 flight but Air France stopped flying that to Johannesburg apparently. The business class section in the aircraft was quite large. Row 1 was dedicated to the very exclusive F cabin, but we were in row 16 and there were several rows of business class behind us. The herringbone setup was quite comfortable and after boarding we were soon on our way to Paris for this 10 hour night flight.
The TV screen was significantly smaller than those on KLM but the programs offered were similar. The cabin crew were professional and competent but not friendly.
Goat's cheese ball with toasted almonds with a Rhone valley Syrah
Finely sliced Parma ham, artichoke salad with pesto and parmesan.
Sauteed beef with red wine, potato gratin, broccoli and baby carrots
Trio of mini desserts, strawberry tartlet, lemon financier cake and praline brownie
The food was great and I soon reclined and started watching a few movies. In no time at all the crew started lighting up the cabin before our descent into Paris. I was hungry and decided to have a few items for breakfast.
Paris was completely coated in clouds and a thick mist went down to almost ground level. I was surprised to be in a cloud and suddenly see the runway appear. With one of our bigger flights done, we had a 1-hour layover and quickly ran to the next terminal. I was really impressed with this seemingly busy newer section of the airport with some good shops for goods and food. Soon we boarded for this 1-hour flight to Amsterdam. The flight was uneventful and I didn't really take pictures of the 'faux' business class. We were offered a substantial breakfast which we declined and instead just had a good cup of coffee.